The Benefit of Spin…
Unfortunately, with winter weather still hitting a lot of us, we have to resort to indoor training.
So, in another installment from Dr. Chris Eschbach… I asked him:
Do those intense one hour spin classes at the gym really benefit you if you can’t hit the road for a long ride?
Chris Eschbach, Ph.D., HFI
Director of the Human Performance Laboratory:
Absolutely, if we are talking about an intense workout, there is not much that will benefit you more. Although, not everyone is ready for the intense workouts. Before intense workouts become a key to your training, you need to have a good base fitness. Determining where you are as it relates to your stage of training is something we work on with our clients in the lab during every session. Once you get your base fitness where it needs to be… adding intense sessions, either on the road or in spin class, will really help.
I am always preaching specificity so it is probably better done on the road but if for some reason you cannot get the same session on the road, the classes are great. I would not necessarily classify a spin class in the same group as a long ride on the road. There isn’t much better training than hitting the road for a long ride, especially when you can really work the second half of the ride and get some quality threshold in.
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Comments
I have always been able to get a good workout on a spin bike. I just use the bike and not the classes. Much better than a Life Cycle.
Ron & Chris– Me too… There’s a class I can hit on the way home for work. It’s definitely a good HARD hour. I especially like the “climbing” class. The gym I belong to actually has a spin room with about 50 bikes and two giant screens up front. They play videos of past races… The Tour and Giro. It makes it go by so fast and you feel like you’re riding along with the race sometimes.
My coach has included two spinning classes each weekend for my training. One is 60 minutes, the other 90 and I find them pretty tiring. You really have to drink a lot though, with all the heat in the room. I wish that we would have some giant screens too, though.
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I would think something is better than nothing at all. Spin classes, (I’ve been to some) are a great way to get the muscles pumping in a more social atmosphere. Winters are pretty boring though…