Miller2

I just bought my first Spinerval tape.."Sweating Buckets". Quite frankly I did not find it to be very challenging. Now....before I am accused of being cocky, let me ask a few questions.

First of all, I have been pretty much off my workout routine since Jan 12 due to surgery. I have just been back on the bike over the past couple weeks.

One thing I noticed in the tape was that everyone had a double whereas I have a triple. When Troy said to use the small chainring, I used my middle ring as comparable to their small ring. Obviously I used my large when they used their large. My question would be, is that in fact comparable or is my middle ring an easier spin than their small ring?

Another thing would be when Troy tells you to spin at a certain effort level such as 60%. 60% of what? Max heart rate? Available energy at that moment? How do I gauge 60 or 90%?

There is only 1 section where cadence is used. During the other sections should I be spinning at a certain cadence?

It was a fair workout at best unless I am doing something wrong. Advice or comments are welcome.

supcom

It's all relative. Since you are unlikely to have the same trainer as those in the tape, your resistance level is going to vary from theirs in any gear combination. When the guy says 90%, he means 90% of your maximum effort. How you judge that is up to you, but I'd say that 90% is going almost all out and 60% is a little bit harder than easy spinning.

You could use heart rate, but by the time your heart rate catches up with you, chances are you'll be changing exertion levels.

edzo

sweating buckets is one of the first spinervals.

after that coach troy got better at directing specific
cadences and efforts.

but

nomatawhat

if you think sweating buckets is easy, then crank up the load
and do it again, and maintain 110 rpm the whole time.

you won't think it is easy then.


people should ride spinervals as perceived effort, and not lock
directly into specific gears. I use a v-bike, and my effort levels
go from 1 to 5 (sometimes with half-steps between the digits)

1 is easy...the equiv of troy's small/15...some load but this is the
rest gear.

2 is big/23

3 is big/20

4 is big/13

5 is big/12

5 should be the hardest possible to turn over, barely 60rpm.

use judgement on the load you feel, not the actual gearing.
as I sez before...if you think it is easy then crank up the tension
till you suffer some...or a lot. depending on the workout.

Miller2

Yea thats a good point. I can just ride it at an increased effort.

GuitarWizard

Get the CTS Criterium workout. That should keep you occupied for a bit .

Miller2

Is that a Carmichael dvd?

Miller2

Ok..I adapted my use of gears to better mirror the video......damn near wore myself out! Thats what I expected!!

GuitarWizard

Yeah....the Time Trial one isn't bad either, if you're looking to really improve the aerobic system