My Schwinn Cycling Certification Experience
After getting my NASM Certified Personal Training certification last year -plus becoming an instructor for PiYo, Insanity, and P90X – I decided I wanted to add one more class to my list. I signed up for the Schwinn Cycling Certification too! Here’s how my experience went.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more about these links in my disclosure policy.
Why I Became a Schwinn Cycling Instructor
I used to be such an unhealthy person, eating junk and rarely exercising. Somehow, all of that changed. After completing my first fitness program in 2013, and then another, and another… I just got hooked on fitness!
So hooked that I decided to leave the classroom and make fitness my career.
Today I added yet another fitness certification to my collection — today I completed the Schwinn Cycling Certification to be an Indoor Cycle Coach.
Honestly, I’ve only taken a cycle/spin class a few times. And that’s mostly because when I did try it, my butt was sore for a week, so I was afraid to try it again! Apparently they make padded shorts for that, but I still don’t own a pair.
Anyway, I’m the type of person who can’t just kinda do something. I don’t go halfway. I go all out. And if I’m going to be knowledgeable about fitness and group fitness, I really want to know how to teach a variety of different classes – including indoor cycling.
While there are other indoor cycling certifications out there, I had heard many instructors say that the Schwinn certification was pretty respected. I like that they are no frills, no nonsense, and all about proper riding form.
Plus the class was local to me, at the Lifetime Fitness in Parker, Colorado. So I signed up!
Certification Class | Part 1
The course itself was a one-day training in the spinning room at Lifetime Fitness. And by one-day training, I mean it was NINE HOURS LONG.
Yeah. You can guess how tired I was after I left.
So the Schwinn Cycling Certification started with a LOT of learning. Learning about the parts of the bike, how to do a Quick Fit and a Performance Fit for class participants, and a little hands-on practice adjusting the bike. We received a sort of plumb-bob to be able to tell when a class participant is correctly seated on the bike with proper form.
That’s my kind of tool. I LOVE IT.
But apparently I’ve been working out too much. When I tried to help my partner adjust her bike, I turned the resistance knob one too many times and broke it. Oops. That was embarrassing.
After the bike breaking incident, we learned more and more and more about bikes and cycling and class design. Aahh! So much to take in, but it was all SO informative! Seriously, there wasn’t a moment in this class where I felt like my time was wasted.
We ended the morning session with a one hour cycle class. I was really nervous about it. I hadn’t really had the best experiences with cycling in the past because it just hurt my butt so bad! And I remember my legs being really sore in past cycling classes as well. I really didn’t need that to happen because had to teach INSANITY the following morning.
In the end, it was a GREAT workout and I really enjoyed it! The hour seemed to go by super fast, probably because of the music and the great coaching from Skip. 😉
Certification Class | Part 2
We finished up the day talking about how to make our classes truly an enjoyable experience for our participants. That was exciting because I really learned a lot of things that I can incorporate into all of my fitness classes. Motivation, ways to connect with others, music ideas to use…
Ohhhh, music is truly my favorite part of a workout. One song can strongly affect my level of motivation, even when I feel like I have no energy left. The remix of “Run This Town” was one we listened to during our second workout today and I LOVE IT!
Unfortunately I can’t find it on iTunes or Spotify, so if you happen to find it, please leave a comment or message me and let me know! I really want to add this to my running playlist while I train for the Colfax Half Marathon.
It was really interesting to learn how to find the right kind of music for each part of the ride. Slower music, or music with more relaxing lyrics, is best for recovery and cooling down. And of course upbeat music, and especially music with lyrics that make you want to ZOOM, is best for the times you want to push your class!
One of the things I liked the best about the Schwinn Cycling Class is they make indoor cycling mimic riding a real bike. So no dancing on the bike, no weights in your hands. If you wouldn’t do it on a real bike, you don’t do it on an indoor bike.
For a closer look, check out this Schwinn Indoor Cycle Training and Master Class video (not my training, but just to see for an example):
Schwinn Cycling Certification | Review & Thoughts
I was pretty nervous to take the course, knowing that I didn’t consider myself to be an experience cycler. I was worried I wouldn’t have the strength and stamina to really do well in such a long class.
However, just as we would expect our students to adjust their bike resistance to fit their current level – I did the same. I backed off when I needed to and did my best to just ride and learn!
And interestingly enough, I completed my nine hour training (including two full bike rides) and my booty didn’t even fall off! Maybe it had something to do with learning how to properly adjust the positioning of my bike… something my previous instructors never taught me before.
Hmm, I wonder if they were Schwinn certified instructors…
I finished off my day proud of myself for getting out there and becoming an indoor cycling instructor. Then I zoomed off to take my son to his running club so I could cheer him on! Raising healthy kids is important to me, and I want to make sure I’m a healthy example for them.
So here I am, freshly certified and fully exhausted. I’m excited to put what I’ve learned into practice so I will be ready to sub some classes and one day lead my own!
Related: Holiday Gift Guide for Group Fitness Instructors
Indoor Cycling Equipment
I’m ready to get my home gym all set up so I can ride and practice at home. Here’s what I plan to get (and what I’d recommend if you want to be a cycle instructor too!):
Have you completed the Schwinn Cycle Certification? Do you teach or take indoor cycle or Spinning classes? I’d love to hear any tips you can give me — I’m always up for learning something new!
<3
Amanda
MEET AMANDA
Amanda is a mom of 4 living a mostly crunchy lifestyle outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband, 2 dogs, and a cat. As a former special education teacher who also has her personal training certification — Amanda really enjoys teaching others how to do things!
When she’s not working, Amanda enjoys DIY projects, exercising, photography, hiking, and long walks through Target.
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for sharing about your experience! I recently asked by the fitness director at my gym if they have any need for spin instructors and she thought I would be perfect for the more fun not so technical type of indoor cycling. She told me to put together a couple classes and I will just try out in front of her. It’s been something I have tossed around for a couple years and now that is a possibility I want to blow it out the water so I am considering a live training.
Can you give me some detail on what they went over during the discussions about setting up a class in terms of the lesson plan, music and putting it all together with the cues and constant motivational push.
Thank you!
Ahmed
@ahmedmedelkady
Hi Ahmed,
So glad this post was helpful for you! I would definitely recommend going through a training/certification before you audition at your gym. You’ll get a lot of important info on safety and really good instruction on planning classes for your participants. There are a lot of different ways you can plan a ride, and you want to make sure it’s the perfect challenge for your class, while giving the right amount of recovery. A training will also give you some good ideas on cueing and motivation. Another suggestion would be to attend classes with a variety of instructors to see how they cue/motivate and use that to develop your own style. You may find that you want to copy some of their phrases or actions, or you may find that a certain style is a turn-off for you and it may help you figure out what NOT to do in your own class. 😉
And finally, I got a lot of music inspo from doing a few google searches on spin music playlists. There are a lot of great songs and playlists on Spotify too! Good luck and let me know how it goes!
I just signed up for a Schwinn Cycling Certification after being pointed out by my instructor. The first thing I did was go to google to see if anyone had documented their experience. I was feeling very nervous before reading this article. Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I feel more motivated and confident now to tackle this as it’s been something I have talked myself out of doing for years!