rpm (spinning class) will this help me over winter months

mad4itinnit

joined gym and want to strengthen my core muscles and get fitter as winter is here now will rpm session every sunday for a hour help my overal fitness on road bike or doi need to get out in all weather and do the miles any advice on a plan to maximise my gym use would be greatly received cheers

Garz

It will of course be better than doing nothing, however for improved fitness you have to be doing something at least three times a week from my experience. If you go out as well and hit the gym on off days then you should be fine.

mad4itinnit

iam going to be going every other day to gym and then sunday spinning and in afternoon out on bike if not icy or snow cheers for reply

Garz

Please dont over-train, for example a spinning class once out on the road and a gym session or two is ample. You need rest its just as important, just listen to your body.

ride_whenever

As long as you've got a sensible, output controlled, training program, and you take at least one full 24 hour period off a week and build up to it you can effectively train as much as you like.

No such thing as over-training, just under-preparedness.

Bhima

Core work is best done on your bike, simply by riding on the drops a lot, especially sprinting hard, not in the gym, as it's specific to how you want to strengthen the muscles. Getting an indoor trainer would probably be better than spinning classes because, again, it's on your own bike so you'd be training your legs much better.

oldwelshman

Bhima wrote:

Core work is best done on your bike, simply by riding on the drops a lot, especially sprinting hard, not in the gym, as it's specific to how you want to strengthen the muscles. Getting an indoor trainer would probably be better than spinning classes because, again, it's on your own bike so you'd be training your legs much better.

That is rubbish
Core work is much better in a gym than on a bike. How do you work out it is better on a bike on the drops?
I never feel my abs aching after a race, but certainly do after doing any core training.

Pokerface

Maybe by core work he meant base work? Base miles/work would be better on a bike as opposed to core work which is better done in a gym. It's hard to do sit ups on a bike

mad4itinnit

i have to agree with oldwelshman done alot of riding in summer 160 miles a week 3 lots of 30 miles and about 60 on sunday and have to say my legs are strong as ox but my belly dont seam to follow suit lol iam tea total and it low fat diet but just cant seam to get toned and read a intresting artical in cycling plus about it oldwelsh any tips for gym work out or would a personal trainer be able to sort it for me

Garz

Try reducing your portion sizes then, from myself and other people I cycle with its a great way to strip fat off the body. If you still maintaining the beer belly then it's time to cut down on the beer.

I paid attention to my diet but didnt stop eating majority of the food's I liked, mainly cut out the fast food junk and only drink for social gatherings. This to me wasn't much effort and have lost about a stone in four months. No more beer belly, although I agree this was the last to visibly go.

Ollieda

If you're still relatively new to cycling like me then spinning can be a great way to liven things up. I'm not yet fully confident and fully equipped (only got my jersey and shorts) to be going out when the weather gets nasty over winter so I'll be spending a fair bit of time on the turbo this winter.

Spinning can just keep that variety in there......and if you're lucky, like at my gym, the instructor is super hot!!!

pottssteve

But remember...

"The cycling is pain. The cycling is soul crushing pain. The cycling is meant to make mothers weep, to make children scream, to crush the souls of the weak. The cycling is not spin class. Sure the Jan could ride a gear that is being the size of a tea cup, like Marinara Boy Basso, but the Jan is not here to dance. The Jan is here to reap." - Jan Ullrich

porker33

I have taken various forms of spinning classes several times a week for the last 12 years or so...it is can help with cardio, but does not compare to riding a real bike on the road.

Some of it depends which program you use, although I can do it, some of the pure spin with little resistance are of little use to me. I prefer the resistance interval training type of classes, where I wind the bike up to max resistance, you are moving rather than spinning, but this is what I tend to find happens with 25% hills!

Just to say, about 2 months ago I started doing 100 miles a week on a road bike, even by upping my game, the spinning class does seem easier than before.

oldwelshman

mad4itinnit wrote:

i have to agree with oldwelshman done alot of riding in summer 160 miles a week 3 lots of 30 miles and about 60 on sunday and have to say my legs are strong as ox but my belly dont seam to follow suit lol iam tea total and it low fat diet but just cant seam to get toned and read a intresting artical in cycling plus about it oldwelsh any tips for gym work out or would a personal trainer be able to sort it for me

If your in a gym then most good gyms have a core training area with medicine balls, those large balls like a space hopper dumbells etc. It is best to see one of the instructors who will give you advice depending on what you want and they will create a specific schedule for you.

carl_p

I go to the gym four times a week, where I do weights, treadmill, Body Combat and Spin. Even that mix alone won't improve your core strength unless you include specific core training exercises. Most people choose the Swiss Balls for this. Spin will improve cardio fitness and leg strength, but won't do much for core strength.

Philby

Another vote for spin classes particularly during this wet weather and cold dark nights. Many gyms have classes such as Body Pump, Body Conditioning or circuits which can help core stability and strength, and develop areas of your body which cycling tends to neglect - also swimming can help .

Personally I quite like the variety that you can get at a gym, and find it complements my cycling rather than detracting from it.

cougie

I used to teach 2 or 3 spin classes a week. I was flying on the bike.

Up until 40 miles or so when my lack of endurance showed me up !

Simon Notley

I did an RPM class the other day, just to see what it was like. It was okay, although rather confusing withe the constant changes of cadence, resistance etc. I was slightly unsure when I was supposed to be pushing and how hard... the instructor kept saying 'sprint' when she didn't mean it...

My heart rate covered a pretty wide range during the session, from tempo through to well above my TT level. I'm not sure I really accrued sufficient time at any level to get great benefits, but I'm sure it's a lot better than doing nothing from a training point of view. If it had gone on longer and perhaps stayed at each level for longer, it would have been a great workout, but equally I may have died of heat exhaustion.

Monty Dog

IME the quality of Spinning classes vary considerably from instructor to instructor - try a couple. because in my experience some simply aren't hard enough - what's tough for a 'gym bunny' simply ain't tough enough to help when riding. Another factor is that with some spinning bikes, it's very difficult to get a decent position, so the training is a bit of a compromise - I'd still save the really hard 'threshold' efforts for a turbo session where your position is correct. Finally, in terms of 'core' body exercises, you need to do specific exercises e.g. swiss ball, crunches etc - I do inline skating and roller-skiing in winterwhich are great all-over conditioners - a season of inline racing did wonders for my leg and core strength - if you think that cycling's tough on your lumbar region, you wanna try a 4hr plus inline skate marathon!

Escargot

But isn't that why spinning bikes have gears ? i.e. so you can make it as hard/easy as you like :?

You don't have to follow the gym bunnies

Escargot

Carl_P wrote:

I go to the gym four times a week, where I do weights, treadmill, Body Combat and Spin. Even that mix alone won't improve your core strength unless you include specific core training exercises. Most people choose the Swiss Balls for this. Spin will improve cardio fitness and leg strength, but won't do much for core strength.

There's plenty of stuff you can do without a swiss ball to improve core strength. It doesn't hit the core quite as hard but working the core exclusively is not really worth it IMO.

Doing squats, deadlifts, bent over rows, military press, dips, pull ups, leg raises, bench press (with legs off the ground) and press ups all work the core but do it in proportion with the rest of the body. If you already do these exercises then you probably won't need to do any swiss ball work at all.

mad4itinnit

well i have had 3 spin sessions now and i agree with monty dog it does matter which instructor you have as the first one was not to bad gave good recovery time throught the lesson and at end thought yea that was good, then i had my second with another person and OMG i was dead at the end of it felt like i had climbed mount everest on a tricycle lots of out the seat hard restitence it was amazing, had same guy for 3 erd lession and mixed it up but didnt give to much recovery time so really felt like i had done a good work out. iam hooked i have had a pt session today and he is working on core excersie i didnt relise that the best core work out is with swiss ball and own body weight always thought you use weights and that, bottom of my tummy is feeling it tonight cant wait now to get on bike in the next weeks and see what happends cheers for feedback and advice (sorry for spelling mistakes)