Cross training on Spinner
 

HI,
When I do my weight training at the Gymn , I try to do 30 mins of hard work on a spinner bike,
How do you measure training hard on a spinner for 30 min.s
Its says I went 16 miles, Revs are 90-110 and talk about sweat..
My legs feel used abit after that short ride, does it help train your legs.
I normally ride 23-32 miles a day , after spinning 20 mins I do a Nautilus circuit with hard leg training reps
but light on upper body.
Doug

Gym training in general is good for the cross training. But so is going for a brisk 5 mile walk- digging the garden and hoovering the lounge. Only thing is that at the gym- you will work harder. You will work just as hard on a bike going up a 2 mile 10% hill than at a gym aswell.

Now a Spinning class at the gym will emulate going for a hard ride. Not as enjoyable but you will work and you will sweat. My only problem with it is- it only works the muscles and body parts that you would normally work on a bike ride. To keep in "Better" fitness for riding- you do have to work the rest of the body so that it does not deteriorate. And this is where the Gym does have an advantage. You can use a Cross trainer to work the upper body- the rowing machine to work the abdomen- and other torture machines that work the rest of the body.

I do manage to get to the gym for about 2 months of the year and I do the cross training on 5 or 6 machines that work different parts of the body. It may be still mainly cardio-vascular and legs that are worked- but the legs are worked in a different way to build up different leg muscles- and it is not often that I can get the HR up to 95% for as long as I do at the gym.

But other than the 45 minute spinning class once a week- I limit bike work to just 10 minutes at a time. 10 hard minutes up a variable hill at a fast pace. I just do a hard workout and have to admit that 10 minutes on the bike- coupled with the other 50 minutes or so on the other machines- will do more for my fitness than a 4 hour or so ride at the weekends. It just is not as enjoyable.

I would call it 30 minutes of hard work on a spinner bike.

Heart rate monitor?

Perceived exertion?

Talking test?

I use Heart Zone Training workouts with a HRM. That's the only way I know to actually quantify your workout so that you know it's doing some good. They have, I think, 30+ workouts; most are in the 45-minute to 1-hour range (with warm-up and warm-down). Workouts vary in intensity and give a good variety. I had a couple of my best racing seasons from a fitness standpoint when I adhered to it religiously all winter.