Indoor Spin classes are a great way to vary the training from being on the road all the time, and are also great in inclement weather.I am curretnly enrolled in the Megabike Mega Spin Mega Advanced class - a long name for a long class of 90mins!!
It is an 8 week block where the first week is set to find out what your maximum and optimum heart rates are. From the results, your own individual heart rate levels are set as follows (my actual bpm are in the brackets):
Zone 1: Recovery (127-142)
Zone 2: Fat Burning (143 - 158)
Zone 3: Workout (159 - 174)
Zone 4: Advanced (175+)
Max Heart Rate: 190
Once week 1 is over and your heart rate zones are worked out, the following classes vary between flat riding, sprints, time trialing, and hill climbing.
The beginning of each class starts with practicing pedalling with one leg only which is really helpful in perfecting your pedalling technique. As kids, we learnt to ride a bike by pushing down on the pedals (stomping), but this is totally incorrect!!
What you are supposed to do is scrape your foot as if you are trying to get mud off your shoes, and then lift at the same time. Stomping only uses your quad muscles, where as scrape and lifting uses your glutes, hamstrings, and calves, thus making you go faster and not wearing out your legs nearly as fast as you are utilising many more muscle groups.
So the reason why cyclists click into their pedals is so they can perform the correct pedalling technique - scrape and lift!
Also, no smiles for the camera today - this class was Advanced Climbing where I was in the second hardest gear on the bike pedalling either seated or out of the saddle at 60rpm for 75mins without a break!!
To Make A Donation Towards my 2016 Beat Cancer Tour click here:
