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5 Ways To Stop Spinning Your Wheels Mindlessly In Spinning
By Christina | September 17, 2009
If like most of us, you have been spinning for years at your local gym, it is time to change up your ride. Spinning is one of my all-time favorite cardiovascular activities. You sweat like a pig, burn a lot of calories, and improve your lower body strength and endurance. The problem with spinning, however, is that if you have always been riding the same way day after day, your body is completely used to the workout and you will stop seeing the changes you are looking for in your body as a result.
One way to make your ride harder is to focus on your cadence in relation to your resistance. It doesn’t matter if you are on a flat road or a hill, always try to achieve the cadence you are looking for at the highest gear you can handle. For example, if you are on a flat and your cadence should be around a 120 revolutions per minute, try to achieve that pace at a higher gear than feels comfortable. The bikes at my gym tell you what your gear and cadence are. Even if you have to rely on your perception of how fast you are going or how steep your hill is, you can still apply this principle of going as fast as you can at the highest gear you can hold. By applying this principle alone, you will elevate your heart rate and enhance your cardiovascular endurance.
Another way to change up your spin ride is to stop focusing on the ride as a segment of songs. When you are riding your bike outside, it is one continuous ride. There might be elevation changes throughout the ride, but the ride remains consistent throughout without stopping. People are too used to hydrating between each song, sitting up with their hands off the handlebars and resting, and lowering their resistance levels to the bottom level each time they finish a song. By not stopping between songs and creating a seamless transition from seated to standing or a hill to a flat road, you are causing your body to work harder. All of the revolutions add up in spinning. If you are constantly stopping you are missing out on the opportunity to gain additional distance and maintain a high heart rate throughout the entire ride. Resist the urge to touch your dial or stop between songs and you will notice your cardiovascular strength and endurance soar in no time.
A third way to ramp up your ride is to change the way you are riding. If every time you spin, it is structured like an interval class where there are alternating flats and hills in a predictable fashion, your body will be able to predict the workout as it is unfolding and you will not see any fitness gains made. Once in a while, try doing a spin with a particularly long set of grueling hills one after the other, followed by another long segment of flat terrain. Increasing the duration of flats and hill sets will require more cardiovascular endurance than what you are used to. Your heart rate will be elevated and your muscles will be fatigued by going out of your comfort zone.
Another way to change up your spin ride is to have a race day, where you are keeping the heart rate high the entire class. You are mimicking outdoor racing. By focusing on speed vs. resistance, you are training your body to be able to go faster at higher resistances and are increasing the distance of your ride by several miles. For road cyclists, race day training on the spin bike is a great training device to make you go faster, stronger, and harder when you are riding outside.
One final way to change your spin ride is to incorporate short bursts of speed throughout the entire ride. Inclusion of sprints, especially when at a high resistance, will make you a better spinner in the long run. Not only is it cardiovascularly intensive, but sprints have been shown to be very effective in shaping and toning your legs. You know you have done your sprint right if at the end of the sprint, you are spent with no energy left to spare.
Spinning is only effective if you are willing to push yourself. If you are only interested in spinning your wheels aimlessly, then maybe you should ride a stationary bike at a leisurely pace.
Topics: Spinning |
