I’ve just done my first session, people had warned it’s harder than you think so I didn’t go in guns blazing but found it perfectly manageable and was quite spent by the end of it (and the ride home).

It’s quite good with all sorts of intervals and now I’m no longer working shifts the other option is to train on the road in the dark and wet, which I wouldn’t mind if kelloggs weren’t giving out driving licences in corn flakes boxes…

Anyway I found it bearable, almost enjoyable but does it give good results? The resistence is self regulated so I can make it proper hard but is 45mins enough to get a good workout on the bike? Not currently feeling burny legs walking upstairs like I would afetr a good interval session on the road bike…

Then you should have added more resistance. I’m not sure how your class works but the one I do (tomorrow morning incidentally) the instructor says throughout the percentage of our max effort we should working at so if you find it pretty easy going then just make it harder.

You’re a cyclist – just stick the resistance up full and keep it there for the duration of the class.

I suspected so, was my first session so still gauging! I’ll crank it up a bit more next time

My only real complaint is that it isnt competitive, a ride with mates is a race, a solo ride is a strava race but at spin class you just get on with it with nothing to gauge effort..

It’s still a race, just need to push faster and harder than everybody else!

No bike prep or cleaning, no traffic, no weather, top tunes, easy to manage your input level and there are lots of laydeez in lycra.

Trying to see a negative.

Trying to see a negative.

The puddle of sweat on the floor, the big red face and the little bit of vomit in the back of your throat.

Wear a heart rate monitor, turn on Strava, choose spinning, try and beat last sessions Suffer score 😀

They’ve also had the great idea of a projector with local Island rides, unfortunately I had to sit through the slowest run ever of some locaal singletrack from a wobbly gopro!

But yes o the whole less than 2 quid a session means I’d probably spend more in drivetrains and tyres through the winter, no weather and mostly no risk of being killed by a ‘sorry didn’t see you there’. ladies in lycra is an added bonus.

Top idea there cruz, I thought strava would only map you if you were moving, never noticed the spin activity

I do them all the time and noticed a big difference in my fitness. I first did them far to hard, learned to back off a bit and fine the settings I could give myself a proper work out on and it’s al been good. The best thing is to get good instructor.

How do you record spinning in strava?

mikesbikes71 – Member
How do you record spinning in strava?

I usually work out approximately what gear ratio the resistance equates to. Then take the total cadence number after the session. I then do some calculations and end up with a pretty good idea of how far I would have travelled had I been outside on a bike. I then put strava on in the car on the way back home; sometimes I need to do a few extra laps round hollywood park to make up the total distance.

^^^^ thread closed! 😆

I used to ride to the gym do a double class and then ride home, I never felt like I’d not done enough 🙂

I used to try and ‘beat’ the instructor which was hard when they swapped to a new instructor for the 2nd class.

Moved away from the job I was doing and couldn’t get to the same classes, would love to find the time to do a couple of classes a week but prioritise MTB rides 2 x a week instead, the joy of being 50, employed and having a family I guess 🙂

The class I go to is good (well, used to go to) as it has a beat board – all the bikes are wired into it and it shows power output at any moment and then ranks everyone according to total energy for the class. Leads to some proper hard psychological battles and made a big difference to me. Also get an email afterwards with stats and a graph of your last 20 classes. I could really see my improvement.

Strava – pah!

ononeorange; What gym was that?

ononeorange, be suggesting this to my mate who runs our local. I’m just starting a fitness degree course with the OU part of which requires me to get a gym instruction certificate so might go down the Spinning route for that!

Been spinning for years, how hard it is depends on what instructor you get. Some are really dull and are not very clear with instructions making it hard to get a good work out.

However, we have one that will notice if you put in 99% instead of 100%, and really push everyone. This chap also puts together a good class and I really find his class very hard. Harder than childbirth sometimes, just a little shorter.

Simone

Not quite a spinning class but a mate of mine runs Watt Bike classes (sneak ad – Rolling Dynamics in Epsom) and you train according to power. It’s a damn good workout.

I used to ride with a group and there was a lad there who abandoned us in October to do spin classes instead. We kept riding through the winter and he rejoined us in the spring.

He was fit as a butchers dog. First fire road climb and he was off, pretty much out of sight in seconds. When we got to the single track though he came off on the first corner. And pretty much every corner. He had lost pretty much all his handling skills and it took him a few rides to get them back. We were all very sympathetic and didn’t laugh at him at all. Probably. 😀

Moral – spin classes are great for fitness but don’t forget to ride your bike!

Muppetwrangler – cycle beat http://www.cyclebeat.co.uk – it’s in London, very close to my office. A really good bunch of people, most of them are real cyclists, great atmosphere.

Been thinking about this anyone recomend a good one in Sheffield

does it give good results?

My mate swears it led him to his club TT victory and numerous tri victories whilst he was recovering from a broken collarbone.

Although he’s the slow twitch type who won’t do an interval unless forced to, so it’s debatable wether or not any other interval training would’ve also seen him succeed.

I’m considering starting spinning classes now. I have had to give up normal interval training as due to arthritis in my knees.
I’m assuming that like cycling, spinning doesn’t put pressure through the knees? Or does the extra resistance make it more like riding a singlespeed?

ononeorange: Thanks, sounds good, shame there’s nothing like that local to me.

I’m assuming that like cycling, spinning doesn’t put pressure through the knees? Or does the extra resistance make it more like riding a singlespeed?

A lot will depend on the instructor and the sort of programme they put together. Some will have you in all sorts of unnatural position on the bike that will put awful strains on your knees so much so that I’ve skipped those sections in the past and just pedal a seated effort until the class returns to normal. Other instructors will put together a class that feels much more closely related to the sort of efforts that you’d typically do on a bike.

In most classes there will be a session of slow cadence / high resistance work at some point but if this bit is likely to cause you grief then explain to the instructor beforehand and do your own thing for a few minutes until that bit is done with and then join back in with everyone else.

Over the winters in NZ I did some s’pin’ classes when you took your own bike and hooked in up to a turbo – then did an hour’s session with a TdF video on the big screen. Was great for getting some extra training in through the winter (cheers stevious for getting me in to that!).

I also did some gym based spinning. It wasn’t really as good as a representative workout on the bike but it was still a good cardio workout. If I was going to a gym I’d rather be enhancing my gunz anyway 😉

I tried and tried to get into it, firstly my instinct to freewheel nearly had my head through the suspended ceiling, but mostly my local place feels the need to run the place like a rave – the worst kind of blaring 90s button music and incomprehensible shouting from the instructor in an darkened room full of flashing lights, it’s sensory overload for me.

I’ve done them in the past, a few years ago. One thing I didn’t like was the resistance you dialled up had no real reference, so it was difficult to replicate settings. That’s more the bikes in use though I suppose

Really good.

Just don’t try and follow *all* of their instructions.

First time I went I bust a gut dilligently adding a full turn everytime the instructor said. Even though I was fit at the time, I was sweating buckets and blowing steam out of my arse. Got off the bike and couldn’t even stand up. My knees kept buckling and going the wrong way when I tried to walk, like your first go on QWOP.

The next time I went I looked at what the others were doing, most hardly touched the bloody dial, no resistance whatsoever on the thing.

P-Jay – Member
my instinct to freewheel nearly had my head through the suspended ceiling,

And this 😆

ononeorange – Member

The class I go to is good (well, used to go to) as it has a beat board – all the bikes are wired into it and it shows power output at any moment and then ranks everyone according to total energy for the class. Leads to some proper hard psychological battles and made a big difference to me. Also get an email afterwards with stats and a graph of your last 20 classes. I could really see my improvement.

Strava – pah!

That sounds good 😀 whereabouts is that?

Smashed it this morning after a nightshift, we did a block of half an hour non stop followed by 2 mins of light work to recover then another 15 mins high resistance. Heart rate monitor had me down as burning 990kcals, not sure how accurate as it’s the first time I’ve worn it to spin but it felt about right!

Retro83 – as above, just off Bishopsgate in London – http://www.cyclebeat.co.uk

With a decent instructor (ours is into HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training) Spin classes can really benefit off road cycle fitness. It certainly has for me but I didn’t believe it would when I started. Stick with it and it makes a difference.

Don’t forget to go out on the real bike though through winter or your single track technique will go to rags come March and you’ll have roadie arms.

For me Spin is about putting my body out of it’s comfort zone while in a safe place to do so and the instructors mix up the class every week which helps a lot. They change the number of climb / sprint / endure intervals we do. Either increasing the intensity or reducing the recovery time. It’s never the same class.

I don’t like the 150RPM “sprint” stuff. I tend to go for a higher level and lower the RPM to 110-120 because that for me feels more like something I can do on a 1×10 MTB.

The high resistance climbing stuff though… that’s all fab. I try to relate it to a steep 1×10 climb. The Spin bike might say I’m doing 26MPH at 60RPM on the Max Level but I know I’d be doing 4MPH up something horrible.

I do Spin one evening a week with my other half and her running has really benefited too.

When I go out on the MTB at the weekend some of the climbs I used to hate are much easier now and I can go straight into the downs fully pinned and be fully recovered while still riding.

I wouldn’t say I love Spin, it’s really hard work. It’s like anything gym related though. The hardest part is the going to it.

What Spin has done is made the time I do get on my MTB all the more enjoyable. I guess the secret is out now 🙂

Not quite a spinning class but a mate of mine runs Watt Bike classes (sneak ad – Rolling Dynamics in Epsom) and you train according to power.

I like the theory, how does that work? Not everyone’s power will be the same. The heavy guys have a huge advantage from the off. Surely the instructor can’t just say “now do 500w for a minute”?

I like the theory, how does that work? Not everyone’s power will be the same.

Presumably you establish a base power level and do 150% sprints, 200% intervals and a 70% recovery effort?

Well last night I went for a pacy off road ride with a bunch of mates, usually I have no trouble staying up front on pedally stuff but last night I was getting dropped constantly. Guess that proves that spin was a decent workout!

I’ll not be going spinning the day before a ride again though

I’ve been doing spin classes for a few years now. I thnk they’re great. Obviously depends on how much effort you put in and the instructor you get. I do notice you get used to instructors and when they change them and you get a different workout it’s like starting all over again, so just goes to show you’re only fit for what you train for. I like the fact it is mixed up with interval, high intensity/low cadence and low intensity/high cadence and alot of sprint endurance stuff too.

You also get a good upper body workout too, which you cannot get on rollers or a turbo – so you’re doing press-ups on the bars, leaning out to change the intensity on specific muscle groups and you couldn’t do that on a turbo or rollers as you’ll fall off.

I definately notice the benefit when out on a proper bike. I rarely get the time to spend hours in the sddle putting in big mileage, so spin keeps the legs going so when I do go on a bigger ride I don’t feel the effects of not riding big mileage often.

For Watt Bikes you do a threshold test to start then the session is at % of threshold that you ride too. Everyone in the class can then be riding to different power. It also measures your left to right power and pedalling technique. 45mins goes pretty quickly.

I fear for the human race.

You wouldn’t have caught these lads at a spin class….

You wouldn’t have caught these lads at a spin class….

I dunno, I suspect if you went back to 1950 when bikes stopped being experimental and improvements became marginal gains and took them some modern stuff like:
Carbon fibre
Power meters
2×11
saddles with cut outs
foam bar tape
23-25mm tyres and 1200g wheesets
lycra
synthetic chamois
helmets
etc…..

They’d probably be all over it. No one in the history of cycling has ever opened the curtains, seen it pissing with rain and thought “today I want to go for a ride in wool shorts on an un-padded saddle”.

You’re talking about a very different kind of spin class.
**** all that push up while you ride crap and having no saddle.

The bikes we have are pretty ok:
http://www.lifefitness.co.uk/commercial/grouptraining/lifecyclegx.html

They’re more “roadie” than MTB I’ll grant that but I set my saddle back on the rails and lengthen out the stem and I don’t do much on the bent bit of the bars. I hold on like I would on my MTB. I can make it wheelie 😉