Spinning Classes @ Gym
 

I am down the Gym quite often , and they have a spinning class there. I could not see the sense of just spinning at fast speeds, when I can do that on my mountain bike on rides. Last Night I tried a class, and joined in. No pressure, do what you want to at the level you want to, and slow down if necessary. I thought I was fit, but this was the hardest workout I have had all winter. 1 hour with the heart rate running at 90% for the whole time. I know that is how I normally ride to enable me to stay with the youngsters, but I do have a few rests at the top of hills waiting for the rest. Not on that spinning class though. No rest, slacken off for a bit occasionally, but work- work -work was the by word of the night. It may have been because I am a cyclist so I did not want to be shown up, but as I say, it was the best workout of the winter. I have booked in for the next 6 weeks classes now, but I won't be doing the 2 hours gym and weights work beforehand.

If any of you have the chance to join in on this type of class, Do it

By the way, My legs were killing me this morning.

Stap,

yep... about 1.5 years ago I thought i was in decent shape.. I had been running a bit.. been riding for about 8 months or so... figured I would RULE the spin class... I got my ass handed to me... After 20 minutes I was dying... I enarly gave up.. but contiuned on to the end.. I could barely walk the next day.

it is a good workout.. if anything to work on your spin, and get your heart and lungs in top shape

jeff

what kind of people are dominating these spin classes? seems odd to me that so many cyclists i talk to get completely walloped in there.

From what I saw last night, bloody fit people. there were only 3 that looked as though they knew what they were doing but they all had me working to stay with them. One was me, one was the instructor, and a small petite female, that did not look as though she had the strength to turn the pedals. The others were in it to improve their fitness, and they were fit, 3 from the local running club, 2 16year old lads, and a granny that told me afterwards "I used to cycle to work each day in Brighton. I gave it up last year when I retired" Brighton is 28 miles away with a big hill in the way, and she was 65. Her bike by the way was a top rate racing bike, a Bianchi, that she paid £1400 for 2 years ago. Incidentally, this was only the beginners class. The real good ones are in higher classes that are fully booked every week.

Then there's the story of the lithe lady who leads a spinning class at my gym. She came out for one of our training rides and got dropped very early in the hills.

I think a lot of it is that cyclists generally pedal 80-90 rpms on average.. and in the spin class they got you crankd up well over 100 a lot of the time... then you start adding tension to the wheel, it is a pretty tough workout... it's definitely not the same as riding on the road... there is no coasting !

jeff

I can barely keep up in a spinning class. I dread it. I only stand about 25% of the time but I do pretty good out on the road. On a week-long bike trip, we had the pleasure of a spinning instructor and a personal trainer as part of our group. We had to continually wait for them on hills. Spinning is a great workout, but they do not stress power. My husband can kick my butt in class, but he can barely put 50 miles in on the road.

But then I see so many people letting that 40-pound wheel just spin their legs around. I always half to yell out to them to apply more tension.

I teach and take spinning classes. The ones I teach stress adding resistance to the flywheel. I also emphasize using heart rate monitors, and I use a metronome to clock cadence. If someone is over 90 rpms, they will add that resistance on until I am satisfied that they have control over the wheel, and they have enough resistance to challenge themselves during class. I also periodize my classes for a 12 month training cycle so that there is progression in the classes. There isn't any trick my students don't try that I haven't shot them down on. They are strong and healthy and can kick butt when they go out there on their bikes and ride- I encourage them to go out and ride, and I am probably the only spinning instructor happy to see my class mostly empty in the warm months, since they do go out and ride! We don't do anything on the bike we can't do outside on the bike- I want them to apply what they learn inside to what's outside, so no crazy spinning, no crazy or fast jumps, no overloading with resistance to the point you can't move the legs in a full circle, etc.

I can't stand about 99% of the classes I take from other instructors at other clubs. They are the classes that nightmares are made of. Sometimes, I wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night after I dream about them.

Anyone using spinning classes where the instructor demonstrates good form, proper cadence, heart rate monitoring, and application to the road cycling will do well when they go outside on the bike. But if they're fit folks and they get outside and can't keep up, they're getting absolutely nothing from their classes, and they need to find a new class. It's unfortunate that there are so many aerobic bunnies out there teaching, but then again, some of the worst instructors I've taken classes from are also roadies. Just because you know how to ride a bike doesn't mean you know how to teach it either...

Koffee

Just as an aside from the comments made on this subject, Koffee is right, the instructor has to be good, otherwise the workout will not be correct, and most of us/you have to be pushed to get anything out of a session like this. With regard to spinners not making good sports cyclists, I can understand this. You may be the fittest person out there, but unless you ride a bike regularly, you don't don't understand the finesse required to ride one. When to change gear, when to put in effort, or when to recognise that the body has to back off now, for the next 5 hills that are coming in. This is why so many of us cyclists have also said that we find the spinning classes hard. What a spinning class is to me, is a very hard cardio-vascular session, that I hope will get easier as I do a few more of them.

Glad it wasn't just me had problems in spinning... :)

The fast cadence stuff while sitting I found really, really easy.

Once he got us to stand in the pedals and cycle, I died far too quickly, and had to sit before everyone else.

Suppose thats what I get for being a lump... :)

It does get easier. I also use them for cardiovascular work and it has helped me on my rides. I find I'm going up hills easier than last year, but I still don't like hills. My recovery times are getting better.

This is the REAL advantage! There's no problem with suffering a bit as long as you can recover quickly and fully.

-mark

spinning is what keeps me in shape during the winter months. i love them

The nice thing about spinning is that just about everyone can set their own level of difficulty and still "keep up" if they want to. You really can't compare fitness to your classmates, because you don't have any idea how much resistance they are working with. The problem most cyclists (myself included) have in spinning classes, is that they come out too hard...thinking they can kick ass....it's really no different than on the road.

If you use a HRM, and don't overdo it, just about anyone should be able to keep up in a class and get a terrific workout.

Dont' bother trying to compare yourself to others as you can't even if you try.

That's because most "cyclists", unfortunately only wanna put on their $600 worth of clothes, including those shiny white girly arm-warmers, and roll along the local drag doing 17mph. If you talk to 'em they just say: "oh, it's my easy day", then you see 'em doing the same thing for the next four days!!!

I spent last year doing the whole spinning thing, but it was one where you brought your bike and trainer into the gym for a good 2 and a half hour 'group ride'. When we finally hit the road for a real group ride I found that I could beat the people who were whupping me in the class. Bike handling skills and years of road riding can make up for the age/fitness differential that are not accounted for when stationary.

This year I just bit the bullet and rode in the freezing cold but when it got below zero I would supplement with some time on the trainer.

Let's be honest: this is mostly becasue many cyclists (not you, SipperPhoto) ride for months without ever really training super hard. Do you often see cyclists on the road absolutely hammering, or do you usually see them spinning along at 19 mph? I seldom see riders really hammering. So, they get to these classes only half fit, wanna show off by puttin' the hammer down, then they get found out.

I have another theory: cyclists aren't accustomed to the warm, humid, indoor, windless situation. All that heat makes your heart rate go up more so than it would if you were out on the rode with a bit of a wind, and it was 60 degrees F.

Koffee,
This is exactly my goal! My job does not let me get out on the road as much as I would like. I depend heavily on a 5 a.m. spin class. Is there any book or website that would illustrate in more detail the points you talked about?
Thanks,
W.J.

Not really, unfortunately. I work with the Heart Zones Cycling, which was started by Sally Edwards. Their website is www.heartzones.com. Any books by Sally Edwards will point you in that direction, but start with Sally Edwards book called "The Heart Rate Monitor Book". Once you grasp your mind around those concepts, then grab another book of hers called "The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Outdoor and Indoor Cyclists". Those would be two good starter books.

For thoughts on form and technique, pick up the books by Ed Burke (Dr. Burke). He has a couple of books I can think of: "Serious Cycling" and "High Performance Cycling".

For the visualizations, try books by Jerry Lynch, or a book Jerry wrote with Chungliang Al Wong called "Thinking Bodies, Dancing Minds". I thought that was an awesome read.

Thanks :)

I started spinning a couple of months ago and have found it a great help to my form while standing on the bike. For years I knew this was a weakness of mine and would flounder like a fish during the periods that I stood while climbing. After just these couple of months I can stand while climbing and recover slightly while gaining or at a minimum staying at a steady speed.

I know what you mean... because of spin class I now feel more comfortable out of the saddle for longer periods of time... Also, has helped my form to get rid of the knee pain. My form is not perfect by any means… I still have a long way to go. ;)

Florida here,
No hills but I did 100 miles last saturday in hot 90 degrees F and humid!

This would be my road bike as of now(two days before the ride). I'm looking to get a 2004 Giant OCR once I start working this summer though. I'm only 16...

One of my good friends and teamates is a spin instructor at the Y here. She also races with the Cat IV men around the Southeast. She rides our hardest training rides with us, and was complaining about not having enough gear, turns out she had a 52 on the front and a 13 on the rear, and was spinning it out in the tailwind.

Tough as nails, and cute too!

They guy on the far left looks a bit baffled no?

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2848/kat12.jpg