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Spinning ( the class )

Old 02-05-20, 04:35 PM
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sean.hwy
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Spinning ( the class )

Has anyone found any benefit to your bicycling by taking the fitness class spinning where you ride a stationary bike in class? I tried it once and did not like the bike because the pedals and fly wheel where attached to each other. It did not free wheel when you coast. I found this out the hard way when I stood up to sprint and then tried to coast like I would on regular bicycle. Yanked my knee when it kept going.
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Old 02-05-20, 05:27 PM
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I tried spin class a couple of times...only because I was invited by a friend who loves it, and really thought that as a road cyclist I would love it too. I didn't. I'm not knocking anyone who is getting their exercise that way...but it just isn't for me. Don't get me wrong, it was (is) a good workout. But, I just don't care for any stationary exercise...in a group or otherwise.

Dan
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Old 02-05-20, 05:34 PM
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Originally Posted by _ForceD_
I tried spin class a couple of times...only because I was invited by a friend who loves it, and really thought that as a road cyclist I would love it too. I didn't. I'm not knocking anyone who is getting their exercise that way...but it just isn't for me. Don't get me wrong, it was (is) a good workout. But, I just don't care for any stationary exercise...in a group or otherwise.

Dan
At least for me it did not feel like a bicycle either. I exercise 7 days a week. I was thinking of taking a spin class and dropping one of my other exercise to help me with riding a bike since I have not rode a bike since the early 90's. ha-ha and even back then I was only just putzing around on a mountain bike in SF.

I just started riding a flat bar commuter bike (650bx47c tire) since xmas. I am a long ways off before I can do a ride with serious people who go 15mph+ for hours.
I am trying hard and riding about 12-13 mph for about an hour.

Some day I want to join one of these facebook group rides.
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Old 02-05-20, 06:33 PM
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I like the feel of my tires on the road, the sound of my wheels, the feel of the air. It's the whole experience for me and I would just be missing out on all that. I guess one upside is there are probably a lot of very attractive young women at spinning class, but I'm past all that...
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Old 02-05-20, 06:41 PM
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Originally Posted by bpcyclist
I like the feel of my tires on the road, the sound of my wheels, the feel of the air. It's the whole experience for me and I would just be missing out on all that. I guess one upside is there are probably a lot of very attractive young women at spinning class, but I'm past all that...
Yeah...ditto all that stuff for me too. There's so much more to a bike ride than just pedaling.

Dan
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Old 02-05-20, 06:48 PM
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Originally Posted by bpcyclist
I like the feel of my tires on the road, the sound of my wheels, the feel of the air. It's the whole experience for me and I would just be missing out on all that. I guess one upside is there are probably a lot of very attractive young women at spinning class, but I'm past all that...
ha-ha if only there where 5 to 10 years younger instead of like 25 years younger.

There is no comparison. On the road is 100x more fun. I commute to work ( only 2 miles ). Ride at lunch (sprint here and there ) for like 45 minutes. And ride a little bit on the weekend ( about an hour ).

I was just wondering what I could do to improve so I could do one of those group rides where everyone seems to go like 15 to 20 mph for several hours. There does not seem to be group for me. Seems like either the groups are very slow like less than 8 mph (kids, beach cruisers, costumes ) or the spandex/fast people that do like 20+mph. Is there a middle group like the three bears :-)
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Old 02-05-20, 08:13 PM
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I like the Spin classes. I enjoy trying to keep up with all the yoga pants amazing women in the class.
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Old 02-06-20, 12:44 AM
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A year ago I was invited by a fellow cyclist friend to join in a regular spin class at our fitness center, run by a former pro racer. Was never an Indoor workout kind of guy but thought I needed to amp up the intensity of my workouts, especially during the colder months. Suffice it to say, 3X a week, Monday and Wednesday, late afternoon, 45 minute sessions and one hour, early Friday mornings... the spin classes have been phenomenal! My riding is stronger and my climbing has improved, even though at sixty seven, and riding the hills and mountain roads for many years, my legs, core and endurance have all improved big time. Find yourself a top notch instructor who are road riders too and you too might enjoy the spin experience. I have and so do many others in these classes.

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Old 02-06-20, 07:12 AM
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It's good for fitness but it is nothing like actual cycling, if only for the lack of air resistance. A friend and local racer leads spin classes. He tries to simulate an actual ride but still not the same.
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Old 02-06-20, 08:08 AM
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I tried a Craiglisted spin bike for two winters and found it nearly useless and extremely tedious. In my opinion--and I emphasize that--your own bike on a trainer with Zwift is much more useful, much more fun, and in most cases much cheaper.
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Old 02-06-20, 08:36 AM
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First, really, a fixie spin bike? Unusual.

There are many different spin classes. If you hate ONE, you may LOVE another.

Shop around.

(I still am amazed that we don’t have a spin forum here.)

-mr. bill
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Old 02-06-20, 10:54 AM
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I haven't tried a spin cycle yet, but I use an exercycle at the gym on a daily basis when I can't get out on the road. I set the resistance as high as it will go and shoot for 12 miles in under 50 minutes. It's like riding uphill with no end in sight. When I get back out on the bike the pedaling feels easy compared to the machine and I find myself flying through the fresh air mixed with honking horns, screams of profanity, tires squealing.... senility has its perks... (sometimes it's hard to remember where I am, but it's all good)
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Old 02-06-20, 10:59 AM
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I think it really depends on the instructor or class leader. Being a numbers guy I like the classes with power meters the best to track overall effort.

With almost all spin bikes I’ve used you can’t ‘coast’ so you have to keep pedalling the entire class, it’s not fixed gear per se but if your pedal stroke isn’t smooth you’ll know pretty quickly.

Spin classes aren’t cycling but they are a good changeup a couple times a week from working out alone in your pain cave all winter.
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Old 02-06-20, 11:33 AM
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I've been doing a mid-week spin class for 5 years.

It's mainly motivation to get a workout- on the schedule, and having someone to crack the whip ups the intensity.

I ride 1/2 hour each way to the class, & the night ride home is very nice.

The "nothing like cycling" arguments are bogus IMO. It's quite a bit like cycling.

You can get the riding position pretty close to a road bike, and can isolate different elements i.e. spin, different muscle groups, pedaling style, IAB position, and go totally into the red without crashing into anything.

I get compliments for smooth riding form on the road, but rollers also help with that.

Just last night, there was a guy who can spin faster than me (140?), but he is young & has been working hard including other venues.


It's important to find a class that has minimal silly bouncing around movements IMO.

For the beginning/returning cyclist, it'd good to get the legs used to turning over faster, and it's an efficient cardio workout.

As others have said, it can also be very scenic.
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Old 02-06-20, 11:35 AM
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As a followup... the classes that I attend led by the former pro racer... btw... FREE for Seniors because of Silver Sneakers... has a 'following' of hard core riders who have been with the instructor for three years. I wear foam ear plugs due to the loud music and the musical selections are upbeat to say the least. We're talking nonstop pedaling with resistance that can be dialed up and pushed to your limits, if you so desire. There are others there, like me, who are road riders,who want that extra intensity of spin. There are instructors whose classes I've attended and I don't feel comfortable there. It's a lot about the instructor and your simpatico with him or her. Some folks work so hard in the class that there's a pool of sweat under their bikes. Installed a few months ago was a very large, industrial fan to move the large volume of air around the room. Spin is not for everyone, but when the temps are ten degrees outside with ice and snow everywhere, a long spin workout will bust your butt if you put enough into it. YMMV.
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Old 02-06-20, 11:36 AM
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Similar experience to Bigbus--didn't like a spincycle, but have found I do like an exercycle. I don't go as long/fast as he, but enjoy being able to choose between many scenarios, set it as difficult (or easy) to pedal, whether the ride is flat, or alternates between rolling terrain, mountainous, etc.
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Old 02-06-20, 12:09 PM
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Most spin classes are on exercise bikes with heavy flywheels and no freehub, so they are essentially like riding a fixed gear. If you spend a lot of time on a fixed gear, you are prone to developing a dead spot in your pedal stroke, so that can be an issue. And besides that, most spin classes have very little to do with cycling: they often incorporate weird standing intervals and upper-body things that no one would ever do on a real bike. Not to mention that it won't help your bike handling.

That said, they can be a good workout and it's fun to change things up, especially during the winter.
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Old 02-06-20, 02:14 PM
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In my case I don't need the workout. I work out 7 days a week so this class would be replacing another workout.
I am new to biking ( unless you count bmx bikes as kid and putzing around on a mountain bike early 90s ).

I would die trying to keep up with 15+ mph guys that go two hours plus. I am just trying to think of ways to train and get better. Seems for the most part I should just ride my bike more. Take the long way home on my bike.

I hate the spin class bikes anyways because they don't freewheel. Hurts my knees when I stand up, spin/sprint and then try to slow down.

Thanks for everyones input.
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Old 02-06-20, 02:34 PM
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I do my own workout routines on my steel frame road bike on a Cycleops trainer. Works pretty well for me. Usually I'll do a serious HIIT session once a week or every two weeks, and I'll do my recovery rides on the trainer while watching movies or binging TV series.

I can't do real recovery rides outdoors -- I'm too competitive, even with myself, so every ride turns into a tempo ride, or a sort of fartlek/spontaneous interval session chasing PRs and KOMs on challenging segments. And our group rides are the same way -- "recovery" rides invariably turn into MAMIL competitions. Challenging and fun, but always in that nether region that trainers warn us against because we won't vary our workouts enough.

Even with resistance trainers and real road bikes, most folks I know will admit a Zwift session or something comparable feels very little like a real road ride, and climbing simulations feel nothing like the real thing. Good workouts in their own way, but not great for bike handling, balance, or the kind of weight distribution that makes it tolerable to ride on chipseal and rough pavement for hours. I usually wear my thickest padded shorts on the trainer because I tend to sit too heavily, and I'll include standing intervals ranging from 60 seconds every 5 minutes, to standing for as long as I can before my thighs are cooked, then resting and repeating.

And to remind myself how important wind resistance is and getting aero, I'll vary between the drop bar hand positions, including staying in the drops for 5 minutes at a time, then switching to the hoods with forearms as close to parallel with the ground as I can hold (rarely a full five minutes -- like planking, that's a tough position to hold static for very long).
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Old 02-06-20, 05:31 PM
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My wife and I took spin classes for years. Yes, most spin bikes are fixies, no big deal but Caloso is right, same issue on the road with a fixed bike. With the right instructor, they're fun. We quit going because we found we liked a traditional cycling training program better, where we did what we needed to do on a particular day instead of random spin bike stuff. So I ride my resistance rollers and my wife rides her erg trainer and that works for us.
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Old 02-07-20, 02:55 AM
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Originally Posted by sean.hwy
Has anyone found any benefit to your bicycling by taking the fitness class spinning where you ride a stationary bike in class? I tried it once and did not like the bike because the pedals and fly wheel where attached to each other. It did not free wheel when you coast. I found this out the hard way when I stood up to sprint and then tried to coast like I would on regular bicycle. Yanked my knee when it kept going.
Yep ... many times and I've enjoyed the classes. They're great for winter. Tempting to get a spin bike, like what you describe, for home.

However, for now, we use bicycles on trainers in front of Zwift.

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Old 02-07-20, 02:58 AM
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Originally Posted by mr_bill
First, really, a fixie spin bike? Unusual.

There are many different spin classes. If you hate ONE, you may LOVE another.

Shop around.

(I still am amazed that we don’t have a spin forum here.)

-mr. bill
Spin bikes ARE fixed gear ... all of them.

If they aren't fixed gear, they are just ordinary stationary bikes.
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Old 02-07-20, 08:47 AM
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Well, damn, around here we aren’t so black and white.

I guess I’ve never taken a spinTM class then. We may be more casual in terminology around here.

(p.s. I like good music. I hate someone yelling at everyone. I’d rather be outdoors.)

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Old 02-07-20, 09:29 AM
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Spinning gets me nowhere!
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Old 02-09-20, 08:38 PM
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Originally Posted by mr_bill
First, really, a fixie spin bike? Unusual.

There are many different spin classes. If you hate ONE, you may LOVE another.

Shop around.

(I still am amazed that we don’t have a spin forum here.)

-mr. bill
Spinning ain't cycling. If they ever start a spinning forum on this bicycle forum, it'll take me more than 10 yeara to return next time. I'm sure ****** has a spinning forum or Soul(less) cycle forum.if you're Jonesing for that type of discussion. Warning- conversations in there will probably have little to nothing to do with cycling and everything to do with that rad new playlist, or Michelle Obama being o the next bike, or that cool new color they just addded to the logo.

/Barf

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