[Closed] Any SPIN instructors (or fanatics) on here?

Lesbian spin class perchance?

Music-wise my ideal spin class would be dance remixes of the current radio one playlist interspersed by some heavier stuff - pendulum, prodigy, old school Moby etc.

I'm annoyed by instructors who demand so many sprints that you can't possibly really sprint them all, and ones that do silly press-up things on the bars. Avoid that and i'd be happy/motivated.

make sure everyone can hear your instructions - stopped going to one class as had no idea what was going on

best class i went to the instructor really worked at getting you to work with the rhythm of the music - i'd never really got this before and realised i'd missed out - think had a fancy cd player where you could slightly change the speed

Good music;
None o' that press up nonsense;
More climbing rather than sprinting;
Fit burds.

(In no particular order).
😆

As above.

Also suggest doing pyramid sessions building up a few different exercises from 20 seconds to a minute e.g. sitting climb, followed by standing climb, followed by 60/70% effort, and finally a sprint, then repeat for 40 seconds and then repeat for a minute.

Another one I like is high intensity time-trialling for 3/4 minutes.

Also quite good to get the class members involved in choosing the next exercise e.g. for one track ask individuals to chose either a standing climb, a seated climb, seated sprint or standing sprint - can also help you to get to know their names which is always a good thing.

Finally also focus on technique (and even bike set up) - its amazing the appalling lack of technique that some people have - and perhaps more worryingly the lack of guidance from the instructor.

Don't keep winching the resistance up higher and higher - unless you're training them all for track team sprint standing starts, it isn't needed.

Make any "climbs" last a good 10 minutes - that'll get them sweating.

Back when I had a gym membership, I used to do back to back 45 min spin classes. Grr!

i thought you had to be trained to be a spin instructor?

anyway, i'm a spin fantatic - i go up to 4 times a week in winter time, (too nice to be inside in the summer), and the classes are 45mins - 1hr.

music is important, clear instructions, time to recover (but not enough time to fall asleep), and variety. don't single people out in the class and tell them to work harder etc - seen it done a few times in the classes i go to, and it usually ends with words being said. the one thing i really hate is when an instructor makes you do stuff like press ups on the bars, arms work, dance etc - fortunately there's only one in my gym who does this and i avoid her classes. the standing up for 8, sitting for 8, then switching to 4 is quite good.

Thanks for that guys, its a big help. DGOAB, yes i have been trained and will be a full time fitness instructor in 3 weeks. BUT i have never lead a spin class and although i have been training it is always nerve wracking doing it first time with all eyes on you 😕

ah well im off to my first one tomorrow, ive got a broken collarbone and its all i can do for another couple of weeks,

lycra or not hmmm....

joking

foxy did u do the instructor bit in one go or over a period of time?

i looked at doing a 9 week one with premier fitness when i came out the marines but i couldnt afford to take a massive pay drop.

good luck with the class, it will be great

Thanks macmclaren. I did a 3 month full time F.I course. Hard work but hated my office job as a paralegal. 🙂

quality, nothing like following your dreams.
hope it works out for u

Agree with dirtygirl about the press ups if I want to work upper body I lift weights. Another thing that annoys me is instructors that start screeching

We had an instructor who took in a pack of cards - each suit was a different activity - sprint, climb, whatever, and the number of the card was the amount of time - times 10 - in seconds, so the 4 of hearts might be a 40 second sprint - good for mixing it up.

One really clever instructor actually mapped out an imaginary ride, gentle warm up, couple of hills, flat out sprint, all in time to different beats of music

Am trained too. Used to run 90 minute classes which i setup to be a sort of 'mimic' of a few well known rides in these parts i.e. had roughly the same sort of climbs and flats etc. Put music too it then put in some group sprints and KoM and QoM type stuff. Was alwyas full with a waiting list which i was quite proud of. Got bored of it though and anyway it was usually full of my mates who were avoiding riding around in grotty weather !

Best instructor I've had was a real roadie, he used to have great music and never said much - he just got the class to really imagine the hills, climbs and sprints as if they were actually riding a real bike. He used to dim the lights and get you to really follow the music along the "road". Excellent classes, used to go so quickly, you didn't realise how hard you'd worked.

It's really important to keep the rhythm, so you need music that doesn't stop / change beat all the time. As others have said, don't push it up so people can't possibly do it all, and tell them how long the next climb / sprint etc is going to last, so they can judge how much to put into it.

Good luck - you'll love it!

"i was made for loving you" by Kiss
"living on a prayer" Bon Jovi
"final countdown" Europe

all cheesey cr4p but great at spinning class

Foxylaydee - how did you go about getting qualified? What costs are involved?

One really clever instructor actually mapped out an imaginary ride, gentle warm up, couple of hills, flat out sprint, all in time to different beats of music

Same here. He used Born Slippy by Underworld for a relentless climb / sprint section. Ooof.

wors, i did an advanced personal training course combined with cert in gym instruction. Spin training was optional but it was included in the G.I course so it made sense to me due being a mountain biker and taking part in spin classes 3 times a week myself. Total for the course was approx £1k but thats a small price to pay for me to be able to leave my office job behind 🙂
Thanks again to all for the advice - yea i'm told most of the best spin instructors are roadies but i really dislike road cycling - i do regular triathlons and i absolutely dread the road ! If i could swim another 50 lengths instead i would 🙂

The stand for 8, sit for 8.....then 6, then 4, then 2 is good and gets the old thighs reet burning.

We also used to do sprints from one end of the class to the other, one at a time but it was a small class so probably not possible in large groups, unless you maybe have sections sprinting while other sections recover.

How long after you broke it did you start excersise macmclaren? Broke mine Sat, still hoping to do C2C Scotland 4 weeks tomorrow so need to keep legs going.

wors, correction - total cost was approx £3.5k. 1k was just for the Gym Instruction. All done and dusted in 5 months though(can be done quicker if you dont have other work commitments)

really dislike road cycling - i do regular triathlons and i absolutely dread the road

Ah, that's because triathlons aren't real road cycling.... 😉

i broke mine 2 weeks ago mate and im only just going to spin classes. Only cos its all i can do. Im sorry to put a downer on your plans but i wouldnt expect to be able to train for an event for at least 3-4 weeks. But if u manage it then good on you. As im self-employed now and not working while im broken im being pretty anal about resting and tsking on lots of calcium etc.

Best advice mate is rest and healthy eating cos your bod needs the nutrients to heal.

Good luck and i hope you make the event 😀

mac

Cheers. I don't want to train untill it's set, but going to have to as soon as I can. Thanks for advice, and good luck with yours.

Who did you train with? I've just done my gym instructor and thinking of doing a spin course to add to my qualifications.

good climbing one is the Gorillaz one about a Mountain - think it is "Fire Coming out of a Monkey's head" but might be "Every planet we reach is dead"

for sprints there is a Robbie one with a slow chorus and fast verses (or vice versa) - not my sort of thing but good for sprints and recovery. About 10 years old but God knows what it was called - anyone?

best instructor i had was a disgustingly fit cheerful bloke called Andrea who was in the Brazilian Triathlon Team - could spin up hill at 110 cadence with a grin on his face.........

I have a Turbo and do it three times a week for about an hour.

Start - Put on some good high pace drum and bass and get 2 litre bottles of juice / water

10 minute warm-up

3 x high cadence 1 minute @ 120 with 30 seconds slow in between

then

6 x 3.30 minutes at 80% followed by 3.30 minutes at 90%

cool down

stretches

This is a very hard set, I use it to train for 25 mile TTs. It will get them fit.

I used to go to a class (also done by a roadie) who would get quite descriptive with scene setting etc - bit cheesy but helps.

e.g. we're all cycling down a hilly road by the beach, sun's shining and we're racing blah, blah, blah..you can see the other team ahead and we're all going to work together and reel them in etc

If done right and you get everyone onboard worked well and gave it a bit more of a team feel rather than everyone working as individuals...

Just my thoughts anyway!