Spin Class?
 

So... Mrs Turnin2 joined my gym recently and has gotten excited about the classes they offer. So far she has done water aerobics and something called Zumba. She is a decent cyclist and she wants to do a spin class now, and she wants me to go with her.

Should I turn in my "Semi-Serious Roadie" card? Should I go? What do they wear? What about shoes? Will I be the only guy?

Feel free to flame away.

I do spin at my gym once or twice a week depending on how I feel. It is a one hour classs, you use Shimano SPD pedals, or you can use your regular gym shoes in a pedal cage. I found it worthwhile because of time constraints. One hour, good workout.

Usually in my class of about 40 bikes or so, about 5 males are in there. So mostly ladies. I wear regular bike shorts and a sleeveless gym t-shirt, but I cover my cycling short with a gym short until I actually get to the spinning room.

Oh, a bottle of water always. It is intense, and the music helps a lot. Another thing I do is that I don't always follow the commands of the instructor, as I work on whatever I want to work on. A couple of examples of this is that I work heavily on the roundness of my pedal strokes, one-legged pedal drills, intervals and riding off the saddle extensively. I have found some nice improvement in how long I can ride standing up, off my seat, while climbing outdoors.

It can be fun!

If the spin bikes are any good, go for it. The ones at my gym have decent saddles and clipless pedals. They are also so adjustable that you can just about mimic the position on your real bike. I have never been the only guy; it's usually 40-60 to 50-50. One more thing, if you value your hearing, bring earplugs.

I wear regular gym clothes and my MTB shoes with cleats. If you want, you can wear a full on team kit sans helmet and call it a day.

define.

FGO...for girls only! For crying out loud...:roflmao2:

I do two spin classes a week. It has helped my hill climbing a lot because you can turn up the resistance.

It's like a man card, but for a guy with a $3K bike who can't climb hills.

As taga mentioned, if you are gonna stick with it, then a good mountain bike shoe is nice to have. I did not need to buy new shoes, as I already had two pairs of mountain bike shoes with cleats for my occasional mountain bike jaunts.

ah, a prutser. got it.

Go with an open mind and decide for yourself.

Be prepared to pedal the 'correct' way and not the way the teacher says...

My spin classes have more guys than girls in them. You can make a spin class as hard as you want. I try to do one classes with high cadence and one with low cadence and more resistance so I cover hill climbing and intervals on two different days.

And ignore the teacher if she wants you to do pushups on the handlebars.

Yeah, when they start doing pushups on the handlebars, I just don't pay any attention. One of my trainers is a roadie and they don't do pushups. I walk out when the spinning stops and they start doing stretching exercises.

is this a real thing?

Jog ftw

I can see why you'd be dubious, but sadly it is a real thing.

screw that, im going to stick with my shakeweight intervals on my arrow bars.

I have had four different teachers at my spin classes, and none of them has ever asked for pushups or something like that on the handlebars. They'll have you do some torso stretches at the start and leg stretches at the end. That's it.

Spin classes are good bang for the buck time-wise. One hour and you can work as hard as you want.

I have two spin instructors and one has us do bar pushups and one doesn't.

Sheesh. Grow up. Some of those girls would drop you.

I agree. There are more men in my spin classes than women and some of the women would drop most men on hills. If you are trying to be a better cyclist, have more endurance and be faster than spin classes will help you.

let's not get carried away.

Well, while I won't emphatically say it has made me a better cyclist, I can report that I improved dramatically my ability to climb off saddle since I started spin class. More stamina to sustain my off the saddle climbing is what I mean.

Agree, I ride with a couple of girls who also do spin classes. One will drop me anytime she wants and I can't do anything about it. The other is getting to the point that I'm worried, to the point I'm worried and thinking about joining a class myself! I ride 600-700 miles a month but will probably join a classes soon as the daylight starts cutting into my riding time during the week.

Personally I do not care what anyone thinks. Girly? Weak? Last time I checked spinning classes give you the opportunity to go as hard with as much resistance as you like. The only thing "weak" here is if you care so much about what other people would think of you that you let it affect the things you do.

I used to go 3 times a week during the most rainy months here. Yeah, yeah I know, real men ride in all types of wheather. I dont mind cold, personally just dont want to deal with rain unless its on my commute.

Another vote here for the positives of spin classes. When I get on a real bike all I want to do is ride and see the country. I would much rather have someone barking orders at me forcing me to train instead of doing it myself. That is what the spin classes are for.

Been taking spin classes for 15 year during the winters in Chicago. Definitely a good option when there's several feet of snow on the ground.

It helps if your instructor is a cyclist, who also happens to have decent taste in music. The biggest benefits IMO is having to put in fewer base miles when spring rolls around. Classes are pretty even boy/girl.

Spin classes are legit. They're also great.

I'm not a speedy rider, but I'm fast enough that it's tough for me to ride with any recreational (non-racing) riders or even the several "B" rides in the area without ending up either solo or with only one guy riding with me as the pace is usually too slow. This became sort of a bummer in a triathlon training group that I was with for a few years, as I was friends with a lot of folks there but couldn't bike with any of them due to the speed differential.

In a spin class though, it's all good. I can hammer as hard as I want, and I can still get teh camaraderie of training hard with all the folks, both beginner or expert. It's also great because the instructor quality doesn't really matter once you're ready to hammer - whenever they say 'go hard!' you just push the pace as hard as you want. In times where it was dark out and I was time crunched, I've done AM spin classes where most of the folks there were retired folks barely moving the pedals, but I was happily making a sweat puddle in the back corner.

I do spin classes on occasion just for variety. They can be pretty goofy, but you can modify the exercises to your own ends (cadence drills, intervals, etc.) and of course you can turn the resistance up as high as you desire. I sit toward the back corner so as not to be a distraction if I chose to deviate from what the instructor is doing. I also usually wear earplugs to attenuate the too loud music and the instructor's inane exhortations and shrieks of encouragement.