Thursday, September 1, 2011

How to Spin Alone

I got to thinking yesterday while writing my month recap post about how I've kinda come up with my own spin class.  I think I could probably teach it myself!  Anyway, I thought I would post my made-up workout in case any of you end up without a class to attend and need to spin alone.  So here goes.



The bikes at the Y that I most frequent, do not have the cadance and time counter things on the handlebars.  A bit ancient, I know, and it was hard to figure out how to know how hard you were working at first.  It is easier with the cadance thing as you can target a certain cadance and then up the resistance as you go.  So keep in mind, that for this workout, I only the have resistance dial, no cadance counter. 

I always point my bike at the clock on the wall because I'll do a particular speed or resistance for a minute or 30 seconds and I watch the wall clock for that. 

--2 minutes warm up on resistance level 4
--Simulated hill climb which means increasing resistance of dial 1/2 turn every minute.  Starting at level 4 resistance and ending at a level 7 or 8.  It usually takes me 4 turns to get where I need to stand up.  I then go another 2 turns standing trying to keep the same cadance.  I do the same process decreasing the resistance.  This usually takes 12-14 minutes total.
--Sprints.  I will sprint at a 4-5 resistance for 10 second increments with 10 seconds easy for 1 minute.  Then 15 second increments, 20 second increments, 30 second and 1 minute of sprint.  If I'm feeling like an over-achiever, I'll repeat the process backwards.  5-10 minutes total.
--Jumps--I'll spin for 30 seconds on a 4-5 resistance then jump the resistance 2 full turns and stand up and spin at the same cadance for 30 seconds.  Then back down for 30 etc.  I will do 4-5 rounds of this.  4-5 minutes total.
--Single leg--to mix it up and rest a little I'll remove one foot from the clip and spin with one leg only for 2 minutes at 5 resistance.  Switch to the other leg.  4 minutes total.
--Cool down 2-3 minutes easy spin on resistance 4.

This gives a total of about 30 minutes of spinning.  Then I'll do my weights and floor exercises for 15 minutes before heading back to work to shower (oh, and work too...).

Do you have to make up your own exercise classes?
Do you have a favorite spin routine you can share with me?


3 comments:

Christi said...

Great workout!

Teamarcia said...

Looks like a goodie!
I see you ran the Lobster 5k--I saw ads for that all over the place when we were in Maine. Would have loved it.

Carla Pierce said...

Nope- I have never done a spinning class alone:) Not sure if I want to either. Lol. Going to rain down here all week-end so I am trying to come up with back up plans for getting my 13 miles in! And I do not want to run it on the treadmill!!!