BT Forum

Hi! Congrats on taking steps to get healthy, and welcome to BT Many of us started where (or even heavier) than where you're at ... I'm 5'3" and change and was well over 200lb for two of my triathlons.

As far as indoor cycling goes, it's really recommended that you stay seated and not do any of the standing or even too-high-resistance seated movements if you're a newcomer, until you've built up some strength and endurance (say, 6-8 weeks of at least 2-3x/week indoor cycling).

"One piece and kept spinning the whole time" is great. And that's what you should do ... keep pedaling the whole time, but at resistances that are manageable for you to do that. If you're cycling very low rotations-per-minute (RPM), this is very ballpark but say 50 or below, you're putting your knees at risk for the strain.

This helps build up your muscles safely, too. The burn you're feeling isn't from lactic acid; it's from your muscle fibers tearing. So you want to not burn so much ... maybe a little soreness after, but definitely no pain during or after.

You may want to invest in a high-quality, snug-fitting pair of bicycle shorts; that will definitely help, and if you need a padded seat as well, purchase one (though they can actually make things worse). Riding more in tolerable ways will help the most as it builds up the toughness of the skin, tendons and ligaments in your nether areas.

Finally, did the instructor help position you on the bike properly? Seat height, fore/aft, and handlebar adjustments will also make a HUGE difference in your riding comfortably.

Maybe, maybe not. Stretching is a very individual thing and under some circumstances can harm rather than help. For people new to cycling, I also would not advocating going so hard that one would be more than mildly sore afterwards ... nothing requiring icing.

I find icing helps with future soreness. It's something to consider as you get more involved in triathlon training. As for stretching:

Regular tightness that comes from cycling: If you’re out there pumping hard with your legs, odds are your leg muscles are going to be tight.  For this type of tightness I suggest doing post-workout stretches, meaning that you find time later in the day to stretch out the legs.

Pains, aches, and soreness that flare up during cycling: If you have nagging injuries that often tighten up during a ride and cause what I call “Bad Pain”, then these muscles should be stretched pre-workout.  Give them a good stretch prior to going out on your ride so that the muscles can relax a little.

 Nothing wrong with stretching. 

There's nothing wrong with stretching under the right circumstances. However, the best evidence available so far indicates that neither pre- nor post-exercise stretching has a significant effect on preventing soreness or risk of injury.

Stretching after very hard or very long efforts is not recommended because these efforts have already done significant damage to the muscle tissue, which at that point stretching may exacerbate.

If you have better evidence than reviews either conducted under the auspices of, or published by institutions comparable to the U.S. National Institutes of Health or the American College of Sports Medicine, I'd be genuinely interested in seeing it.

Thanks for all the input and support.

In my youth I was an athlete and am familiar with stretching. I don't do crazy amounts, but just enough to loosen up a bit before the workout. After my work out I do a slight stretch but also incorporate a little 'rub' along the muscles in the direction of my heart... a little post work out detox. This is not based on scientific evidence, but just a practice I used to employ 15 years ago.

I actually think that I am going to do spinning sporadically and use my husbands mountain bike to bike to work in the mornings first. There was a lot of the "running" in the session and to be honest we have no hills here what so ever, so my tri's here will all be flat. Plus I don't want to be paying for something that I can accomplish for free.

I know spinning is great for burning calories, but I do have an old knee injury and don't want to risk it and end up sidelined.

Again, stretching is a very personal thing--that's what I have against blanket recommendations or ones made without enough information about the person being advised to do it. If doing what you're doing works for you, by all means keep doing it!

A good rule of thumb for indoor cycling workouts is: if you wouldn't do it outside on a bike, don't do it on an indoor bike. (That's primarily for safety reasons, but also, to get the most out of training for road cycling, as opposed to general aerobic fitness). Also, "Running with Resistance" is a Spinning(R)-specific move with very specific guidelines, and there is NOT supposed to be a lot of it in a proper indoor cycling workout. (Just for reference, Spinning(R) is a brand of indoor cycling, although like the words "Kleenex" and "Xerox" has become a generic term).

Mountain bike commuting sounds like a great idea!

I was wondering where the burning was occurring when you were spinning?  Top of you leg right above your knee would indicate your seat isn't in the right position.  

I am about to be a pooper on this one, and am sure I will catch a little flack for this, but I'm gonna say it anyway: 

Initially, spinning classes present a reasonable amount of calorie burning, BUT you will eventually learn how to move your legs to expend the least amount of energy possible.  While this is great for a competitive cyclist to conserve for racing, it is garbage for weight loss.  I speak from experience, and here are my list of factors for just getting a bike and getting outdoors: 

you have no wind resistance to overcome

there is no upper body balance (i.e. side to side swaying and upper body activiation)

and the stationary bike is weight supportive.  

Whenever you remove supporting your body weight from the equation, you are not getting effective cardio and it becomes ineffective for weight loss.  This is why I refuse to use an eliptical, arc trainer, etc.) I am sure I am about to catch some heat, but this is just from my experience, and found that when I actually started getting out on my bike and running, the weight came off faster.  

That being said, I am SUPER proud of you for taking on this challenge, and am excited to here how your training and first tri go!  

The simple answer to the dilemma is that you keep the same level of effort by upping the resistance. In other words, you don't allow it to become easier. This is as true of outdoor riding as it is of indoor.

Your first two factors are valid; the third is not (straight physics). If it were, nobody would ever lose weight by, for example, swimming.

However, it is true that every newcomer needs outdoor riding time in order to learn bike handling skills (if they ever intend to be in a triathlon), and it is true that outdoor riding is the most sport-specific for, well, outdoor riding! (This is separate from a weight-loss perspective).

"and running" is a big "and." It introduces a whole different type of activity into this discussion that the original poster didn't ask about. Additionally, I would be very, very cautious in recommending much running (if at all) to someone who is currently obese. Walking, yes. Run:walk ratio with a very high percentage of it being walk, maybe.

Many people can/do/have lost significant amounts of weight, and have had to, and it's much safer for them to, using less weight-bearing exercises ... such as indoor cycling.

The only thing that is effective for weight loss is burning more calories than you use. Eat less, move more. There are no safe, ultimately effective shortcuts to this.

See I knew I would catch some flack, but I learned something in the process from a different perspective!  I guess starting out as someone who could switch running and biking I never thought of the problems associated with that.  Thanks for showing me a different POV! 

I am really appreciating all the different perspectives everyone is offering. It will help me understand things a bit more when they occur opposed to feeling helpless.

The thigh burn wasn't directly above my knee... it was more like my entire quadricep. When the instructor fitted me to the spinning bike he explained the little tests he was doing and where things should line up, etc. I did a little research on youtube before on fitting the bike and he covered all the aspects i knew of.

Running is my least favorite aspect of the tri and I will actually be posting a separate thread about it a little later as it's my biggest concern and hurdle.

I tend to make things too technical! LOL  The curse of reading too much!  I really appreciate your POV on this, it helps me see that everyone has things that work well for them  

I have to say that I love my twice weekly spin classes, and they have improved my form, speed and endurance.  Don't get me wrong, I commute daily on my mountain bike as it's my only form of transport and I take my beloved road bike out on many weekends so I get all my bike handling skills, but my mid-week spin classes are fantastic as they really push me and give me a great workout (without having to stop at lights, avoid and swear at idiot drivers etc). 

However, you do have to find the right instructor who doesn't do lots of silly things that you would not normally do on a bike.  I've tried about 8 different instructors and found 4 really good ones (one is an Ironman), and 4 crazy ones.  The current instructor (I've given her the nickname of the Mistress of Spin) is all about going at your own pace/resistance levels, correct form and correct pedaling stroke etc, when seated and climbing, and she keeps introducing new things into her classes, so it's never boring and she's always challenging us, especially the regulars.  According to her, she gauges her routines by her regulars and two in particular, by how much they are grimacing/sweating but still putting in max effort - I recently found out that I'm one of those people!  Just as well the loud music covers up the sound of my swearing

So my advice is stick with it, but go at your own pace until you build up endurance.  I found it initially really really hard and would get tired very quickly, but I've made huge strides from those early days and I really look forward to my classes.  In addition, bike/tri shorts will really help with the seat thing, as will more classes. 

The first week of spin class sucks, your lady bits will be screaming for probably 1.5-2 weeks but once you build your seat, you're golden.  I'd say ditch the padded seat when you feel ready because the seats on the spin bikes are heaven compared to the seat on a real bike.

You can do it, push onward and keep in mind that as long as you keep going it WILL GET BETTER!