Indoor Cycling Apps

niknak333

Hey Guys,

Is the peloton app the best option for a cycling workout?

I’ve been wanting a peloton for awhile but it wasn’t the best financial choice. I ended up ordering a much cheaper bike on amazon instead. I’ve heard great things about the peloton app but wanted other opinions before signing up.

Thanks!

MikePfirrman

Peloton is a spinning bike. If you have a stationary bike, that really isn't the same thing. Is your new bike a spinning bike?

niknak333

Yes. I’ll edit to clarify.

MikePfirrman

You might just have to try and see. There are other apps for spinning. What I've heard is that if you don't own one of their bikes, it's an inferior app compared to owning one. There are other apps like CardioCast, used to be CycleCast. They geared their app to people like you, that had a spinner, but didn't want to fork out the ridiculous price for a Peloton.

I have not tried either of them, but I'm aware of them. You might just have to try a few apps and see what you like more.

iDad74

as already stated in previous posts, it kinda depends on your setup. I have a road bike and a smart trainer so peleton really doesn't for me. Plus I'm more cyclist than I spinner and Zwift caters to cyclist while Peleton caters to spin (i think...i've never actually used it).

Peletons are very $$$ but so is any piece of equipment that is related to cycling. my trainer cost $500...but worth every penny.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I have used a spin bike and a bike on a trainer. My trainer is basic older Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (should be called a "basement machine," heh heh), and the resistance just depends on the "speed." On a spin bike, the resistance is manually set using a resistance knob. I have a spin bike at home, mostly for my wife's use, and I have used it in a in-person spin class before COVID shut that thing down .

Now, when I train on the trainer, I use a Garmin watch which monitors cadence, "speed," "distance," and heart rate (using a chest strap). Garmin uploads to Garmin Connect and then to Strava and MFP. When on the spin bike, I only measure cadence and heart rate, which does the same.

The point is that neither is particularly compatible with Peloton, which is designed for use with the Peloton app, of course.

You can use the Zwift app, but without a "smart" trainer, it also is of limited use.

Another option is to pay for the classes at spinning.com (https://spinning.com/ride-at-home/). I bought my spin bike from them, but I haven't gotten around to trying their classes, which come free for 3 months.

But, really, there are lots of free workout videos on YouTube (Global Cycling Network has some good ones).

And, in the end, I just watch an action film on Netflix and do intervals on a timer. Works for me!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

MikePfirrman wrote: »

Peloton is a spinning bike. If you have a stationary bike, that really isn't the same thing. Is your new bike a spinning bike?

I was smiling at this question and the definitions are blurring. In the end, they're all just stationary bikes of one design or another.

cwolfman13

MikePfirrman wrote: »

You might just have to try and see. There are other apps for spinning. What I've heard is that if you don't own one of their bikes, it's an inferior app compared to owning one. There are other apps like CardioCast, used to be CycleCast. They geared their app to people like you, that had a spinner, but didn't want to fork out the ridiculous price for a Peloton.

I have not tried either of them, but I'm aware of them. You might just have to try a few apps and see what you like more.

Pretty much what I was going to say. You can use the Peloton app with other bikes, but you're not going to get the full benefit of the app as you would with a Peloton bike.

I use Zwift as it is a cycling specific app with various workouts and programs geared toward improving some aspect of the sport...like right now, my FTP sucks because I've more or less been off the bike for a year other than occasional casual rides...so I'm running a structured program on Zwift to get that back up. But again, Zwift just isn't all that great unless you have a smart trainer to put your bike on as a smart trainer is going to give you your power in watts displayed on your device while you're riding and the app also talks to the trainer to increase resistance going up hill or decrease going down, etc...without the smart trainer, you're missing a lot of the Zwift "immersive" experience.

Then there are apps like trainer road and sufferfest...haven't used either of them, but they seem more geared toward the more competitive and serious cyclist, while Zwift seems geared towards the "cycling enthusiast" who wants to get better.

scorpio516

I use trainer road. It's great and full of structured workouts and plans. That's what you are asking for, but probably not what you want.

You can read through these and find something to try.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/03/cycling-indoor-trainer-app-guide.html

barefootbridgey

I've had a spin bike for about a month now - also a lower cost Amazon purchase, as I wasn't sure if I would like it. I actually only purchased it to try to get more use out of my Les Mills on Demand subscription. Initially, I purchased the subscription for Body Combat and Body Pump and then also started doing CXWORK and Body Attack along the way. But the also have 3 different cycling programs (The Trip, Spring and RPM) and I really wanted to try them. Everybody keeps suggesting Peloton workouts, but I gotta say...I'm pretty fond of the Les Mills workouts...and I think I paid maybe $100 (or something like that) for the year long subscription. I have my bike set up in my basement and I use a cheap projector and a firestick to just project the workouts on the wall, though I have used my phone before and that actually works pretty well to, despite the small size.

The Trip is probably my favorite - it's about 40 minutes. The screen is basically like riding in a video game...there are different scenes, tunnels, sometimes nature...sometimes it looks like a screensaver. lol. But I like it a lot and the 40 minutes clips by pretty quickly. the instructor is just a voice over.

Sprint is a HIIT class on a bike. It's shorter, about 30 minutes. And it's KILLER. I do it when I'm short on time...its hard, but again, it's over before you kno it.

RPM is the third one, I've not done a full RPM workout yet, just a track here or there. It's more like a standard "fitness course", maybe more like a regular spin class? My experience with those is really limited though, so I'm not sure

But I love Les Mills on Demand, and it's totally worth the $100, even just for one program.

cyclone48

I started with a Sunny spin bike (ordered from Amazon) and Cardiocast and liked that setup alot. Then I moved to the on-demand Peloton app with my Sunny spin bike and liked that even more. I finally invested in a Peloton bike and love love love it. But I would not have paid so much for the Peloton without knowing how much I enjoyed indoor spinning, so I am grateful for my trusty Sunny for the great rides I had with her. The Peloton app does work well with non-Peloton spin bikes. The downside is not knowing exactly what your cadence and resistance is. I did buy a cadence monitor after a while, but there is no way to standardize the resistance on the non-Peloton spin bike. Good luck on your spin-bike journey.

Djproulx

My indoor riding is done on a triathlon bike with a fluid trainer. My bike has a power meter and so all my rides are based on power output. I download workouts to my garmin device and then run 'em.

With that said, there are a bunch of peeps in my tri club who use various setups to train indoors, whether Peloton bikes, less expensive spin bikes with the Peleton app, road/tri bikes on trainers, etc.

I just learned about a cool setup from a woman in our club. She set up a friend with a simple spin bike(maybe Sunny or Schwinn) and then added a pedal based power meter to it. That way, she could use the Peloton app and have an idea of her power output during the rides. Bike and power meter (Garmin Vector I believe) came to just over $1000, or roughly half of the price of the Peloton bike.

Djproulx

scorpio516 wrote: »

I use trainer road. It's great and full of structured workouts and plans. That's what you are asking for, but probably not what you want.

You can read through these and find something to try.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/03/cycling-indoor-trainer-app-guide.html

I really liked TR's workout selections. Used it with the "virtual power" method on my old road bike. Really gives you great plans tailored to whatever goals you're trying to accomplish. I can imagine that its even better with a power meter, though I recall that TR is not very high on the entertainment factor.

MRSMOAB

cyclone48 wrote: »

I started with a Sunny spin bike (ordered from Amazon) and Cardiocast and liked that setup alot. Then I moved to the on-demand Peloton app with my Sunny spin bike and liked that even more. I finally invested in a Peloton bike and love love love it. But I would not have paid so much for the Peloton without knowing how much I enjoyed indoor spinning, so I am grateful for my trusty Sunny for the great rides I had with her. The Peloton app does work well with non-Peloton spin bikes. The downside is not knowing exactly what your cadence and resistance is. I did buy a cadence monitor after a while, but there is no way to standardize the resistance on the non-Peloton spin bike. Good luck on your spin-bike journey.

My experience has been somewhat similar, just with different apps.

I’m currently riding an HMC Trainer 5008 and using the Peloton app on my phone. I have my Apple Watch for heart rate and a Garmin cadence sensor transmitting to the Cadence app (not paying subscription for this one) on an iPad for cadence readings (it refuses to pair to my newer phone, but pairs fine to the older iPad, so I have to ride with both mounted which limits hand positioning). As you mention, my biggest issue with this setup is the resistance ambiguity - I have to guess at resistance levels.

I had previously been using the free version of an app called Plus Workout on my phone for spin workout “instruction” (not the greatest) WHILE running BlueHeart to cast my heart rate from the phone to the Cadence app on the iPad so I’d have heart rate and cadence together. It worked, but was a GIANT pain to get everything paired before each ride. I also had the same resistance issue as previously mentioned. I eventually got super frustrated, gave up and ordered the Peloton and have been using their app on my free trial until arrival of the bike itself.

The Peloton app so far has been WAY more fun than PlusWorkout and pairs directly with my Apple Watch. I’ve found myself looking forward to the next workout rather than trying to avoid it, so that alone is worth every penny to me. I’ve ordered some resistance bands on Amazon to be able to take advantage of some of the other workouts besides cycling as well. There’s a reason the Peloton brand is doing so well.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

Great thread. I wanted to add that Spinning.com sells a "power crank" for their bike. It might work with some other models as well. There is rather scant information on the web site about how compatible it is with various software.

https://spinning.com/cycling-accessories-parts/bike-cranks/

Also, if you have a classic Kurt Kinetic Road Machine trainer (like me), you can add a "power meter," which checks the RPM of the flywheel and converts to a power estimate (which Kurt says is pretty accurate). Since the newer one was out of stock, I bought the older/cheaper one. It works with Zwift, but not with any other app I've tried, and definitely not with my Garmin Watch (which is what I actually wanted). I have to say that it's totally unnecessary with Zwift, because the program will already convert your speed to power if you identify that you're using a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.

https://www.kurtkinetic.com/inride

So, I still just take a spin on my road bike mounted on the Kurt, monitor with my Garmin, and estimate power from the "power curve" by eye. Note that the Kurt Kinetic "Kinetic Fit" app gets a terrible review on Android, so I'm not bothering with that.

https://www.kurtkinetic.com/kinetic-power-tech