Spinning - is it worth a go?

mudcow007

my local gym has spinning sessions it any good at increasing your speed/ fitness on a bike?

anyone on here go?

woodnut

I heard a woman got her shoelace caught in the cranks and ripped off her entire leg!!!!

Don't do it.

mudcow007

ahh but my shimano shoes have velcro as im always falling over laces

im thinking about joining the same gym you see so i can do the whole cardo thing when im there an get a few extra "free" miles on the spinny bikes

Koncordski

When I did it at the gym it was just incredibly boring, you have to crank the resistance up quite a bit to get the benefit and without having the air of the great outdoors rushing past it's also pretty unpleasant. Each to his own though.

woodnut

My mate does it & it's definitely improved his hill climbing.

I couldn't be doing with the cheesy eurodance & shouty instructor myself though

kelsen

Just one tip. Sit at the back and admire the view come the sprint!

Stoo48

It helps me, alot depends on the instructor, ours is an Ironman psyhcopath who idea of a sensible session is "climbing" intervals.

When he's away and one of the normal gym instructers does it, it leaves me very bored...

Stoo48

Double post removed....

Canny Jock

It's made a big difference to my cycling, if you get a good instructor then it's very effective and fun - if you enjoy suffering!

dreamlx10

My mate does it & it's definitely improved his hill climbing.

Are you having a laugh ? Go and lie down in a darkened room.

meanredspider

Before i started commuting, I did Spinning classes a couple of times a week. As above, it does depend upon the instructor and you need to work the resistance level to make sure you are working hard. I've read (in an article on here I think) that it helps up your cadence. It also helped me get used to pain so i can drive myself harder.

All of that said, now I commute, I don't bother going as I can ride 150 miles a week just going to and from work

Confusedboy

I have an opinion of the sort of person who uses a cycling or walking/running machine in a gym, when they could just cycle, or walk, or run. In fact, I have an opinion of the sort of person who uses a gym in the first place unless they are in proper training for a serious competitive sport event.

I am not going to tell you what that opinion is.....

iPete

Confusedboy wrote:

I have an opinion of the sort of person who uses a cycling or walking/running machine in a gym, when they could just cycle, or walk, or run. In fact, I have an opinion of the sort of person who uses a gym in the first place unless they are in proper training for a serious competitive sport event.

I am not going to tell you what that opinion is.....

Some of us don't want to look like a cross between Hoy and Wiggins

But yes, inside running machines or bikes are just odd, especially now its summer.

bigmat

I find them pretty good. You just have to be willing to ignore the instructor when they start doing stupid things, like making you stand in weird positions, do push-ups on the handlebars, stretching your upper body (like you'd ever do that after a half hour bike ride). I find it particularly good for out of the saddle climbing practice. Actually, the best session I can remember I turned up an hour early for the class so I just sat in on my own, watched the clock and did my own programme of hill climbs, doing seated / standing intervals each minute, upping resistance as I went until I reached maximum, one minute seated and one minute standing at maximum, then back down and repeat for 45 minutes. Very good workout, more than I could achieve going for a spin round Central London in my lunch hour. The major down side is it is SO sweaty, my kit is wringing wet by the end of the session (if you don't end up like that, you haven't been trying nearly hard enough...)

asprilla

I enjoy my spin class. If you vomit the next one is free.

I've had a couple of free sessions before, but not for a while.

rick_chasey

Spinning rule - if you can get off the bike and walk away after you've finished, you didn't ride hard enough.

kelsen

Confusedboy wrote:

I have an opinion of the sort of person who uses a cycling or walking/running machine in a gym, when they could just cycle, or walk, or run. In fact, I have an opinion of the sort of person who uses a gym in the first place unless they are in proper training for a serious competitive sport event.

I am not going to tell you what that opinion is.....

Bit harsh is it not, assuming your opinion is less than flattering?

NGale

I've just started with that British Military Fitness thing they have running in various parts of the country, costs the same as a gym but get you out into the open and is preparing me better than any gym for my RAF reserves fitness test.

A real hoot as well and I don't feel so unfit when I see some of the others who turn out

mudcow007

right, think i will give it a go then, its £5 per session

wear cycling gear? do i wear trainers or spd's?

Stoo48

What Rick said...... If my legs aren't not very wobbly and I haven't spent most of the session (depending on class content) in zone 4 and knocking on the door of zone 6, I've wasted my money.

asprilla

mudcow007 wrote:

right, think i will give it a go then, its £5 per session

wear cycling gear? do i wear trainers or spd's?

Check with the gym, our bikes take SPDs. I go to an 8am session so I've usually just stepped off the bike and am in full lycra and occasionally still wearing arm and leg warmers.

Simontheintrepid

Personally...yes

I think the more cycling fit I get, the less benefit I get. Going outside on the bike certainly pushes me more these days but in getting to that level it's been brilliant. I quite like following a spin with a swim and weights in the gym so it's also much more convenient.

1) it's less hassle - no bike maintenance/cleaning after, especially if it's raining, and traffic/dodgy roads/peds - you can just focus on improving your technique
2) the music quality is widely variable, but as I don't listen to music on the bike it's nice to have something thumping in your ear to get the adrenalin going
3) Upper body stuff - well yes you wouldn't do it in the outside world but it's still a workout and the variety is nice.
4) you can push as little or as much as you like and at 45 minutes it's good to just push yourself from start to finish. Also as meanredspider said, you can work on your pain management

The downsides - yes it can get bloody hot and the crappy spinning saddles. That is all really. I don't miss the view because it's an intense workout rather than a club ride.

kelson - probably best you keep your opinions to yourself

alfablue

Been doing spin since January. I find it very good for a high intensity workout that I couldn't easily get riding the roads around the city, so it is very good use of time on a work day (I do cycle to work and to the gym and on virtually every other utility journey). I have noticed a great improvement in my ability to do standing climbs since doing spin.

The downsides, the machines at my gym are quite crude and the seat height settings are either slightly too high or low. The pedals do take spd's but several are broken (and the gym is too cheap to fix them) (btw I need spd's as my feet just hurt if I use soft soled trainers).

Some of the instructors say stupid things, and on the spur of the moment I do what they say only to find I have injured myself (one got us spinning as fast as we could then suddenly raise the resistance to max and spin as hard as we could, and alsternating this every 30 seconds - my knee and ankle joints are still suffering from this episode!).

As said above, you need to pick what bits you follow and what bits you use your discretion, as I have found out the hard way :?

prj45

How topical, got a first date on Wednesday, and it's going to be at a spinning class, my first one.

I could end up looking very silly!

Applespider

Depends on the instructor; when the instructor is actually also a cyclist, it's a lot better than someone who only ever does spin. If it is proper certified spin or RPM, they shouldn't have you doing weird pushup things etc

I've taken a few cycling friends who were mostly fine but did struggle with long standing tracks. I only go in the winter or if there's lots of wet weather around. If you start going regularly with a good bunch of regular cyclists in the class, it can be fun

Canny Jock

Although the bikes take spd's, I just use trainers as the clips work fine, and the amount of sweat generated means that it wouldn't be nice putting them on for the ride home.

For all those who are quite anti - I can't think of something which does more for cycling fitness that I can do at lunchtime in an hour, given I work in the middle of a big city.

And I just enjoy suffering...