Spinning classes + squats/deadlifts weight training.

capoz77

Anyone do any of the above and see any noticable performance increase while on the trail?

Been doing a lot of squats + deadlifts recently and gained a lot of muscle mass in the legs, but yesterday on the trail legs tired very easily. Would heavy weights build the wrong type of muscle for biking, ie. slow twitch

Would spinning classes be better for performance due to hitting fast twitch fibres?

Discuss

whyamihere

Muscle mass in your legs won't help you at all with riding a bike. It's aerobic endurance you need to work on. You already have enough power in your legs for anything other than track sprinting.

capoz77

Will aerobic endurance help with the lactic acid build up I was getting yesterday?

thanks!

I thought more muscle would give more power for the climbs and big rings

so to keep up my weight lifting i'd be best to stick to upper body only?

MountainMonster

Working on lower body won't be doing any harm to so to speak. You'll be bigger and heavier but it won't affect the performance too much, it's more about training yourself to be able to use the muscle for longer period which aroebic clases will help.

EarlofBarnet

capoz77 wrote:

Been doing a lot of squats + deadlifts recently and gained a lot of muscle mass in the legs, but yesterday on the trail legs tired very easily. Would heavy weights build the wrong type of muscle for biking, ie. slow twitch

Would spinning classes be better for performance due to hitting fast twitch fibres?

Nail on the head regarding the muscle fibres. I did a lot of bodybuilding for three years and could squat a fair bit of weight. I found that when I got back in to cycling that my legs would pump up when climbing and I got tired quite quickly. Spinning, cycling intervals and distance work will help you a lot more on the bike - as they are cycling.

Don't discount the squats completely. Go a bit lighter and do front and back squats to help strenthen your core up, which does help on the bike.

Might take a little bit of time for your legs to re-adjust, but it won't take too long

endurojcb

Spinning will help you a lot with your aerobic endurance. You'll be working at near maximum for 45-60 mins. When thatr gets too easy for you, try doing 2 spinning sessions in a row. That will really test your endurance, and you'll really notice the difference in your fitness on the trails!

KnightOfTheLongTights

just did my first spin class in a few years on Saturday - great stuff, loved it

Stuntman

depending on the amount of time you have to train I would say get a kettle bell for all over endurance, esp the legs. it can also be used to build upper body strngth. Great training tool.
The aim of most moves is to make your body more efficient as a whole. cleans, deadlifts and squats are all in there. Youtube cycling kettle bell workouts and you'll get a few good ideas

And spin classes aren't designed to be at near max for 40-60 minutes. in a 60 minute spin class you will probably only be at max hr once or twice but you will be at and above threshold(great training) for about 15-20 minutes.

Good luck

KnightOfTheLongTights

only bad thing about my class was that it was only 40 mins, about 8 of which was warming up and down ...

Stuntman

KnightOfTheLongTights wrote:

only bad thing about my class was that it was only 40 mins, about 8 of which was warming up and down ...

Ouch... that's short. I would say to try and get in the spin room before hand and warm up, at least you'll get more riding and then make the 24 minutes of the class that you do have an intense 24 minutes. Ask the gym if the do a longer spin class.

KnightOfTheLongTights

Stuntman wrote:

KnightOfTheLongTights wrote:

only bad thing about my class was that it was only 40 mins, about 8 of which was warming up and down ...

Ouch... that's short. I would say to try and get in the spin room before hand and warm up, at least you'll get more riding and then make the 24 minutes of the class that you do have an intense 24 minutes. Ask the gym if the do a longer spin class.

about 8 mins for both - so we did get well over 30 mins of spinning.

I suspect it's cos the spin room is used for other classes so they have to set up and clear up within the hour...

But I'm going to a class tonight that is billed as 60 minutes.

Stuntman

Glad you're getting an hour class. My advice is to listen to rest when they say rest and go hard when they say go hard, make it count.

Let us know how it goes.

KnightOfTheLongTights

had a fair few pints and a few naughty roll-ups yesterday - I reckon it's gonna hurt tonight ...

Proutster

I've tried spin classes but IMHO I don't think they're the best for MTBing, I guess they're pretty ideal for roadies but how often do you pedal your MTB @ 120rpm.

No doubting that it gives your heart a good workout but IMHO they don't seem to improve my riding. I think that it's because in a spin class the intervals are so short i.e. 30-60-90 seconds, whereas on the rides that I do whilst MTBing the climbs seem to last for 10-15-20 mins.

So now when I go to the gym (2-3 times per week in the winter) I get on a Keiser spin bike and set it on resistance 15 (out of 24) and just pedal at 55-65 rpm (I've got some good tracks that vary between this and I find pedalling to keep in time with a beat is much easier than just trying to keep to a certain number). I do most of this sat down (as I don't get out of the saddle much when riding my FS) and then have one song in the middle where I stand out of the saddle and put the resistance up to 20. At the end I then do one track at resistance 20 but stay sat down - that's a real killer.

The routine lasts 45 mins and, according to my HRM, I burn 600ish cals - max HR reached is generally around 170bpm (I'm 45 so this is close to the recommended maximum of 175).

I've found that, since I've been doing this, I can climb hills much better and for longer before I feel the burning need to throw my guts up

If anyone wants the track listing etc. then just let me know and I'll post it up.

WisePranker

Proutster wrote:

I've tried spin classes but IMHO I don't think they're the best for MTBing, I guess they're pretty ideal for roadies but how often do you pedal your MTB @ 120rpm.

No doubting that it gives your heart a good workout but IMHO they don't seem to improve my riding. I think that it's because in a spin class the intervals are so short i.e. 30-60-90 seconds, whereas on the rides that I do whilst MTBing the climbs seem to last for 10-15-20 mins.

So now when I go to the gym (2-3 times per week in the winter) I get on a Keiser spin bike and set it on resistance 15 (out of 24) and just pedal at 55-65 rpm (I've got some good tracks that vary between this and I find pedalling to keep in time with a beat is much easier than just trying to keep to a certain number). I do most of this sat down (as I don't get out of the saddle much when riding my FS) and then have one song in the middle where I stand out of the saddle and put the resistance up to 20. At the end I then do one track at resistance 20 but stay sat down - that's a real killer.

The routine lasts 45 mins and, according to my HRM, I burn 600ish cals - max HR reached is generally around 170bpm (I'm 45 so this is close to the recommended maximum of 175).

I've found that, since I've been doing this, I can climb hills much better and for longer before I feel the burning need to throw my guts up

If anyone wants the track listing etc. then just let me know and I'll post it up.

I'd be interested in the track listing you use for this as I tend to listen to my iPod when I'm at the gym rather than having to suffer the crap that they play in there!
I'll give this session a go next time I'm at the gym and see how it goes

meanredspider

There are Spin classes and there are Spin classes. You can normally tell the really hard ones because they are always full. The other thing to remember is that you have control of the resistance - you work as hard as you like. I used to check the temps of my wheel versus other (fit-looking) people's wheels to check I was working as hard.

One of the best instructors used to stop us in the middle of the classes and do a session of squats then put us back on the bikes. A good spin class will be a good range of cadences too. Picking up leg speed is one of the great benefits of a Spin class.

Proutster

WisePranker wrote:

Proutster wrote:

I've tried spin classes but IMHO I don't think they're the best for MTBing, I guess they're pretty ideal for roadies but how often do you pedal your MTB @ 120rpm.

No doubting that it gives your heart a good workout but IMHO they don't seem to improve my riding. I think that it's because in a spin class the intervals are so short i.e. 30-60-90 seconds, whereas on the rides that I do whilst MTBing the climbs seem to last for 10-15-20 mins.

So now when I go to the gym (2-3 times per week in the winter) I get on a Keiser spin bike and set it on resistance 15 (out of 24) and just pedal at 55-65 rpm (I've got some good tracks that vary between this and I find pedalling to keep in time with a beat is much easier than just trying to keep to a certain number). I do most of this sat down (as I don't get out of the saddle much when riding my FS) and then have one song in the middle where I stand out of the saddle and put the resistance up to 20. At the end I then do one track at resistance 20 but stay sat down - that's a real killer.

The routine lasts 45 mins and, according to my HRM, I burn 600ish cals - max HR reached is generally around 170bpm (I'm 45 so this is close to the recommended maximum of 175).

I've found that, since I've been doing this, I can climb hills much better and for longer before I feel the burning need to throw my guts up

If anyone wants the track listing etc. then just let me know and I'll post it up.

I'd be interested in the track listing you use for this as I tend to listen to my iPod when I'm at the gym rather than having to suffer the crap that they play in there!
I'll give this session a go next time I'm at the gym and see how it goes

All sat down in saddle except No. 6. All resistances are for 0-24 scale Keiser bikes.

1. Akon – Clap Again – Warmup, resistance 8, 70-80 rpm, 5:11
2. Akon – Keep You Much Longer – resistance 15, 60rpm, 4:20
3. Cascada – Evacuate the Dancefloor (Rob Mayth remix) - resistance 15, 67rpm, 5:27
4. Lady GaGa – Poker Face - resistance 15, 60rpm, 3:57
5. David Guetta – Sexy Chick - resistance 15, 65rpm, 3:15
6. Lady GaGa – Teeth – stand on pedals, resistance 20, 50 rpm, 3:40
7. Darude – Sandstorm – resistance 8, 70-80 rpm, 3:44
8. Lady GaGa & Beyoncé – Telephone - resistance 15, 60rpm, 3:40
9. Ke$ha – Tik Tok (Fred Falke Club Remix) - resistance 15, 65rpm, 6:42
10. Band of Skulls – I Know What I Am – resistance 20, 50 rpm, 3:17
11. Mariah Carey – Obsessed – Warmdown, resistance 4, 45 rpm, 4:20

No. 10 is the real killer, staying sat down really kills my skinny little chicken legs

I downloaded all of these from iTunes, so you should be able to get them from there.

Apologies for my music taste, but it works for me :oops:

Proutster

meanredspider wrote:

There are Spin classes and there are Spin classes. You can normally tell the really hard ones because they are always full. The other thing to remember is that you have control of the resistance - you work as hard as you like. I used to check the temps of my wheel versus other (fit-looking) people's wheels to check I was working as hard.

One of the best instructors used to stop us in the middle of the classes and do a session of squats then put us back on the bikes. A good spin class will be a good range of cadences too. Picking up leg speed is one of the great benefits of a Spin class.

Agreed, but nearly all of the ones that I've been to (4 or 5 different instructors) have been mostly spin and virtually no grind - and it's the grind that I think does me the most benefit for MTBing.

The spinning certainly benefits with cardiovascular fitness but I wanted to improve my leg strength / endurance as well.

Proutster

meanredspider wrote:

I used to check the other (fit-looking) people.

That's the other benefit of a spin class versus on my own - there are lots of yummy mummies in the spin classes. Is it too pervy to always pick a bike at the back of the class?

meanredspider

Proutster wrote:

.Agreed, but nearly all of the ones that I've been to (4 or 5 different instructors) have been mostly spin and virtually no grind - and it's the grind that I think does me the most benefit for MTBing.

The spinning certainly benefits with cardiovascular fitness but I wanted to improve my leg strength / endurance as well.

That's a shame. All the good classes I did had at least one real grind track (Rockstar being one of the tunes I remember) and it would be a resistance increase until stall out. I like doing those more than the aerobic thrashes but I think the fast paced stuff did me more good. I've never had an issue with leg strength but pace and aerobics was an issue (I'm a diesel rather than a bike engine...)

meanredspider

Proutster wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I used to check the other (fit-looking) people.

That's the other benefit of a spin class versus on my own - there are lots of yummy mummies in the spin classes. Is it too pervy to always pick a bike at the back of the class?

I did actually mean "fit" as opposed to "fit" - but, yes, that's always a bonus that helps the hour pass

In fact my favourite instructor was a young lady that started quiet and dull but the more pain she inflicted the more excited, sadistic and animated she would get. It did make me wonder what she'd be like in, er, other circumstances...

Proutster

meanredspider wrote:

Proutster wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I used to check the other (fit-looking) people.

That's the other benefit of a spin class versus on my own - there are lots of yummy mummies in the spin classes. Is it too pervy to always pick a bike at the back of the class?

I did actually mean "fit" as opposed to "fit" - but, yes, that's always a bonus that helps the hour pass

In fact my favourite instructor was a young lady that started quiet and dull but the more pain she inflicted the more excited, sadistic and animated she would get. It did make me wonder what she'd be like in, er, other circumstances...

WisePranker

Proutster wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I used to check the other (fit-looking) people.

That's the other benefit of a spin class versus on my own - there are lots of yummy mummies in the spin classes. Is it too pervy to always pick a bike at the back of the class?

Shocking!
Strangely I'm always about the last person into my spinning classes so I always end up at the back 8)

springtide9

Always hated spinning, but it looks like I was missing a trick! LOL
Now, where do I sign up? ;-)


Oh, I noticed that someone mentioned grinding training....

Not sure if it's a tip or even worth sharing...... but what I've found useful is the upright bike 'alpine pass' program. Pick a level (high) and basically on the dips attempt to spin.... but make the level hard enough such that you have to come out of the seat for the 3 peaks. You can vary the time to whatever suits, but I generally range from 20-45mins.

I do sometimes try the creating my own program with manual mode, but it sometimes becomes an effort to work out your program on-the-go as well as the actual exercise.
Sometimes it's easier to know that you have to keep going above 50 rpm otherwise the bike gives you a rest (and you 'do not pass go and obviously don't collect £200'!)

meanredspider

WisePranker wrote:

Strangely I'm always about the last person into my spinning classes so I always end up at the back 8)

The seats at the back always seem to get taken first in my class... :shock: