Training & Nutrition - Indoor Cycling Classes

I just finished my first Indoor Cycling Class, and Oh Boy! what at workout. I was fairly sceptical that it would be aerobics on bikes, but it was a good cardio workout.

Much of the workout was out of the saddle, which is not a strength of mine. Some of the hill stuff reminded me of a couple of hills that I am friends with.

It is not riding, but still a good sweat.

Anyone else have some experiences?

I attend a spinning class every Monday with two co-workers, and today I went alone. I got a chance to talk to the instructor before class and mentioned that I was building a road bike and she said she would keep that in mind when preparing for class. Evidentally we have a couple of cyclist in the class. Even though it doesn't beat being on my bike, its nice to know the instructor is keeping that in mind.

:D

Just out of curiosity, what was the format of the Spinning session. Was it just an instructor and music, or was there a video too?

Also, as you try different instructors, you will be able to find one that fits what you want to get out of the workout better.

Mine was instructor and music. Techno club music - and not her choice, the CD player wasn't working. She just used the last cassette in the player.

Video.. now that sounds cool. Can't complain, class was only $4.

I attend a spinning classes on tuesdays and thursdays at my gym. There is a different instructor in each of the classes, and the style is very different. The tuesday class is definately a strength building class as most everything is slow, steep climbs. The thursday class is mostly endurance, varying from sprints to climbs. They are a great suppliment to riding, esp when the weather's bad. Not to mention the drill seargent figurehead keeps the motivation way up. :thumbup:

Well, I just broke down and bought myself an indoor trainer today...It's better than not doing anything at all, but I'd rather be outside. My question is: Do miles on the trainer count?

Sounds like a great fun way to get a good workout and keep in shape. I am trying to find somewhere near me to go to.
What kind of bikes do you use? are they special spinning trainers or just regular exercise bikes? I confess I haven't been to a gym more than a couple of times.

At my gym we using Schwinn Spinning (branded) bikes. They are essentailly a fixed gear bike with a heavy flywheel, and resistance pads. The other gym (my club's sister club) has Power Pacing (branded) bikes. These are essentially the same thing, but I like them a bit more. They don't seem to break down as often. But my gym keeps them pretty well maintained, so they are usually all up and running.

They are much better than a lifecycle bike or something similar. I think they do a fairly good job at recreating real bikes when the resistance is on.

At my gym its always just an instructor and some music. We have the Schwin bikes Sail Guy described. The best instructors are cyclists and the worse wanted to be a massage therapist (thank God she moved on). The best class I took was with an instructor who rides mtb. That class was awesome, I was the only one who knew what she was saying during the class.

I'm gonna try the 5:30 Am class on Wednesdays since I have school in the evening. Hopefully being up at the crack @$$ of dawn won't sour me on spinning.

This sounds like great fun.
The nearest place to me is likely to be a round trip of 35-40 miles which is through slow country lanes so I know I'll never have the time to go,( self employed)!
What I need is a recording of one of these spinning sessions so I can do it at home. Are they available on tape or video does anyone know?:)

I saw a Reebok tape for sale on ebay... try there!

Excellent thanks I'll take a peek:)

As other people have said the Instructor is the Key to a good class. I've been attending spin classes for the last 2 years and it does help maintain your base during the Winter months. We have an instructor that teaches Mon and Thurs and her class is always packed. She is really good. She informs the newbies that this is a difficult class and to go at their own pace. And for the Regulars, This is your Workout so make it as hard as you want. She mixes it up and for example Last night was Creepy Spin for Halloween. It was a blast. She also gets the students involved by playing different games. Like "Torture Your Neighbor" and "Run and Hide". In the first instance each student tells the class what to do for 30 seconds and everybody gets a turn.
The second game each student will alternate saying Run or Hide. when the say Run you Sprint the Next person will determine how long (20 Seconds Max)and then say Hide then you sit and spin until the next student says Run until everybody gets a turn.

I've also had some terrible instructors and actually walked out of the class after 15 minutes. Bad music, Bad tempo, did not know what to do. It can get really boring fast

So if you can find a good class use it as a tool to maintain your base and if you find a great instructor that will work with you, you can really get a great workout.:D

Class #2 for me today. Different instructor, so the class was different. This was the "Training Wheels" class, so of course I thought it would be an easy ride.

We did this one exercise that made us stand for 8 pedal revolutions and in the saddle for 8 revolutions for 30 seconds, then 7 standing-7 sitting for 30 seconds, 6 standing-6 sitting for 30 seconds, etc. to 1 standing-1 sitting for 30 seconds, and then back up the ladder. Wow.

I never expected so much standing. I am a stay in the saddle and work up the hill sort of guy. Standing wears me out to fast, but maybe this will change over the winter.

I also noticed something neat... clipless pedals. My bike has toe cages on one side and SPD on the other. I didn't see anyone else using them.

Hey gang!

I just signed up with the forum today. In addition to being an avid cyclist, I am also a Spinning(TM) instructor. I would be more than happy to answer any specific questions about the program, and anything more general to indoor cycling as well. You can post here, or email me at: demoncyclist2000@yahoo.com

NED

Hey Joe --- this might make a great subforum in Training & Nut.

Hello,

I just this Forum. Like demoncyclist, I too am a SPINNING® instructor.

I can offer my assistance as well if you have any questions about the SPINNING® program or indoor cycling in general. Feel free to send an email or make a post.

I'm glad to see that you all are having a good time with indoor cycling.

Good luck.
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Hey IP:

I forgot to mention one of the most important Fringe Benefits to the class. I'm usually the only guy in class and the the Ladies are always very friendly. Have you noticed this too?

Sshhhh. don't tell my wife.......;)

Okay, this is for the instructors..

What is your favorite "demonic" exercise you enjoy doing to get everyone's legs burning?

I knew you were sadists!

Originally posted by PrimalQ
Hey IP:

I forgot to mention one of the most important Fringe Benefits to the class. I'm usually the only guy in class and the the Ladies are always very friendly. Have you noticed this too?

Sshhhh. don't tell my wife.......;)
Funny where I live (Netherlands) the class is 50-50 men-women in the morning and mostly men in the evening.
Spinning is considered by most women to be too intensive. Apparently the average Dutch woman fears bikes that come with clipless or toecage.

I did 3 lessons/week last winter and a marathon class of 4 lessons (45 mins each) with just 5 min breaks in between.. the only gripe I have is that horrible modern music.. I'm convinced there is other music out there with a smilar beat but more palatable, like South American or African!
I like the kind of classes best that give speed, rather than strenght as I'm working out my legs as well and prefer to gain speed by spinning as fast as I can.

Okay, this is for the instructors..

What is your favorite "demonic" exercise you enjoy doing to get everyone's legs burning?


Sailguy,

There are several ways you can get your legs burning (such as running and seated or standing climbing).

I don't take my classes there much. I like to hit that burn zone periodically to build the tolerance for lactic acid.
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One of the instructors I enjoy taking classes from loves to do a vertical run, then holds the pedal stroke smooth (while grinning ear-to-ear as he watches everyone suffer as their quads burn) then immedately into hill sprints, followed by seated sprinting. Then back up and do it again. Usually we do 12 of them, but often count gets lost and it ends up at like 15.

I take his class just to do those :p

Are you people on this thread all Mtb bikers?

I checked out the spinning cycles at my nearest gym and they are hopeless for a road bike simulation, the angles are all wrong for a road bike posture.

Originally posted by willic
Are you people on this thread all Mtb bikers?

I checked out the spinning cycles at my nearest gym and they are hopeless for a road bike simulation, the angles are all wrong for a road bike posture.

I ride both. I like the classes for the cardio benefit, if I want to build strength then I lift weights. I cycle and go to spinning classes to get in better shape for tennis.

The only gripe I have with the gym is that they won't allow me to use my own pedals.. I actually don't even mind since both my pedals and their bikes are too expensive.. but as I'm using Speedplay which is extremely uncommon here, there's no other pedal like that one there.
I use the toeclips instead which is not bad, as I used toeclips till a few weeks ago.. worse is that I can't adjust to the mm (I'm a freak about proper distance) and the pedals are too long as well (I have 165mm cranks rather than the standard (?) 170mm cranks)... still, I guess that 2 lessons of 45 mins /week won't hurt me..

Ivana

Who exactly complains when swapping (or attempting to swap) the pedals? My gym keeps a wrench in the drawer under the cd-player just for that. And if the gym complained, the instructor would definately do it for me.

After raising a fuss, they installed SPD pedals everywhere, so now I don't have to worry about it anymore.

The instructor was extremely mad at me when I brought my own wrench 10 mins before the class started so that I could swap at ease. I hadn't tried them on my own bike yet. I had asked before and she said 'preferably not'.
However, when I asked someone else again (when there wouldn't be any classes, I tried them out for the first time). I wanted to do one lesson with them..

The trouble was.. the bike I used had a pedal which had damaged the thread so I wasn't able to gently screw in the pedals by hand. She thought I had screwed them up and was mad..

Apparently there were lots of people in the past who damaged their bikes by screwing/unscrewing stupidly.. I fly somewhere at least once a year and hence remember how to do it properly by now.

They do have SPD pedals, but I'm not sure where I left my shoes.. they gave me kneepain, that is why I switched to Speedplay Frogs:rolleyes:

Willic


I checked out the spinning cycles at my nearest gym and they are hopeless for a road bike simulation, the angles are all wrong for a road bike posture.

The theory behind the Johnny G SPINNER® bikes is that it simulates a tri-bike (triathlons). One of the Master Presenters said that the angles of the SPINNER® bike matches that of a Colnago frame (which one, I don't know). However, I wil agree with you when it comes to bike fit on the SPINNER®. Because of the holes in the vertical & and fore/aft seat post, some one may not get the best fit, especially if they fall in between the holes (like me).

The LeMond RevMaster bike corrected this by using a sliding posts with ruled markings on them. Someone can get a better fit on this bike. So far as for the angles though I don't know what they are. I feel a lot better on this bike (but I like the way the SPINNER® rides better).

Unfortunately, there are a lot of instructors out there (across all indoor cycling programs) who do not pay attention to properly fitting people on the indoor cycling bikes. This area often gets overlooked.

If you feel as though you are not fitted properly on you indoor cycling, ask the instructor to fit you on the bike. Most likely the instructor is assuming that you are ok on your bike.
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I had another class today, but another new instructor. She was a little different. The 45 minute class had a full 40 minutes of work with 5 minutes split before and after for warm up/cool down.

She did something new. She took a towel and covered the resistance adjuster. Then, she controlled the resistance for 30 seconds while I sprinted. Everybody got a turn, and everybody cheered each other on. It was fun.

Something new every time.

Originally posted by cyclochica
I attend a spinning class every Monday with two co-workers, and today I went alone. I got a chance to talk to the instructor before class and mentioned that I was building a road bike and she said she would keep that in mind when preparing for class. Evidentally we have a couple of cyclist in the class. Even though it doesn't beat being on my bike, its nice to know the instructor is keeping that in mind.

:D

I'd like to try a class. I suppose the one you found is too far from King George?

Which means the video or book on it would be the nect option.

Joe
:beer:

Originally posted by joeprim


I'd like to try a class. I suppose the one you found is too far from King George?

Which means the video or book on it would be the nect option.

Joe
:beer:

My Uncle used to live in King George. The class is in Reston, which is probably a journey for you. Couldn't you go across that god awful bridge near 301 and see if there are any classes in MD?
I think you should get a trainer if you don't already have one and buy a video.

Originally posted by cyclochica


My Uncle used to live in King George. The class is in Reston, which is probably a journey for you. Couldn't you go across that god awful bridge near 301 and see if there are any classes in MD?
I think you should get a trainer if you don't already have one and buy a video.

Reston is a trip from here. The PR of Md.
Humm. There is a couple of stationary bikes at the NSWC gym. And maybe getting a trainer and a tape.
Thanks
Joe
:beer:

The class is in Reston, which is probably a journey for you.

Where in Reston do you take classes? How do you like your instructor?
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