Spin Bike

Hi I have bought a spin bike to use at home and wondered if you had any recommendations for how long I should be on it etc I am a complete beginner and would be grateful for any advise

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    start with 10 minutes 3 x a week... increase your minutes if it feels easy
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Like Tavistock start with fairly short workouts and build up gradually. Almost as important is to check on your bike fit, there are lots of videos on the subject - have someone watch you while you pedal looking at leg extension, your position over the cranks etc it can make a huge difference to your comfort and efficiency.

    Try to keep your cadence fairly high but in control (ie not bouncing around) and the ball of your foot on the pedal (you may even consider clipless pedals and shoes at some point in the future, with the stiff sole and correct foot position you have a more efficient pedal stroke)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited April 2019
    Good advice above from TT....

    Will add a bit about setting up your bike for comfort and avoidence of injury.
    Taken from https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/bike-fit/set-saddle-height-how-to-25379
    1. Sit on the bike, set up on a turbo trainer
    2. Drop the pedal to its lowest point, in line with the seat tube
    3. Unclip, and place your heel on the pedal axle
    4. Your leg should be completely straight (without dropping your hip)
    5. When you clip in, this will give you your start point
    6. Check fore and aft – you should have a straight line from the knee cap to the ball of the foot, which should sit over the pedal axle when pedals are at 3 o'clock / 9 o'clock position, hang a plumb line on the groove down the side of your patella to the pedal axle)
    7. If you make adjustments to fore and aft, repeat the saddle height test
    8. Feel free to fine tune, but make any changes in increments of 1mm

    A flat saddle position is a good start point, you want to avoid excessive slope up (pressure point) or slope down (sliding forward).

    When your duration goes up consider cycling shorts for comfort.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Get Zwift.
  • johngsprague
    johngsprague Posts: 22 Member
    I would recommend maybe 20-30 minute easy rides. You can get a workout in with a 15 minute though. The GCN link above is great. You can search Youtube for cycling for any time interval and get a bunch. I'll ride while watching TV shows sometimes, easy during the show and go harder during commercials.
    Good luck, have fun!
  • Debz2020
    Debz2020 Posts: 13 Member
    Wow great advice many thanks 👍
  • AmandaDS87
    AmandaDS87 Posts: 4 Member
    edited April 2019
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    IMO: Don't start with high intensity intervals, as someone new to exercise. (More fatiguing, burnout potential.)

    Totally agree with this. Start with shorter sessions and build up. I started with 30 mins of steady cycling and then found I needed more of a challenge. I read that some people start off with just a 10 mins session, honestly just getting on the bike and doing something is a win. Happy Spinning!
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    Depending on your pace, 15-30 mins/session should be sufficient.
  • TrueGrit732
    TrueGrit732 Posts: 52 Member
    There are a ton of indoor cycling workouts online. I sometimes use gcn on YouTube. Google GCN cycling videos...they have all different levels.
  • pridesabtch
    pridesabtch Posts: 2,467 Member
    Does your spin bike show cadence and resistance?

    To give you an idea, when I taught beginner spin this was one of my workouts, it was 3x a week for 15 minutes ride/5 minute stretches. You can drop back to a flat road any time you need to, just keep spinning without bouncing.

    3 minutes at 20-25% resistance and a cadence of 75-85 to warm up.
    2 minutes at 20-25% resistance and a cadence of 85-100. (Flat road)
    2 minutes at 30-40% resistance and a cadence of 75-80. (Slight slope)
    2 minutes back at 20-25% and a cadence of 90-100. (Flat road)
    1 minute at 40-50% resistance and a cadence of 60-70. (Slow climb)
    1 minute at 40-50% resistance and a cadence of 75-85. (Push to the top)
    2 minutes back at 20-25% resistance and a cadence of 85-100. (Flat road)
    2 minutes still at 20-25% resistance slow the cadence to 70-80.
    Get off the bike and stretch all body parts head to toe.

    This is easier when you have an instructor to call it, but you can do this or something similar at home with a timer.

    If you don't have a display for cadence and resistance, 20-25% should feel like you could ride at a quick pace for quite a while without bouncing. Keeping your heart rate in an aerobic zone. You can still talk though a little breathy. If you are bouncing in the saddle add a bit more resistance rather than slowing your legs.

    At 30-40% your legs will want to slow down, let them and ride steady state or you can push and hold the higher cadence for a little while. Your heart rate will raise, but still aerobic. Able to talk but labored.

    At 50% & slow you are labored. At 50% and sprinting your heart rate should spike and you won't want to talk. A minute can be a long time. Heck 15 seconds can seem like a long time. Back off when you need to, but challenge yourself to eventually complete the sprint.

    At home with no one to call it, try an easy interval. Change every 2 or 3 minutes from a flat road 20-30% resistance 85-100 cadence to a slight to moderate climb of 40% at 70-100 (depending on how frisky you feel). Repeat this for 10 to 15 minutes and add little variety by picking up your pace on your climb sections when you are ready.

    As they said fit is very important.

    This is also very important. Remember that it is your ride and your health. You do it for you. Make yourself proud. Each day is about progression not perfection. If you can't complete your planned ride, back of your tension and just spin easy for the rest of the time you planned. When you are done stretch and thank yourself for putting in the effort.

    FYI: I did a very half a$$ed ride this morning. I gave blood yesterday, and wasn't really feeling it so I did more of a recovery ride than a "kill it" ride. I took a 30 minute class, I skipped half of the intervals and I rode the last 5 minutes flat instead of climbing. It was my time and my ride. I made it what I needed it to be even though the instructor was calling a different class. Nobody cares. Everybody has a different agenda and you make the workout suit you. That being said, if you never push and challenge your limits you will not progress into the awesome beast you are capable of becoming.

    Best of luck,
    Nikki
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,023 Member
    edited January 2020
    Debz2020 wrote: »
    Hi I have bought a spin bike to use at home and wondered if you had any recommendations for how long I should be on it etc I am a complete beginner and would be grateful for any advise

    Heh, it seems to me that this will quickly bother you and soon you will stop riding it))
    I am not joking and I am confident in my words, because the same story happened to me. I decided to go in for sports and start losing weight. My friend advised me to buy a home fitness machine, so as not to go to the gym every day. I began to watch various exercise machines and decided to buy a spin bike. After a week of searching, I found the best spin bike for home on the review site. The first 3 weeks I practiced every day and for several hours, but soon I was tired of it and devoted less and less time to training. As a result, I hardly lost weight and sold my spin bike, but it was really cool. So I bet that you will get bored after 2 weeks))

    Well if that isn't a crock of crap! I use my spin bike every day and never get bored of it..... By the way, you lose weight by staying at a consistent calorie deficit, not from exercise.... Daily exercise has many health benefits.
  • mclane777
    mclane777 Posts: 2 Member
    If you’re looking for guided workouts, I really like the CycleCast app. It’s $10/month, but the quality is high. It’s audio-only, but they’ve got lots of instructors and fun music and a variety of times and options. The peloton app is pretty good too. It’s got more variety (other exercises besides cycling), but is obviously more geared for the riders who have the peloton bike than app users.