Question for the Exercise Gurus

[Sandy]

For some ridiculous reason, I did 3 consecutive spin classes today. After doing the classes I wondered if I gained anything over doing simply one class. Is it better to do one class working really hard or doing say two or three classes working hard, but not as hard as you might if you really pushed it in one class?

Do you gain more endurance doing mutiple classes? Do you gain having had 3 classes in which the instructors emphasize different aspects of cycling??

See Silly Sandy Spin Spin Spin,

:banana: Spinning Sandy :banana:

[rnhood]

I don't spin but, I would think two or three would be better than one. The first should be started at 5:30 AM to get the blood flowing and metab up; the second in the afternoon to prevent your body from getting lazy on you; the third at night to keep the metab up and thus burn more calories even while you sleep. Don't know if your body will like all this though. They sort of get gruffy with us as we get older you know. They like their off time.

[Matt Barkley]

d'pends on what you want to do with the bike. Goals, or aspirations, etc. :beer: - Matt

[OldDog]

When I used to do spin classes (and I am thinking of starting up again) I would do two, a few times three, as I had nothing else to do. Winter. I would do a class, and stay on the bike as the first group cleared out and next one set up. Time on a bike is time on a bike.

[toaster]

Did you stay hydrated? Did you ingest carbohydrate? Where was your heart rate or perceived rate of exertion?

So, whether or not you benefitted from 3 sessions in a row depends on many things including your fitness at this time. If you did more than you're used to, intensity, duration, or frequency then you probably overdid it.

Spin classes tend to emphasize intervals and are a condensed form of a group ride, generally. Heart rates typically are zone 4 and above and instructors rarely have recovery periods longer than one or two minutes.

As an example, I'm a spin instructor and a master's road racer and I find my own heart rate is higher than I would prefer for training when spinning and I find that the lack of cooling by evaporation indoors means I sweat like crazy and my power is way down due to my heart having to pump blood harder to cool my muscles. I'm more cyclist friendly when I teach and I spend more time in aerobic zones while still doing the intervals, drills, and jumps everyone is used to. When I attend other instructors classes I find there's interval after interval after interval, then, they call for a water break and have the class pedal for a rather short recovery period before starting it all over.

In summary, I'd say spinning will give most people improved fitness and a cardiovascular workout that's pretty challenging. It won't make them into endurance athletes or champion cyclists. For most cyclists, it's an intense session that does very little to train their advanced aerobic systems but will burn alot of muscle glycogen quickly.

[BumbleBeeDave]

<< In summary, I'd say spinning will give most people improved fitness and a cardiovascular workout that's pretty challenging. It won't make them into endurance athletes or champion cyclists. For most cyclists, it's an intense session that does very little to train their advanced aerobic systems but will burn alot of muscle glycogen quickly.>>

Toaster pretty much says it for me. I do it to keep my aerobic base during the winter. It gets old real quick if you do it longer than an hour, at least for me. But it’s great for keeping metabolism up and the muscles toned. This is the third winter I’ve done it and it’s great to come out on the road the first of April and already be in late June form!

I think three classes in a row like Sandy does would be torture, but it doesn’t surprise me that Sandy is used to extreme pain and prolonged sufferin. After all, he DOES put up with Kevan! . . . ;)

BBDave

[Sandy]

Thanks for the excellent comments.

I drank about 1 1-2 bottles of water per class (2 classes 45 minutes, and one class 1 hour). I ate 2 energy bars. I perspire a great deal when cycling (just ask Smiley) and normally when I do spin classes, I tend to perspire much more than most all of the cyclists that I notice.

Normally my pulse is often quite high in spin classes, but I did not find it going up as high as it often does. Sometimes the room is very warm, at which time my pulse is easily 10-15 beats higher than yesterday.

The classes were varied, with the first 2 being more strictly structured.

I agree that spin classes are superb in maintaining cardio conditioning, but I think that they also improve your pedal stroke, and can build leg strength (as a function of the level that you work at) and leg speed. Am I correct about that?

Thanks again for the comments.

Slowly Spinning Still Sleeping STill Serotta Sandy

[keno]

doubt it on the pedal stroke improvement. How would anyone know, not to mention that the spin bike isn't your bike?

keno

[Sandy]

The little guy in the crankarm that counts my pedal cadence told me so. He even said that my sroke is much smoother. He asked me to slow down, however, since he has been getting rather dizzy spinning around and around.

Mr. Dizzy

[keno]

is this on the spin bike or your bike? What is it telling you about cadence? How is it telling you that it is smoother; you mean holding rpms steady?

keno

[toaster]

A couple more observations:

A lot of spinners bounce when their cadence is high. This is mostly the person not being smooth but spin bikes cannot be precisely set for saddle height, tilt, fore/aft.

The flywheel effect is not the same as the road and does not accurately translate into smoother stroke. It can help beginners though. The fixed gear bike on rollers trains a smooth stroke best.

Somehow, a lot of neophytes got the impression from the media (my guess) that Spinning meant high-energy and really fast pedaling cadences. I've seen people come into my class and start on the bike with little to no resistance and spin themselves crazy at 120rpms + bouncing their butts off. I always tell them to slow down to where they smooth out and add some tension but that's not what they want to hear so it usually falls on deaf ears. These people last about 10 minutes at that rate then slow down to 50 rpm and cannot continue doing the class agenda and sometimes leave early. To me spinning should be a combination of warming-up, riding steady, climbing, intervals, standing/sitting transitions, high cadences, cooling down. The stuff we've all seen in commercials of spin classes at health clubs is only 10-15 minutes of the class not that intense for an entire session.

[zap]

Did you set up the spin bike so that it closely emulates your super Serotta?

It's warm here. Why spin classes when it's warm out?

[csb]

i've been known to do a few spin classes, and this past
saturday entertained myself with 2 back to back.
the gym i frequent is WAY to warm in the work-out area
and too cold in the dressing rooms.
you and i must sweat for the rest...
... when i ask to have a (the)
fan turned on the others in the class get all bent outta shape,
so much so that i've taken to bringing my own fan + x cord, go
figure _ i'm paying who for what?!

anyways, what do i add to this discussion ? ... well
my experience runs parallel with that which toaster talked of,
lots of SPIN, high heart rates (almost running equivalents),
and little if any true lactate work. its up to YOU to monitor the
amount of resistance on the bike, so crank it up and climb!
mostly though, spin is something to do between seated squats.


csb

p.s.
do you bring a pedal wrench so you can change out the pedals
with your own, and tape measure to check saddle height?

p.s.II
dont get too upset with keno, he had to stay up past his bedtime
to see if his (+ mine) jetsies won.

[Ti Designs]

There's clearly too much cyber coaching going on where people send money to get back training programs which explain nothing. Any good coach would first give you an outline of the types of training and when you do them for best results.

Sandy, the answer to your original question is yes, there is a point to lower intensity, longer rides. It's what some of us call base mileage, which comes before any sort of interval work and after pedal stroke work. There is logic here, the pedal stroke work teaches the rider how to pedal in circles - don't laugh, most people I've coached couldn't turn a circle when I started. Once learned, the pedal stroke is reinforced during base mileage until it becomes second nature. It's a period of time when the rider builds up endurance, fine tunes their position on the bike and prevents injuries to come by increasing strength of the connective tissue. All that time spent thinking about your pedal stroke may be the most boaring thing in the world, but it pays off in the end. In December I was on my fixed gear for 4 hours at a time, three times a week, twirling the 42x20, working on my pedal stroke and eating every 45 minutes - endurance rides are all about a stabel blood surar level, gotta keep eating.


Now about the comments about pedal stroke. It's the simplest thing in the world, just make your leg go around in a circle. The truth is that so few people have a clue about what's going on in their pedal stroke. I've heard comments like "I'm smooth below 120 RPMs", or "I'm somooth in the large chainring" or "the Spinner teaches you to ride smooth". It all comes down to one simple thing, being able to move the pedal from one point in the pedal stroke to the next. Get ride of the flywheel, eliminate inertia, and get rid of the second leg. It's just one foot clipped in, almost no resistance at a cadence around 40 RPMs, no speeding up or slowing down anywhere in the pedal stroke.


Here's my guide to excuses:

"I'm smooth below 120 RPMs" - No use of hip flexors, they are pushing down on the back of the pedal stroke and they don't know it. As the pedal comes up they are still pushing down, the combination lifts them off the saddle.

"I'm smooth in the large chainring" - no, the big gear masks the problem. That's clearly a case where one foot pushes the other foot over the top. When they start working on pedal stroke they can't get their foot over the top without hearing the dreaded thunk, and they don't hear that in the big ring.

"Spinning bikes teach you to be smooth" - yeh, and falling out of a plane will teach you how to bounce, nice try. The flywheel introduces a boatload of inertia into the system which makes Spinners the works equipemnt to learn pedal stroke on... It is possible to practice the pedal stroke once you know what you're doing, but learning is right out.

As for bike set-up, it's not that hard to set up a Spinner like your bike. There are seat post pieces which take the place of stock seat post tops and allow you to put your own saddle and fine tube the height. The bar set-up is a bit harder, but can be done. I took a 1-1/2" piece of square steel tube, drilled a few holds and mounted a 1-1/8" tube on the top. The steel tube replaces the handlebar, then a normal stem mounts on the round tube, and then it's just like a bike.


One of my newyears resolutions was to put the outline of my coaching plan on-line. I've been working on doing just that, the parts on bike fit and pedal stroke are almost done. I'll put up a link when it's uploaded.

[madbiker]

did anyone really answer your questions??!!:)

OK, one high intensity class is better if you are trying to improve your anarobic/lactate threshold.
Three easier classes are better if your goal is weight/fat loss and/or endurance.
Simple!

[spiderman]

but i do like to spin.
i was at a twin cities hotel, night before last
and rode a deluxe exercise cycle for the first time...
...i read the paper, watched the morning news
and sipped my coffee
until
it quit after 35 minutes
telling me i was finished with the course
and that i was welcome to come back tomorrow...
well, i'm in florida today,
and enjoyed 3 hours of paddling in tampa bay and the gulf. :D

varied workout routines are best...
long sustained efforts...like 3 spinning classes in a row
are a healthy option at least a couple days a week...
i think it's great for HDL development
and burning triglycerides! :bike: