Saturday, December 16, 2006

I Went to Spin Class...

and this guy ends up being my instructor for the day! YIKES! "Ahh, sir, excuse me sir, but this isn't supposed to be one of our intensity interval days..." Crazy thing is, some of those hardcore "spinners" probably fed the "Hope" his lunch (at this point in his off season training).

Tom Danielson leading a spin at a local Denver gym

3 comments:

citizen***146 said...

There is something very wrong with spinning classes, although I have never worked up the courage to do one!

Granny's 30 said...

agreed, particpated in one and only one. People say it helps, but I don't necessarily think most instructors know what they are doing.

53rd Tooth said...

Granny, et al, this photo is a "trainer" class and not spin. In fact, one guy in this photo is on rollers.

Though I'm struggling to ascertain what is "wrong" with spin classes, here is some clarification.

"SPIN" is a brand name and "SPINNING" represents only one style of indoor cycling. It's usually intended to hit a large base of fitness center participants and varies slightly or significantly from what we cyclists would consider indoor training.

There is however a pretty large movement to use the "spin bikes" in a more traditional form of indoor cycling training. I participated last year in a Winter Cycling Series on a spin bike that consisted of 12 weeks of base, power and interval training. Come April, I was easily 20-30% stronger than I was the year before. It was the best thing I ever did in the off season. These instructors were USA Cycling Expert Level Coaches and one was a Norba PA State Champion. Granny is correct that there are some scary instructors out there but there are some great ones too.

Bottom line, regardless of discipline, indoor cycling is just another outlet for fitness. It's a great alternative to the lonely 3+ training rides in a dynamic and social environment. It's not my first choice by any means but can be a blast and who knows, maybe you'll make a life long friend, right 03?

Saturday, December 16, 2006

I Went to Spin Class...

and this guy ends up being my instructor for the day! YIKES! "Ahh, sir, excuse me sir, but this isn't supposed to be one of our intensity interval days..." Crazy thing is, some of those hardcore "spinners" probably fed the "Hope" his lunch (at this point in his off season training).

Tom Danielson leading a spin at a local Denver gym

3 comments:

citizen***146 said...

There is something very wrong with spinning classes, although I have never worked up the courage to do one!

Granny's 30 said...

agreed, particpated in one and only one. People say it helps, but I don't necessarily think most instructors know what they are doing.

53rd Tooth said...

Granny, et al, this photo is a "trainer" class and not spin. In fact, one guy in this photo is on rollers.

Though I'm struggling to ascertain what is "wrong" with spin classes, here is some clarification.

"SPIN" is a brand name and "SPINNING" represents only one style of indoor cycling. It's usually intended to hit a large base of fitness center participants and varies slightly or significantly from what we cyclists would consider indoor training.

There is however a pretty large movement to use the "spin bikes" in a more traditional form of indoor cycling training. I participated last year in a Winter Cycling Series on a spin bike that consisted of 12 weeks of base, power and interval training. Come April, I was easily 20-30% stronger than I was the year before. It was the best thing I ever did in the off season. These instructors were USA Cycling Expert Level Coaches and one was a Norba PA State Champion. Granny is correct that there are some scary instructors out there but there are some great ones too.

Bottom line, regardless of discipline, indoor cycling is just another outlet for fitness. It's a great alternative to the lonely 3+ training rides in a dynamic and social environment. It's not my first choice by any means but can be a blast and who knows, maybe you'll make a life long friend, right 03?