Spinning is extremely popular and it’s a great way to train your endurance in th winter season. Here are some simple tips that will increase your gains from spinning:
1. Warm up before spinning
Spinning lessons have a normal length of around 50 minutes. For trained cyclists this is a very short amount of time, when this time includes both warm up, intervals and cool down.
Remember that most spinning lessons are made for people who are not very familiar with cycling training. Therefore, I suggest you do a quick warm-up before you enter the spinning room in order to get more training time.
2. Drink water with electrolytes and carbohydrates
Spinning rooms have a very high temperature and high humidity. Therefore, it is quite normal to sweat much more than you are used to.
Some people believe that they sweat more at spinning lessons because they work harder. That is not true.
They sweat more because of the climate, not because they work harder than normally. I will recommend you to drink water with electrolytes and carbohydrates to maintain a high level of performance during the whole session.
3. Choose intervals carefully
Spinning instructors plan their lesson to be interesting and challenging for a wide range of riders. Most of them train spinning only 2 to 3 times week, so they can use all their effort in this short period.
If you do not like the program made of the instructor, consider to use your own program or one of the indoor cycling programs here on Training4cyclists.com. It is possible to ride one of these programs without telling the instructor. Just remember to stand up and sit down when the instructor tells you to (and ignore his commands about pacing strategy).
4. Remember rest days
You can’t do intervals every single day. Some days should be easy days. If you go for a ride in the spinning class on one of these days, please remember your goal with the training.
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Great post Jesper. Plenty of suggestions I can use right away. I spin 3 days a week and trail run 2 times. I’m going to let my 3 instructors know about your site too!
I’ve never tried spinning. My new gym does not offer classes, and I never got around to going to one at my old gym.
I’ve neer done spinning, though it looks like fun.
I hopped over from problogger.
Came across this article while searching on ’spinning’.
I have my first class last wk n I enjoyed it. Will try to incorporate tips here
Thanks for the tips. I had my second spin glass today and can’t wait for the next. I’m really big into yoga, but after listening to all my friends rave about the great workout from spinning I had to try it for myself. It was a great workout and I can’t even remember the last time breaking a sweat was so intense.
Tried my first spin class yesterday, was hard work but really enjoyed it! Liked the variety of sprinting, climbing hills and doing squats on the bike. Am sure this will help me get in shape and lose weight..
I would recommend it if you need to get fit
Hi, I am training to become a spinning instructor, I am doing the maddog atheletics workshop. Unfortunately, I am not really good at sprinting can you give me some suggestions. How often should I spin, I only do it 4 times, 2hr class, 2 one hour class but afterwards I am exhausted, and sometimes can’t do everything they ask. I think I am pushing myself to hard but I don’t know how to not push myself. Any suggestions?
Annika’s question about sprinting raises a question in my mind: is it neccessarily a good thing for everyone? I can’t do it for long, and I worry about my knees…
As a guy with heavier muscles, I find fast spinning too difficult and hard on my knees — much as with running, i found I had more endurance than speed, and spinning too fast is not appealing to me. I try for 30 secs a few times, but beyond that I go at a slower pace with higher resistance.
Any comments?
Since my post I have educated myself alittle on Sprinting and discover that anything over 30 seconds is not recommended. I actually got hired the other day so. I am now wondering, What is the best profile for creating a 1 hrs cycling friendly class. Any Stretching suggestions for the lower body for those that are not as fit or in shape that can not pull their heel to their butt. I’d like to know a back stretch exercise too. Thanks for your response.
There are many instructors leading classes that don’t have a clue what they are doing. I have been told of,read about and experienced first hand things that in no way will improve a participant’s fitness,just accelerate the chances of an injury.A squat on a bike is a massive no-no-heck,it’s hard enough to execute a squat 100% properly,for most people,on the flat ground.As for “sprinting”,with al due respect to anyone that thinks they sprint (and can do them well),a true sprint (or High Performance Effort) should be no more than a maximum of 20 seconds,which will consist of 10 seconds loading resistance and coming out of the saddle and 8-10 seconds maintaining the pace,resistance & relaxed posture whilst returning to the saddle.
Annika,if you are able to do a 2 hour spin ride,be happy because that is tough work.Work your heart rate within the suggested guidelines for the ride and maintain a good technique and posture – your fitness will improve soon enough.
Dave,a sprint which should be executed as above,should never go above speeds of 110rpm as it is unsafe.There are issues of control of the bike,increased chances of injury and also insufficient effort being applied by the rider.Having said that,there are many many road riders that will be able to hold a cadence higher than 110rpm comfortably,but for the sake of safety the Spinning program does not recommend it.
I hope this helps and if you want any more help check out http://www.pedal-on.com
Hello, I have been spinning for a little while now and am interested in buying the proper shoes so I can have a better ride. Do you have any recommendations as far as selecting the right shoe?
Thank you
Hey Sandra,the only recommendation I can give you is to go down to your local cycle shop and try on whatever they have.If you find something that’s comfortable (and you like the look too ;-} ) then buy them. So long as you like them,that’s pretty much all there is to it.The shop will have the relevant pedals to go with them.
Thank you
hey, my first spin class was the other night..i really enjoyed it. i am going on a trip next year to costa rica ..is spinning a good healthy excercise to get me into better shape by march?
I tried spinning yesterday and enjoyed it. I was unable to stand on the bike. It was really hard for me to endure the standing part. I kick box on a regular basis and I weight lift as well, so I don’t think my issues are being ‘out of shape’, but maybe something else?
Maybe my legs are not strong enough?
Can most beginners stand on the bike right away or is that something you lead up too?
Thanks,
Kathy
Kathy,
Spinning classes are for everybody of all fitness capabilities.Having said that,there some elements which may be too challenging,for a variety of reasons,for a new rider.This may not neccessarily be a fitness issue but more a situation where more time on the bike is required in order to be able to feel the pedal stroke and the resistance consistently through a complete 360 degree turn of the pedals. This comes with time,when you get it,you can ride standing as comfortably (both on a standing flat & on a standing climb) as you can ride seated.It’s also very important that your posture is good – body weight over the crank and a light but firm grip on the handles with shoulders and elbows softly relaxed.
Glad you like Spinning,it’s a cool ride.
i went to my first spin class today and liked it. but im not sure i will go back. the seat hurt my “down there” . it was poking me the whole time. and now afterwards, im hurting. im worried that i may get some type of infection from all the poking, moving around and sweat for about and hour. the instructor did not introduce the bike or any of the parts to me. she did not explain ANYTHING to me. Even after she asked who was new. i tried asking a few things before, but i guess everyone was ready to start. I would really like to go back tomorrow, so are there any suggestions on how to make my ride painless???
thanks!!
ivonne
Ivonne,
In a Spinning class,the instructor will only start the ride when everybody is ready -that includes you – and they will always explain how to use the Spinner bike safely,effectively and comfortably.If they don’t,they are not doing their job properly.If the bike is set up correctly,which takes under 1 minute to do properly,you will feel just fine.Where abouts are you? Can I suggest you go to Spinning.com and use the search engine at the top left of the page to find an Official Spinning Centre in your area? Get there 10-15 minutes prior to the class starting and tell the instructor about your previous experiences.If you are unable to find an official spinning centre near to you,reply back here with a rough location of where you are and I will find a good place for you to go.
Rick
Jesper- do you seriously think that the sweat is because of the climate in the classroom? You think that every spin class has the same climate? You are a douche bag and obviously haven’t been spinning your self.
@Matt
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ve been to several spinning lessons, but i’s clear that I haven’t visitied every spinning room in the world, so there might be some rooms with low temperatures, air condition etc.
I believe the cooling at a spinning lesson is much less than during regular road cycling mostly because of different wind conditions. High humidity and temperature are also important factors since both will make you sweat more.
Thus, if you sweat a lot during a spinning lesson, please keep in mind that there may be other reasons than due to high intensity.
Jesper