Spin Classes aren't hard, they are very hard

DoubleTop

Hi All

I went to a spin class this week for the very 1st time, I was ok for 20 mins of the 40 mins but it's the intense level that the instructor gets you to work at and the dance music sounding out the beat. There were so many fit people at the class, but the instructor didn’t have an ounce of fat on her and her leg speed was so quick. Anybody who thinks spin is easy then you should try it. Hats off to all spin instructors and people who go regularly.

I am going now to put a spin class in my weekly training routine.

Anybody else go to spin?

DT

benno68

I went to one 45min class at JJB in Cardiff, nearly killed me!!! Managed to get through it - just.

Who knows, I may have another go someday when I'm feeling brave enough!

Bhima

They're a nightmare! I was sweating buckets!

Just get out on the bike! It's much more fun!

cougie

I teach them, and they are as hard as you make them. Cyclists usually go full on at it - which is great. You do get people who just cant be bothered though - and nothing will budge them.

Its great to see pools of sweat after the class - thats a good hard session !

It\'s not a steed

I do three spin classes most weeks and I'd agree about them being as hard as you make them. Some people do very little and some absolutely bury themselves. I don't see the point of paying for the membership/class and not giving it everything you've got.

Would be good to have better equipped spin bikes though, a bit of performance feedback wouldn't go amiss. What I'd really like to see would be everyones cadence, heart rate and power output projected onto a big screen throughout the class. Name and shame!

FAT_ROB

Ah Spin classes or 'cycling as Nuffield health in Reading for some reason call it??

I love it, Yes it can be hard but you can work to your own level and its very motivational - certainly works for me - I have a habbit of sitting up and looking around when out on the road as Im a nosey bastard so its good when work commitments allow to have my concentration fully on getting the most out of me for a period.

I like the idea re the projected HR and cadance etc, but I reckon most places wouldnt go for this as the 'competition' would be scared off from coming which would be counter productive... I am sure however that with some form of computer wizardry you could have a hanicapping system, based on weight age etc etc

Bring it on Big Gyms! First one to introduce this gets my Subscription for the next Year!!!

singlespeedexplosif

they are as hard as you make them

aye, agreed. Great fun watching some people going flat out and dying 5 mins in, and some (usually caked in about 3" of makeup) perhaps raising their HR by 5bpm from resting.

Guyzie

Yep, love my spin/RPM sessions too.
Normally do 3 per week depending on work.
Certainly helps get through the winter months and the "scenery" can often be quite good to look at:-)

Last Friday we did a straight 3 hour session in aid of Comic Relief.
Guns'n'Roses Paradise City as the final track, great way drain that last bit of energy!

G

Brian B

First winter using a spinning bike in my garage. Certainly has set me up for this year and fast music helps those minutes tick by. I have been doing a lot of interval training and if my last big ride was anything to go by then its done me the world of good and spring boarded this year fitness.

Bloody hard going though! :P

Bikergirl09

Hey DT, I hope you've now been regularly frequenting your spin classes. When i went to my first one a few months ago it was bloody hard work but it certainly pays off. It's brilliant for your legs and bum and if the weather doesn't tempt you out it's a great alternative. I'd agree it's very motivational too and to be dripping in sweat at the end of the session gives you a great sense of acheivement.

Keep up the hard work...it does also become easier and you become a more experienced spinner!

liversedge

Nah, you go as hard as you want to. a decent turbo programmes make you go harder than you want to, as do spirited group rides with stronger guys or a weekday race.

pools of sweat tell me one thing only - you needed a fan.

I hate spin classes, they're too short and so faux. much easier to get outside and hurt yourself. in my humble (?) opinion.

of course, LOL, YMMV

GyatsoLa

I don't know if anyone can confirm or refute this, but I've been told on more than one occasion by people who seem to know what they are talking about that most spin classes are very deceptive in terms of fitness. Because must gyms aren't well ventilated, you suffer from heat exhaustion (hence the puddles of sweat) because you are in a fugue of your own hot air - in contrast to cycling, where you have your own inbuilt fan. Hence you are actually not giving yourself a full workout, no matter how wasted you feel after one.

jgsi

GyatsoLa wrote:

I don't know if anyone can confirm or refute this, but I've been told on more than one occasion by people who seem to know what they are talking about that most spin classes are very deceptive in terms of fitness. Because must gyms aren't well ventilated, you suffer from heat exhaustion (hence the puddles of sweat) because you are in a fugue of your own hot air - in contrast to cycling, where you have your own inbuilt fan. Hence you are actually not giving yourself a full workout, no matter how wasted you feel after one.

Spin classes tend to be overrated by the devotees... this from someone who actually teaches them... it's my bit of pocket money...
It's best to attend them with a sense of proportion.. it will raise your heart rate, it will allow development of the Cv system.. and with use of good resistance - help with strength and muscle stamina... but nothing to compare to steady road work.. or long climbs or combinations
It takes someone else to remark... I've seen those guys come to Spin every day of their life and they still as podgy as they were ages ago...

oh yeah the sweat thing.. pure environmental response.. only a few places have ac that can cope .. puddles of sweat prove nothing as to actual quality of work carried out.

fuzzynavel

JGSI wrote:

It takes someone else to remark... I've seen those guys come to Spin every day of their life and they still as podgy as they were ages ago...

oh yeah the sweat thing.. pure environmental response.. only a few places have ac that can cope .. puddles of sweat prove nothing as to actual quality of work carried out.

I've noticed the larger person thing too. Some seem to think that they can sweat for 45 minutes once a week and then gorge themselves the rest of the week as a treat....
It seems nasty to tell them that though.....
There is no point exercising if you don't take your diet into account.

GyatsoLa

fuzzynavel wrote:

JGSI wrote:

It takes someone else to remark... I've seen those guys come to Spin every day of their life and they still as podgy as they were ages ago...

oh yeah the sweat thing.. pure environmental response.. only a few places have ac that can cope .. puddles of sweat prove nothing as to actual quality of work carried out.

I've noticed the larger person thing too. Some seem to think that they can sweat for 45 minutes once a week and then gorge themselves the rest of the week as a treat....
It seems nasty to tell them that though.....
There is no point exercising if you don't take your diet into account.

I think the issue is not that people doing spinning classes are eating too much (although that may well be the case), but that they simply aren't working out as hard as they think they are, because of the heat exhaustion effect. I don't know if anyone has done a comparison study, but I would suspect that people doing spinning classes in a lot of gyms are not maintaining the same level of power output as someone doing high intensity work on a bike.

Mettan

GyatsoLa wrote:

but that they simply aren't working out as hard as they think they are, because of the heat exhaustion effect. I don't know if anyone has done a comparison study, but I would suspect that people doing spinning classes in a lot of gyms are not maintaining the same level of power output as someone doing high intensity work on a bike.

Agreed - they won't be (to put it loosely) - easier to do big things indoors than outdoors.

jgsi

Sounds like fertile ground for the my local MMU sports and phys department to do some comparitive studies....

Spinning is not really sports specific never was .. is or will be
It is essentially CV work in an attempt to drop some pounds off or to maintain a riding weight.
The classes are dependent on the instructor as to whether it is silly 'aerobics' on a bike or more of an attempt at least to imitate real world cycling which is my approach.

Being tight in order to cut costs and make a little bit more profit out of doing classes.. I will ride 25 km to a class do a class and ride back home..I know which is harder!
Having said that.... constant repitition of turning those pedals around over the years in the studio has helped enormously.. so it is still a big plus for doing the classes

Rev\'d Gatlin

cougie

JGSI wrote:

GyatsoLa wrote:

I don't know if anyone can confirm or refute this, but I've been told on more than one occasion by people who seem to know what they are talking about that most spin classes are very deceptive in terms of fitness. Because must gyms aren't well ventilated, you suffer from heat exhaustion (hence the puddles of sweat) because you are in a fugue of your own hot air - in contrast to cycling, where you have your own inbuilt fan. Hence you are actually not giving yourself a full workout, no matter how wasted you feel after one.

Spin classes tend to be overrated by the devotees... this from someone who actually teaches them... it's my bit of pocket money...
It's best to attend them with a sense of proportion.. it will raise your heart rate, it will allow development of the Cv system.. and with use of good resistance - help with strength and muscle stamina... but nothing to compare to steady road work.. or long climbs or combinations
It takes someone else to remark... I've seen those guys come to Spin every day of their life and they still as podgy as they were ages ago...

oh yeah the sweat thing.. pure environmental response.. only a few places have ac that can cope .. puddles of sweat prove nothing as to actual quality of work carried out.

I've taught a few hundred spin classes in my time, and I do rate them. I teach them as I would do turbo sessions and without any other cycling in the week I was ripping peoples legs off on Club rides - at least up to 40-50 miles - then my lack of stamina showed.

OK - chubby people at a gym isnt unusual but then again there are a fair few chubby cyclists too.

I fail to see the difference between a good spin class and a good hard turbo session.
You get out what you put in in both scenarios.

Leedsblue

I don't cycle much due to lack of opportunity but I do enjoy the spin classes. I work hard at them and keep a note of my AHR/Watts/cadence for each session. If watts is increasing them I am working harder and improving.

Sweating can be deceiving in the same manner that I sweat much more on a treadmill than I do outside but if you psuh for a session then it must help with fitness levels.

Omar Little

What is the difference between a spin class and an rpm class? Is one more like proper cycling than the other?

andy162

I used to do a class run by Revvin' Kevin Dawson, multiple BBAR winner & testing legend. His classes were brutal, the only victims in the room were all cyclists so the session was totally geared for gaining/maintaining cycle specific fitness.

I think it 100% comes down to instructor & how much effort you put in. No fitness gains if you follow "the path of least resistance"!

jgsi

andy162 wrote:

I used to do a class run by Revvin' Kevin Dawson, multiple BBAR winner & testing legend. His classes were brutal, the only victims in the room were all cyclists so the session was totally geared for gaining/maintaining cycle specific fitness.

I think it 100% comes down to instructor & how much effort you put in. No fitness gains if you follow "the path of least resistance"!

That fine if the facility allows such hard core classes for hard core fanatics...
but that is a RARE thing in the UK. Some dedicated SPIN facilities in the London offer such classes but away from major urban centres, classes are run according to the membership.
However, maybe that class' success was shortlived as you used the 'past tense'.
A lot of 'cyclists' will obviously not attend when the months warm up.
So classes have to tempered for inclusiveness due to the ranges of ability and fitness.

A good CV workout does not always mean you having to go thru a 'torture' chamber... if the fun factor is lost then the class attendance is reduced running the possibility of losing the class entirely and the money that goes with it.
Essentially, if you beast your attendees too often then they will walk away....slowly and painfully.
And finally, it pays to listen to what people want.
If I sub a few extra classes, then the xtra in the paypacket isnt shabby at all for a part time 'pastime' even with petrol costs etc.
I'm quidsin for Feb... got about 17 classes....

I still maintain my stance, in that SPIN classes are fine but different angle.Nowt like actual road work.
You will never get your race fitness doing them.

meanredspider

By far the most popular classes at the gym I used to go to were the ones where the instructor punished the attendees. Getting the music right is quite important too but if you didn't come away feeling wrecked, you didn't feel like you'd had a good class.

They also covered a wide range of stances, cadences and resistances - even including getting off the bikes and doing squats and lunges, also lots of upper body and core work.

For those of us for which cycling isn't a means unto itself but rather a means to an end (getting "fit", losing weight, looking & feeling better etc), this approach was great.

I'd agree that making Spin classes too cycle-specific would really limit their popularity during the warmer months - a time when gym attendances tend to soften anyway.

meanredspider

Omar Little wrote:

What is the difference between a spin class and an rpm class? Is one more like proper cycling than the other?

I believe "Spinning" is trademarked (though I may be wrong)

spokegeezer

liversedge wrote:

Nah, you go as hard as you want to. a decent turbo programmes make you go harder than you want to, as do spirited group rides with stronger guys or a weekday race.

pools of sweat tell me one thing only - you needed a fan.

I hate spin classes, they're too short and so faux. much easier to get outside and hurt yourself. in my humble (?) opinion.

of course, LOL, YMMV

+1 no fan equals sweat and smelly room.

And another thing, why do the start bobbing around from side to side, one hand behind back blah blah.

£5.75 for 45mins at my local. having a laugh !!

Turbo rules, by the time you have got to the gym and back you could of done an extra 45mins on the turbo.

meanredspider

spokegeezer wrote:

And another thing, why do the start bobbing around from side to side, one hand behind back blah blah.

Turbo rules, by the time you have got to the gym and back you could of done an extra 45mins on the turbo.

Because it's NOT cycling - it's Spinning

I don't have any lycra-clad young lovelies "bobbing around" in front of me in my garage 8)

acebobby

I do the les mills RPM (think its a trademark thing) 4 times per week, I have 3 different coaches for it, and each have tweaked the workout to their own preferences. One of them is very focused on pedal technique, this is one thing I have transferred to the road! The other 2 are full on high resistance workouts, but again its about leg power, in the stand up sections you cant be bobbing up and down, its about bracing your abs and using your legs to push the pedals round, they are also very specific if your toes should be pointing down for fast flat work or quite flat for seated climbs!
One of my coaches told me that it doesn't get easier but you just get better at it! I love that saying because its true with most things in life!
I personally do rate spin/RPM classes, and am in no position to judge other people's commitment to it, if they dont want to go 100% thats up to them, they pay there money the same as everyone else!

Bobby

rando

Omar Little wrote:

What is the difference between a spin class and an rpm class? Is one more like proper cycling than the other?

The difference between RPM and Spin is that RPM is more choreographed. You ride more to the beat of the music. This may differ at other gyms though - I am a member at a David Lloyd gym and our RPM classes consist of 8 tracks of music which are the same for about 8 weeks and tracks 3/5/7 are the hard work tracks and involve higher resistence on the bike and the other tracks being slightly easier with a bit more emphasis on speed.
The normal Spin classes at David Lloyd are more down to the individual instructor who will choose the music and changes it most weeks. Like I say this is only my experience of the 2 classes at David Lloyd gyms.
I admit to being addicted to spin and rpm classes and go at least 3 times per week with 2 of those being at 06:30 in the morning. I do also enjoy riding my bike out in the fresh air though.

acebobby

rando wrote:

Omar Little wrote:

What is the difference between a spin class and an rpm class? Is one more like proper cycling than the other?

The difference between RPM and Spin is that RPM is more choreographed. You ride more to the beat of the music. This may differ at other gyms though - I am a member at a David Lloyd gym and our RPM classes consist of 8 tracks of music which are the same for about 8 weeks and tracks 3/5/7 are the hard work tracks and involve higher resistence on the bike and the other tracks being slightly easier with a bit more emphasis on speed.
The normal Spin classes at David Lloyd are more down to the individual instructor who will choose the music and changes it most weeks. Like I say this is only my experience of the 2 classes at David Lloyd gyms.
I admit to being addicted to spin and rpm classes and go at least 3 times per week with 2 of those being at 06:30 in the morning. I do also enjoy riding my bike out in the fresh air though.

Tracks 3, 5, and 7 are my favourites because you get to stand up its the speed tracks 4 and 6 that I find the toughest but I guess that highlights my weakest area! The RPM music releases are every 12 weeks, a new release just started on Sat which I will be doing for the first time tonight!

Bobby

rando

Tracks 3, 5, and 7 are my favourites because you get to stand up its the speed tracks 4 and 6 that I find the toughest but I guess that highlights my weakest area! The RPM music releases are every 12 weeks, a new release just started on Sat which I will be doing for the first time tonight!

Bobby[/quote]

I couldn't remember the exact weeks between the releases as our instructor tends to mix the releases after a few weeks of the same one just to vary it and keep you alert. I tend to enjoy the speed tracks more as I like to see my mileage figure increase on the bikes lcd display. Sadly for us our RPM instructor is off sick until early Feb so we will not get to hear the new release until then but at least the RPM class is being covered with a spin class with an instructor we have on another day and her classes are extremely hard work.