Spin class maiden broken
 

We are visiting our daughter in DC and she spins at a local gym, Vida Fitness. So I went along this morning. Had never spun on a real spin bike before; this one was a Matrix IC7 with "coach by color."

Forty-five minutes with her personal trainer, Kyle Suib, leading the class of about 25 people.

Whew. It was interesting, to say the least. The bike took some getting used to, adjusting the resistance knob and all, but by the end I was able to hold 300+ watts with the rest of the class on the final "sprint" session.

Not bad for an old man who two days earlier had the last birthday he's going to count.

I have to be honest, though. I don't see the attraction for serious cyclists. Sure, it was a great workout, but I would much rather go out and do a hard 45 minutes on the road.

Those of you who do both might be able to weigh in on how spinning benefits your road riding.

If you need to move the legs because you cant go out spin class is great. But from here to replace nice road or track training with spinning? well...

I dislocated my knee twice years ago, part of rehabilitation was this spinning computer bike and pretty much the guy was surprised that i was able to spin that think in level 5 and 6 resistance (out of 12 i think) with a really f'ed knee at the 1st try, even had to tell the guy to increase the resistance because felt like nothing. I had to do the same work out in a regular bicycle even with super light gearing it might have hurt badly. At the opposite side it makes me wonder how weak legs some people has because honestly I left my prime long time ago and Im pretty wimp now.

Does vida still have that watt bike, probably better off on that than a spin class.

Spin only when it's raining! :bike:

The idea of spinning on a stationary bike, as well as mountain biking, has never grabbed me. My hat is off to those who do either but, for whatever reasons, I've never been intrigued by either.

Agree with this perspective. I do Spin Classes when I am on travel because I dont take a bike. Ive done all the big places, SoulCycle, RPM, CycleBar, a few others. Basically it works to help keep a strong aerobic system, if you work. Typically, most of the "cyclist" are loafing, very low resistance on the wheel and they "fake" the pain. That said, there are some very serious spinners who grind me into the dust.

The biggest difference is that you do things in a Spin Class you would never do on a bike. Jumps, who the H goes from seated to standing on a 2 or 4 count. Push-ups? Crunches? Dumbells???

For me its about mixing things up (keeping my training fresh) but when I go in, I go in to work not screw around and check out the scenery. I think that used appropriately its a good way to ride and do other stuff that keeps up the overall fitness, but I don't believe that it "improves" my cycling in any way.

My 2 cents

Ray

Agreed, cycling is so linear that to stay overall healthy, its my thinking that you need cross-training some way. I mountain bike, which does wonders for upper body and to a degree is more 3 dimensional. Spin class does get you out of your comfort zone by dictating the rhythm.

I did a few spin classes 10+ years ago in the winter. The bikes are about the same, some places have some rudimentary or even fancy electronics on the bikes but the structure of the classes and overall feel has changed a lot in a negative way IMO.

Back then there were often a bunch of cyclists in the class, the workout was somewhat sane in terms of something we'd want to be doing in the winter. The instructors were often cyclists too. It wasn't expensive, most of the ones I did were free with my gym membership.

Now it's expensive, they're doing weird things like turning out all the lights, burning candles, not running the A/C, playing tons of really obnoxious dance/disco music, doing weird moves that have nothing to do with cycling or maybe even seem like they'd mess up your pedal stroke, etc.. the instructors aren't cyclists and the classes are full of people who wouldn't get on a real bike. Just weird, not for me!

I go to the exact same workplace gym I was going to back then. Back then the spin bikes were accessible all the time to use in place of the horrible life cycles, etc.. the classes were free with your gym membership. Now they're locked up all the time except during classes and they want $20 to ride them for $45 minutes. The bikes are pretty much the same except now they have a head unit that lists speed (meaningless) and resistance level or something.

I think that's what we were on. We rode to watts.

I used to do 6-8 month deployments in the Navy where I had access to spin bikes. I took MTB shoes with SPD cleats and would ride at least an hour a day. The ship had organized classes that I'd do a few times a week, but because of my schedule, my rides would sometimes be in the middle of the "night".

What it did for me was to maintain a level of fitness and a smooth pedal stroke. The first two weeks after I returned from deployment and riding my road bike felt awkward. The Q factor of the spin bike was much wider, on my road bike I felt like my feet were going under the bottom bracket and I had trouble riding in a straight line because of this awkward feeling. After I adjusted to my bike, I was riding strong and was able to stay with the A and B groups in San Diego.

I mountain bike and road ride as well, and find spin cycling terrific as a tremendous supplement during the winter/rainy days. Having watts on the computer during class is a plus.... maintaining 300 is pretty strong!!

I used to do spin at lunch a couple times a week. My gym offered classes for free and my work situation was such that a midday ride wasn't a possibility.

Its absolutely not cycling, and you get what you put into it, but it can keep your fitness up and I feel like it kept me strong on the road when I had limited riding time.

I had a neighbour running a spin class. She's fit. Does marathons but does NOT ride.
As in - has a fear of being hit by cars so she won't touch a bike.

I've come across a number of spin class instructors that are not cyclists.

LOL. That's because you live in SD! I remember when I first moved there, I went for a run past a gym and saw people on tread mills! I wanted to run in and slap them. The worst day in SD is better than most days where I grew up!