Personal Trainer Josette Lindsey is answering your questions this month. Exercise and fitness have always been a part of Josette’s life, whether she was preparing for an upcoming softball season or just working out to stay fit and healthy. She graduated from SUNY Brockport in 1990 with a degree in Physical Education and Sports Management, and then taught children’s fitness classes for four years.
She then transitioned to adult fitness and personal training, and has worked at Midtown for five years.
Her favorite part about her job comes from the satisfaction she receives when her clients tell her how much better they feel after their workouts. She takes great pride in encouraging them to take better care of themselves, and loves watching their progress over time.MORE
2010 is coming to a close. Newspapers are printing their “Best of” and “Worst of” lists, Time has named its Person of the Year, Merriam-Webster has selected “austerity” as its Word of the Year (no surprise there), and people everywhere are reflecting on the year’s top stories.
I thought Midtown should get in on the action, so here are some of the club’s 2010′s highlights:
As for me, the year has been a mixed bag. I’m wrapping up my first year as a member, and I have nothing but positive things to say about my member experience. That’s the good.
The bad? Well, the Rochester Half-Marathon I spent months training for in the spring and summer never happened. Sidelined by a double calf strain, I enjoyed a pity party for one on a weight bench in the club as I watched the clock tick over to 7:45am on September 12th, the time the race was beginning.
However, eight sessions of ART (Active Release Technique) in the fall, followed by a strict regime of stretching put me back in the running business. And I plan on rocking the Flower City Half-Marathon on May 1st of next year.
2010 also marked the debut of this blog and the re-launch of the Midtown RochesterFacebook page.
What have you liked about the posts I’ve run on Meet Me at Midtown? What haven’t you liked? What would you like to see more of, or less of?
We also want the club’s Facebook page to be as useful for you as possible, so please let us know what you’ve liked and haven’t liked, or would like to see more of on Facebook as well.
One current Midtown member who submits their feedback in the Comments section or emails it to me at kristi@meetme-atmidtown.com will win this high-quality Midtown Sports Bag!
I will select one winner via Random.org on Tuesday, January 4th, at 5pm, and post the name of the winner on our Facebook page and here on the blog on January 5th.
Happy and healthy New Year!
This is what we have been training for.
For week #7, we experienced a “simulated mountain bike race.” This was a profile modeled after the Laurel Classic Challenge held in Wellsboro, PA in early September for the last 16 years.
The hills in PA are much longer, and the forests much deeper than here in NY. The place just has an epic feel to it. This course features 3 long climbs of 16, 8, and 12 minutes, and some long descents. The terrain is moderately technical with some rocky sections. The coolest feature is the “Left Run Trail,” which follows and crosses multiple times a beautiful steam between two very large ridges.
The athletes had completed their homework, which consisted of long climbs and steady state threshold efforts. They were ready.
After warming up, we introduced our dedicated competitors with a “rolling call up.”
Authentic Race Numbers for Extra Motivation
With athletes such as Alan “The Situation” Bloom, Laura “Lethal Lolita” Elder, Lisa “Hurtlocker” Moose, and Bill “Spitfire” Spitale wheeling the line, this place was ready to rock.
We had a little pre-race drama as Amy “To the Top” Tomaino’s bike was missing. Apparently, someone stole it from the team’s hotel the night before. Luckily her sponsor provided her with a spare.
The racers were paused and waiting, and then the cowbell rang.
More Cowbell!
They were off in a mad dash and the fire was started. They hit the first and longest 16-minute climb. We created a mantra for this entire challenge:
“I Can, I Will, I Am.”
After ascending this climb, we flew across the Plantation Trail, and then down the Stinger Trail. Since we cannot coast on our indoor bikes, we used the descents as a recovery. Athletes were always given zones, but were also free to push their own limits. After all, this is a race.
Climb #2 up Spoar Hollow Rd. was no problem. It was 8 minutes of finding “ the perfect balance of space, energy, and time.” We rode on some flat, grassy double track before another long descent. We got word from a course official that we were sitting in 5th place.
We headed into the underbelly of the beast following the stream. We mimicked stream crossings by doing a drill called a slide. We also learned how to call out and execute a pass using some surges as we passed the 3rd and 4th place riders.
Things get wet and muddy!
We hit climb #3, which is the final big test. 11 minutes of some steep sections in no man’s land. It is wide-open logging trail with nothing to latch onto. Competitors had to dig deep to hold onto their podium position.
“Remember you are not here because of the path that lies before you, but because of the path that lies behind you.”
We crested the climb and punched through the log trail. We did some log “hopping” to stay with the mountain bike experience. Hopping or jumping off of a fixed-gear bike has some risk involved, but with appropriate cadence and just a few reps we kept everything in control and, passed the 2nd place rider: “On your left!”
As usual, my equipment had problems. My shoe cleat began to loosen and eventually disconnected from my shoe. I had to pedal “old school” with one foot clipped on and one out. Very typical for an epic mountain bike race.
What the........?
On the technical Scotch Hollow Pine Trail, we executed “pushes” and traversed small rock gardens and took over first place. We found a gap and headed down our final descent of 6 minutes. Towards the bottom we were caught. As we exited the woods, it was a 1-minute drag race down a dirt road to the finish. We stayed strong to hold onto first place.
The music, the scene, and the motivation just flow for this ride. It is one of my favorites, and our team more than met the challenge. One more round of homework and we re-test for the last class.
Then graduation.
We will have a celebration workout after the test, and then I have something special for our graduates.
Stay tuned.
Psyclewerks group: What did you think of The Laurel Classic Challenge?
Doug Rusho is everywhere these days. If he’s not motivating his Psyclewerks class to push through the pain, he’s teaching spinning or training his clients.
Now, he’s hijacking the blog once again to talk about Spinesis.
Go, Doug, go.
Do you want to enjoy family, friends, and really good comfort food on Thanksgiving? Does Aunt Sarah’s deep-dish caramel apple pie lure you back to the fridge at 3am Friday morning?
If so, you can balance out your Turkey Day consumption with some high-calorie-burning workouts.
Spinesis, this Friday at 10:00am, is exactly what you need.
What is Spinesis, you ask?
It’s a group exercise class limited to 12 people, which combines two types of training, Kinesis and Indoor Cycle. Each person starts cycling with me in the Cycle Room. Then, groups of six head next door to the Kinesis studio to work out with the ever-so-sassy and energizing Dina Smock for 12 minutes of Kinesis. The other six people continue to cycle. Each group will go through three rounds for a total session time of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Both rooms are music-equipped for maximum motivation.
Never done Kinesis? Now is the perfect time to start.
Kinesis is movement-based, total body training, utilizing four special cable stations. Participants choose their own weight and go through a station over a timed interval. Weights are light because the intervals are usually more than a minute. There is only enough recovery time to get to the next station. Setup at each station is quick and easy. As you can imagine, your breathing will remain high and so will the calorie expenditure!
Kinesis is focused on true core conditioning and strength endurance.
It is great for toning and total body coordination. I have taught and taken many Kinesis classes and I really like the workout. It is something that feels totally different than anything you would do in the weight room. This is exactly what the body needs, something new and different to spice up that metabolism!
This will be my first Spinesis with Dina. I plan on bringing my own unique teaching style, the usual “music mapping,” and new to any past Spinesis class, something I call “Powertrip.” You’re going to have to sign up to find out what this is!
Spinesis is not your run-of-the-mill fusion class. The small group, the music, and the workout combine to form a unique experience.
I like Turkey Day as much as anyone, but to truly enjoy it, we have to find a balance. Make your reservations at the front desk now ($20/guest and guests are welcome for the same price), and do the holiday right!
Although this is really our second class in the Psyclewerks 2.0 program, it is really the first “regular” class. With a new program you can always expect a few bumps in the road. After the energy and excitement from the test session a week ago, I was eagerly looking forward to administering the Psyclewerks experience.
I walked into the room 20 minutes early only to find that two bikes were down with blown pedal bearings. This was not good. Mechanicals are part of cycling and they tend to happen at the most inopportune moments.
In true Tour de France fashion, I became our team’s “domestique” and gave up my bike. I scrambled to the fitness floor and grabbed another, which luckily, no one was riding. The team was intact.
Today’s class was focusing on basic endurance. It was 80 minutes of continuous low-intensity cycling. Seasoned runners know this as “LSD,” long, slow distance. Endurance classes are challenging to teach because you need to dial back the motivation factor and power zone transitions. We rode mostly in power zones 1 and 2 with some moderate- length (8m) climbs. I felt a little awkward as I was standing on stage in my skin-tight bike shorts, coaching with no bike, while everyone else sweated away.
I will be the first to tell you, I hate this type of training. It can get a little slow and tedious. But, it is a necessary evil. Basic endurance training is the foundation of your whole engine. Without it, your fitness structure will crumble later on with harder efforts.
This type of training also primarily uses fat stores as a primary source of fuel. This is a go-to tip for any coach trying to convince his athletes to keep the intensity down. We used some subtle cadence transitions and did some “team” riding. I split our group into 3 teams and we shared the workload across flat roads and climbs.
We (I should say “they”) finished 80 minutes later. A few athletes had trouble staying in their zones, while others were somewhat challenged with the length. This is to be expected with a group of diverse fitness levels. Someone mentioned, “You hardly broke a sweat!” Granted I did not get a workout, but I did avert near disaster.
Before next week’s class I will be competing in a Halloween Cyclocross Race. No costume this year.
Retro Psyclewerks Coach
But between the race and the 90-minute primary endurance class, I will have made up the missed ride. I plan on bringing my own bike, spare pedals, tools, extra iPods, and maybe a kitchen sink.
ABP.
Always Be Prepared.
I’ve taken just one spinning class.
It was many years ago at a far-inferior gym. The instructor did a lot of yelling and not much motivating. I did a lot of sweating, and not much pedaling.
The spinning classes at Midtown, though, look like a blast. My friends who take them love them and rave about the instructors, one of whom, I’ve recently discovered, is a treasure-trove of knowledge about cycle power-training and how it whips you into shape much faster than a series of traditional spinning classes.
If you’ve been in the club recently, you’ve noticed the Psyclewerks poster outside the Cycling Room. It has lights and a moving cyclist, so if you haven’t seen it yet, do check it out.
Psyclewerks is the cycle-based, power-training brainchild of Personal Trainer Doug Rusho. He created Psyclewerks to help participants achieve an increase in fitness and measurable results from their training on power-measuring bikes found in only a few elite facilities across the globe.
In the Psyclewerks program, you work at levels specific to your current fitness level. Doug describes this as similar to knowing how much weight you can lift. It’s a weight that’s right for you and you alone, and the same is true for your cycling “power zone.”
Your bike’s computer provides instant feedback about your effort every second you’re on it. It measures how fast you pedal and how hard you push against the pedals. These power numbers translate into watts. The more watts you produce, the harder you’re working, and the more calories you’re burning.
The power numbers allow you to ride at exactly the right intensity at each part in the ride. The guesswork of wondering whether you’re riding at the correct level is eliminated.
Doug says, “Because we can measure it, we can train to improve it. When you complete the program, you will know if you have taken your fitness to a higher level.”
Lest you think that the fun of a traditional spinning class will be lost in a Psyclewerks power-training class, think again. Doug assures me that the classes rely heavily on music that he meticulously chooses, and custom-edits to match the effort required and to make the class flow well.
“Psyclewerks provides the ultimate combination of technical aspects for results, and entertainment for motivation and fun,” says Doug.
If you’re a results-oriented person (or a Type A like me) then this sounds like the perfect program for you.
Want to know what a Psyclewerks class looks like?
Take a look at one of Doug’s classes at the club. While this isn’t exactly like a Psyclewerks class, it will give you a general idea of what to expect.
The 8-week Psyclewerks program begins on Sunday, October 10th. Grab a pamphlet from the Psyclewerks poster outside the Cycling Room, or email Doug at doug.rusho@midtown.com for more information.
Have you done power training before? Tell us about it!
