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Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help?
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 2015-04-23 7:34 AM |
 353   Conroe, Texas |  Subject: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help?My current schedule allows me to workout for about 90' in the morning and a couple hours in the evening 3 times a week. I have moved things around and have found that it is more efficient for me to do a couple of bike workouts in the morning at the gym. I still manage to average 2 90'+ workouts on the road and total around 6 hours of bike training a week between the two. My question is am I gaining anything from the spin bike workouts. Is there really a major advantage to doing all of your bike workouts on the actual bike I'm racing on? |
| 2015-04-23 8:26 AM in reply to: sawyer1206 |
| 166 | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? Its been my experience, that with a good spin bike you can really focus on pacing and intensity, without having to deal with traffic and other road distractions. It's harder mentally, but if you can focus on that workout and on what you are trying to get out of that workout, it's very useful to augment your bike training. That burn you feel on the spin bike increases your tolerance for pain on the bike. Of course, you don't get the benefit of cornering, the feel of your race bike, etc...but it's still good, particularly in the off-season when your focus is on building strength. For me, the toughest part of spinning is the mental grind, but if I go in with a gameplan for that specific workout, it works out OK and I get something positive out of it. For me personally, once that I have found a certain level of race fitness, I can maintain that level with a couple of hard spin sessions a week, and I get on my bike on weekends, when road riding is both safer and easier to get accomplished. |
| 2015-04-23 11:55 AM in reply to: sawyer1206 |
Extreme Veteran 1190 Silicon Valley | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? I spin one day a week and I do think it has helped me. The intensity is mom stop. No coasting down hill or taking some parts easy. I also find I sustain a higher power output when I spin. That said, I would much rather be outside on the road. I think as long as you are getting your road work in, spinning is a perfectly fine way to get some training time in. |
| 2015-04-23 2:01 PM in reply to: Stuartap |
| 353 Conroe, Texas | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? I've been researching to find out why it is that so many people say you must train on the bike that you will race. For outside riding I agree with this logic completely, but for inside riding I don't see a huge benefit of putting my bike on a trainer vs. using a stationary bike. I get plenty of outdoor riding in to keep up my handling skills and I think supplementing the outdoor rides with the stationary bike is helping. |
| 2015-04-23 2:34 PM in reply to: 0 |
| Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? Originally posted by sawyer1206 I've been researching to find out why it is that so many people say you must train on the bike that you will race. For outside riding I agree with this logic completely, but for inside riding I don't see a huge benefit of putting my bike on a trainer vs. using a stationary bike. I get plenty of outdoor riding in to keep up my handling skills and I think supplementing the outdoor rides with the stationary bike is helping. Depends on the distance. For sprint and Olympic, doesn't matter as much as you're not on the bike that long, relatively (disclaimer, as long as it fits you and you can stay in the aero position for the duration - I've seen people in Oly races sitting up on very expensive high end TT bikes). But for HIM and above, it's just my ,02 but it's more critical as you will be spending 2.5 - 7 hours (depending) in aero, and the more you are on the bike you will actually be using (i.e., in aero), the better off you will be. Stationary bikes may also not fit you like your road bike (usually don't due to limitations) which can give rise to knee issues potentially. But there is no "must." Perhaps a "should" IMO, the bike pyramid best to worst is: Bike outside But to answer the original question, spin class can definitely help bike fitness. ETA - I disagree that even for outside riding you "must" be on the bike you race on. I ride my roadie more often than the tri bike, and will often only break out the tri bike a few weeks before race day. But I also ride the tri bike 2X time a week or more on the trainer Edited by ChrisM 2015-04-23 2:37 PM |
| 2015-05-01 9:15 PM in reply to: sawyer1206 |
| 270 | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? Spin workouts will definitely help with bike form and will work similar muscles, but there is a benefit to riding a real bike. You'll get used to the bike you're going to race in and learn how you feel in the saddle. |
| 2015-05-03 9:37 AM in reply to: CRFTX2001 |
Veteran 1900 Southampton, Ontario | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? my initial thoughts were the fit would be an issue with going from a spin bike to a regular bike but I read this article which points out that the spin bike uses a large fly wheel which changes things quite a bit. I would still think a Spin bike is better than sitting on the couch but a trainer is likely the way to go if stuck inside. http://www.everymantri.com/everyman_triathlon/2012/08/should-triath... |
| 2015-05-03 12:38 PM in reply to: DaveL |
Regular 134 Oregon | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? I've been wondering the same thing. There are several months per year where I can barely ride due to work/weather/dark. I could take a spinning class at the gym before work 2x per week and it should be relatively easy to fit it in but I have always hesitated because I was afraid it might be actually BAD for my cycling training somehow. Maybe promote poor form, maybe result in injury due to improper fit etc..... But if the consensus is: trainer is better but spin bike is OK, I might just go ahead and check out a couple of these classes. |
| 2015-05-03 1:23 PM in reply to: #5110204 |
Member 2821 Carbondale, Illinois | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? I've been doing spin class twice a week since January as a way to get some bike time in and not be bored to death on my trainer. Just came back from my first outdoor non-race ride of the season and am up 2.5mph over the start of last year. Some of that, of course, is general fitness from having another year of training under my belt, but I think spin helped me a lot this winter. |
| 2015-05-03 2:21 PM in reply to: DaveL |
Master 10208 Northern IL | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? Originally posted by DaveL my initial thoughts were the fit would be an issue with going from a spin bike to a regular bike but I read this article which points out that the spin bike uses a large fly wheel which changes things quite a bit. I would still think a Spin bike is better than sitting on the couch but a trainer is likely the way to go if stuck inside. http://www.everymantri.com/everyman_triathlon/2012/08/should-triath... While reading this was wondering where some of the "points" had come from and noticed it was a Greenfield article. |
| 2015-05-03 6:16 PM in reply to: #5112678 |
New user 72 | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? I'm taking this 90 min weekly endurance cycling spin class from a professional cyclist and that has made me a better biker. For me, the rest of the time (minus an outdoor ride most weekends) the choice is ride in traffic with tons of stops, or ride the trainer. For me, its indoors, hands down. I just make sure to keep my effort up. |
| 2015-05-03 6:35 PM in reply to: brigby1 |
Extreme Veteran 1175 Langley, BC, 'Wet Coast' Canada | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? Originally posted by brigby1 Originally posted by DaveL my initial thoughts were the fit would be an issue with going from a spin bike to a regular bike but I read this article which points out that the spin bike uses a large fly wheel which changes things quite a bit. I would still think a Spin bike is better than sitting on the couch but a trainer is likely the way to go if stuck inside. http://www.everymantri.com/everyman_triathlon/2012/08/should-triath... While reading this was wondering where some of the "points" had come from and noticed it was a Greenfield article. Geeeeez,.... that is one very poorly-written 'article' .... Poor grammar, poor spelling, and even 'poorer' information. It is loaded, however, with contradiction and mis-information! The 'worlds most popular triathlon blog' (sic) , indeed  |
| 2015-05-04 8:25 AM in reply to: 0 |
Veteran 1900 Southampton, Ontario | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? now I feel bad about even posting that link. It got even worse when I looked at some of his other "articles" Edited by DaveL 2015-05-04 8:25 AM |
| 2015-05-04 11:18 AM in reply to: themissj1981 |
| 1660 | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? Originally posted by themissj1981 I've been wondering the same thing. There are several months per year where I can barely ride due to work/weather/dark. I could take a spinning class at the gym before work 2x per week and it should be relatively easy to fit it in but I have always hesitated because I was afraid it might be actually BAD for my cycling training somehow. Maybe promote poor form, maybe result in injury due to improper fit etc..... But if the consensus is: trainer is better but spin bike is OK, I might just go ahead and check out a couple of these classes.
Don't worry about it - the spin classes are 100% legit if you work hard in them.
Just because the bike isn't a perfect fit for you compared to your race bike doesn't mean it's not benefiting you when you're hammering on the spin bike.
The issue of being comfortable on your race bike for 6 hours or so of an IM race or 3-4 hours of a HIM race does require some long rides on your racing bike to acclimate, but the spin classes will not hurt that in any way.
If you're working a lot harder aerobicwise on your spin bikes (for motivation reasons, etc.) than your racing bike, you'll go faster by doing more of the spin training than vice versa. |
| 2015-05-04 5:46 PM in reply to: yazmaster |
Member 341 Austin | Subject: RE: Spin Bike Workouts...Will They Help? The gym I go to Pure Austin, has a Tuesday evening Endurance Cycling class. The instructor races on her road bike most weekends and is very highly ranked. Most of the class though is triathletes. She has us WORK for 90 minutes every Tuesday on drills that have been great. I have already seen improvement this year because of the structured organized spin bike work. All our goals in class are power based, it is really making me want to get a power meter on my bike at home.
TLDR: Spin bike = good times. |
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