Cadence Revolution - available to subscribe in iTunes.
This is a weekly podcast with free workout music. Each episode is about an hour long, with around 5-10 minutes of warm-up music, then around 40minutes of good, solid tempo stuff and then a warm-down. I’ve listened to a few of them, and the music is really good. The episodes I listened to were a mix of dance, electronic and soul (as well, one of the episodes has a bit too much salsa and reggae for me). Good, uptempo stuff. I’ll probably take some of this out with me while mountain biking.
They don’t describe each podcast individually, so you’re never sure what you’re going to get – since they have so many episodes, it would be much better to have descriptions so you could choose the ones with the music you like best. Oh – and there are also some advertisements and calls to visit the Cadence Revolution website halfway through or so. They’re not too intrusive – unless they come during a killer song on some brutal climb, where you really need the music to help you get over it. In my case, it was on a casual road ride, so it didn’t really matter.
There is no instruction in these, so you’re free to design your own workouts, or pick one from the lists available in some of the sites in the Sufferfest Blogroll
- Spincast – Why Not Thrive?
- Price – Free (and that’s always good)
- Rating – * (out of *****)
- Summary – Live recordings of spinclasses don’t work well as spincasts
I stumbled on a promising-looking collection of spincasts tonight at a blog called Why Not Thrive? Turns out it’s the same group that also has some podcasts at iTunes under the “IndoorCyclingWorkout” label. I checked out a few of them – oddly, they’re hosted at the Internet Archive, and there is a whole host of audio download options.
What seems a promising start, however, is a bit of a let down. The music sounds ok, although a bit dated. The problem, though, is that the audio quality is very poor, and the instructor is hard to make out (although she sounds nice enough). It seems that these are live recordings of spin classes, which never translates well onto a spincast. In situations like this, the instructor doesn’t give enough detail on what to do because the class can see her…and you can’t. So you’re left to muddle around a bit and try to figure out what is going on and what might happen next. It makes it hard to concentrate on what your workout, and a bit frustrating.
Overall, I’d give these a miss unless you’re really in need of some new spincasts. If they can improve the sound quality, and the detail of the instruction, then I think they could be worth revisiting.
I ran across a few music podcasts geared specifically to running or indoor training. There’s two of them that I’m really impressed with.
- Indie Soup Runner – Finally! A workout soundtrack that isn’t techno! And it’s free! With all that going for it, you can hardly hold it against them that the podcast is for runners. ISR is a fantastic mix of indie pop music – Ting Tings, Go! Team, Infidels, Tokyo Police Club. High energy, great tunes and a perfect way to hear some new artists to download later (In fact, I just read their review of Cut Copy and downloaded it straight away). The site is also fantastic, with a lot of reviews, photos of foot fungus (?) and other downloads. Well done, guys. My days of mixing my own tracks might be over…
- Techno Sweat – Terrible name, great techno music. I don’t go too much for techno when training. What is better than Muse, really? But sometimes I’m in the mood for this – especially when I want to really punish myself on the bike. TechnoSweat has a bunch of free podcasts through iTunes (just search for TechnoSweat) that are worth a few spins. They also have tracks you can buy at their site, but I didn’t try that out.
-
The only thing you'll ever see in a Carmichael video podcast
Rating – * (out of *****)
- Summary – good workouts, but repetitive, boring video and music
- Price – 10 USD per playlist
- Download at Train Right
There is no doubt that Lance Armstrong’s coach, Chris Carmichael, knows what an effective workout is. Eight – whoops, sorry, seven Tour de France victories prove that. Perhaps a little of that expertise might do me good? To find out, I downloaded a series of his training podcasts – both video and audio.
First off, the trainright.com website is downright frustrating to use. Just getting around the place and figuring out what is what is a workout in itself. Chris – get some help with that site..I know some customer experience guys that can help you out.
Here is how the video podcasts work – you buy a “playlist” that’s arranged like one of Carmichael’s workouts. The playlist consists of video “tracks,” such as a 10minute warm-ups, 4minute “steady state” sessions, 2minute climbing sessions, 30 second sprints, 5 minute recovery sessions and 10minute warmdown as well. In theory, this is a great idea, as you can create your own workouts using the tracks you’ve downloaded.
Choosing from the 18 workouts available, I downloaded the “Over/Under” playlist, which is a 10min warm up, 1minute interval, 2minute recovery and then four repeats of 4minute steady states, 2minute climbing and 5 minute recovery. A 10min warm down closes the workout for a total of 15 “tracks” and 60minutes.
Now, Chris might know what he’s doing with workouts, but he certainly doesn’t know what he’s doing with indoor spinning. A big part of an indoor workout is that it keeps you entertained, and stays fresh. Halfway through this playlist, you’re hoping the bike breaks so you can get off and get your sanity back. Here’s why:
- The video is of someone riding a spin bike. My god. You have to be kidding. I get bored watching myself ride a spin bike – how boring is it watching someone else? Every once in awhile there is a close-up of a spinning crank, or hands moving to a new position on the bars. Whooeee! Granted, there is are some graphics on the screen indicating the desired effort and cadence level, and a countdown clock letting you know when the boredom is over. But it’s more a gimmick than anything else.
- Even though there are 15 tracks, there are only 6 videos. This is because every time you do, say, a four minute steady state, the same four minute steady state video plays. With the same music. With the same person. After the third repeat I wanted to chuck my iPod across the room. (Now, granted, I’m the kind of guy who likes a lot of variety to keep things interesting – if you like more familiarity, perhaps you like this repetition.)
- The music is an odd mix of rock and roll and grungy pop - none of which you have heard before, and little of which you want to hear again – and certainly not four times in the same workout! Not very motivating stuff. And the problem with a video podcast is that you can’t turn down the volume and listen to something else. Your iPod won’t let you do that. I did this workout a few times, and ran the video through iTunes on my iMac, and listened to different music on the iPod. The video wasn’t any more interesting though, and I soon stopped watching and just did the workout from memory.
In total, I downloaded three playlists, and while the workout itself is good, I would just as soon write it down on a piece of paper, turn on my own music and have at it. And, the good news is that you can do just that by clicking the link above. Write down the playlists, and then do them yourself without having to pay the 10 bucks that Carmichael wants for these videos.