Is spinning evryday of the week good for you

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 25 Oct 2012 00:05

I managed to spin for an hour at my gym on a training bike and got 16.1 miles done and almost passed out in the changing rooms straight after!
If I do it frequently like 3 times a week will I improve my cycling, or will I injure myself because two days after I went out on my bike and did my knee in and now it kills like hell! Was the spinning part of that?

George · Post by **George** » 25 Oct 2012 08:47

Top riders ride most days of the week. However, it would be very unusual to ride hard most days of the week. Most people I've spoken to think that it's counterproductive to go hard more than twice a week, and then only at certain times of the year, after a period of frequent low-intensity riding. My (non-expert) advice is to let your body gradually get used to frequent riding and to keep the intensity low until the volume feels normal and comfortable.

Ed Moss · Post by **Ed Moss** » 25 Oct 2012 08:51

All depends on what your goals are and where you are in your season?
There are other workouts that compliment spinning which should be completed as well.

3x a week at this time of year, unless you are racing soon sounds a bit too much, you will be burt out by Feb.

If you are time trialling next year The Black book by Pete Read is a very good place to start. October should be a month of taking it easy and just riding the bike, with no structured training.

Knee problem is probably due to the position on the spinning bike.

Pedlo Mudguardo · Post by **Pedlo Mudguardo** » 25 Oct 2012 09:01

There was a period in my early twenties where I rode at at a high intensity 4 or five times a week whilst also commuting 10 miles a day. I certainly got fit but pretty soon developed a very painful knee problem the effects of which I still contend with today 20 years later.
I'd advocate a gradual build up with plenty of longer low intensity miles particularly at this time of year with lots of proper rest in between.

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 25 Oct 2012 14:45

At the mo i'm resting my knee so I can get it ready for the club run, hopefully i will be doing a load of time trials next year also I want to get my endurance level up and get racing in the coming years just need the best methods possible. So far I've just been getting the miles in my legs. After I've rested up I'll probably spend 2 times a week spinning maybe 3 because I don't want to become unfit over winter despite the fact everyone's saying have a rest through winter.

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 25 Oct 2012 14:47

Pedlo Mudguardo wrote:There was a period in my early twenties where I rode at at a high intensity 4 or five times a week whilst also commuting 10 miles a day. I certainly got fit but pretty soon developed a very painful knee problem the effects of which I still contend with today 20 years later.
I'd advocate a gradual build up with plenty of longer low intensity miles particularly at this time of year with lots of proper rest in between.

This is some good advice and I can see that it may happen to me if i'm not careful, and the last thing I want is an injury that will put me out of cycling for good!

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 25 Oct 2012 15:01

I'm not an expert by any means, but it sounds like you might be in need of a more structured training programme.

Ed Moss wrote:If you are time trialling next year The Black book by Pete Read is a very good place to start. October should be a month of taking it easy and just riding the bike, with no structured training.

There's a link to a free PDF copy of this book in this thread on the training forum of this message board.

Clive · Post by **Clive** » 25 Oct 2012 17:07

I don't think you should spin or train every day, the body needs time for rest and recuperation, to allow physiological changes and adaptions to take place.

I almost always allow 2 consecutive days every week for rest; usually enforced anyway by work and home life etc. In addition I try and leave 48 hours between very intensive interval or hill threshold/anaerobic sessions.

As others have said this time of the year tends to be a time for cooling down and taking it easier. I try and take 3-4 weeks complete rest every year followed by a slow build up through the winter months. As spring arrives I do longer, harder and hillier rides, and start pushing harder on the hills - not terribly scientific, but it works for me.
That said I am trying to do a minimum of 1 x 200km audax per month at the moment, so all up in the air a bit this year

2 books I have found helpful, although the Joe Friel's one is heavy going and like reading the lord of the rings backwards and upside down.

Base Building for Cyclists: A New Foundation for Performance and Endurance by Thomas Chapple

The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel

mike mac · Post by **mike mac** » 25 Oct 2012 20:54

Graham Obree says "training is not good for you. Training followed by the correct recuperation and nutrition is good for you."

At this time of year you will gain no benefit from high intensity sessions such as spinning, for when it counts (spring and summer). All you will do is burn out or injure yourself.

Just riding your bike for a few hours twice a week followed by good recovery and eating plenty of good food is the best preparation you can do at this time of year.

Once spring is in the air you should look to increase the intensity decrease the duration and increase the frequency of your training rides. Interval sessions are the key at this point.

rdleaper · Post by **rdleaper** » 25 Oct 2012 23:09

mike mac wrote:At this time of year you will gain no benefit from high intensity sessions such as spinning

Surely once a week is OK? I didn't waste £25 on 10 sessions of it did I?

Ed Moss · Post by **Ed Moss** » 26 Oct 2012 09:46

I do intervals all year round, they are fine as long as you do other workouts to compliment them and they aren't always max 4 on 4 off x6.
Best way is to follow a plan, or get a coach, worse thing you can do is get burnt out in May from overtraining and boredom.

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 26 Oct 2012 13:15

I bet coaching expensive though en it ! And how do you peak in a cerrtain month when excercising?

Ed Moss · Post by **Ed Moss** » 26 Oct 2012 13:36

Ensure you follow a plan.

Pete Read is OK, you just race all year round and don't aim to peak anywhere in the season.

I 100% recommend you follow it for at least a season, it's a great place to start, but you have to follow it and not deviate, ie no club runs.

Coaching depends on the level of service, think they start around £50 month for personal weekly/monthly plans, or you can buy a season plan for a lot less.

I'm a big fan of the Black book, it's a great place to learn how to train properly, I went from 1.01 for a 25 to 54 mins and my 10 time went from mid 22 to mid 21, this gave me a good base for what was to come a couple of years later.

George · Post by **George** » 26 Oct 2012 13:40

Ed Moss wrote:I 100% recommend you follow it for at least a season, it's a great place to start, but you have to follow it and not deviate, ie no club runs.

Alternatively, you can enjoy yourself.

mike mac · Post by **mike mac** » 26 Oct 2012 20:12

rdleaper wrote:
mike mac wrote:At this time of year you will gain no benefit from high intensity sessions such as spinning
Surely once a week is OK? I didn't waste £25 on 10 sessions of it did I?

You will obviously get some benefit from doing it once a week. But you will only suffer burn out if you did it everyday, which is the question in the title of the thread.

However the benefit you get from high intensity workouts now won't help you in May/June/July/August when you need it. This is because to maintain the benefit you have to keep the intensity high every time you ride. Your body can not cope with that from now until May as well as with a full summer of racing.

You are better to just keep the legs turning, enjoy riding your bike and eat healthy food until about Jan/Feb then hit the high intensity workouts, steadily increasing the intensity and reducing the duration whilst increasing the frequency until the start of the season. This way you will be fresher at the start of the season and be able to hold your form longer. Hopefully for the whole season.

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 13 Nov 2012 23:22

[/quote] increasing the intensity and reducing the duration whilst increasing the frequency

So from jan, just do lots of little but intense rides and increase the distance slowly

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 13 Nov 2012 23:41

Also are you more likely to become a successful cyclist with coaching or without and did Bradley Wiggins have coaching in his teens?

Tim · Post by **Tim** » 14 Nov 2012 21:16

I used to work as a fitness instructor for a year or two after finishing my sports science degree. I taught around 6-8 spinning classes a week often two per day, alongside circuits etc and played football outside of work, no cycling. Didnt get any ill effects just had to eat loads!
So 3 sessions wont do you any harm unless you are also doing loads of time on the bike and your diet/sleep/alcohol intake is poor.

One rest day per week is seen as enough. With rotation/alternation of the types of training sessions that you do.

Its true though that the next three months, after a good 4 week rest/take it easier period around now, should be for building your base endurance so decent amount of miles at a medium intensity.

I would also highly recommend doing 2-3 weight training sessions in this period of squats/lunges to build leg strength/muscle endurance. This is what the pros do that amateurs generally dont have time/dont bother with as we just want to be on our bikes.

How you peak for certain time is by doing training blocks of say 6-12 weeks with the aim to peak at the end for a certain race/event. So if your first events/timetrials are April-May then you first proper block should start begining of march.

I like the book The Time Crunched Cyclist by Chris Carmaechel (he used to coach some bloke who never won a race called Lance Armstrong) as it explains this concept in simple terms and works well for anyone who has a job! Personally I found the cyclists training bible by joe friel to be too technical/sciencey and I dont have a grand for a power meter and he says its power all the way which Im not really in agreement with. If you've read Mark Cavendish's book you get the anti-sports science view which is that you may be better just riding and you cant beat instinct and enjoyment/passion to get good at something.

Havent read the Black Book, will look it up!

Bradley Wiggins trained / coached / raced from around 10-12.

If you want to borrow either joe friels and/or chris carmichaels books drop me an IM, im based in Bournville.

A pro cyclist does c.17-22k miles per year so thats something for you to aim for?

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 14 Nov 2012 23:41

Ok Ive just read quite a chunk of the black book, I understand the training sessions and everything, but what i dont understand is he doesnt aggree with club runs also if you dont have a heart rate monitor and turbo trianer, you will never be a good cyclist i dont have none of them things how can i improve my aerobic fitness
alternatives guys?

George · Post by **George** » 16 Nov 2012 09:38

Harry, you've got to understand why the Black Book says those things. He's against club runs because you can't independently regulate your level of effort when riding with a group of people whose abilities and intentions are slightly different from your own and because you stop half way round to eat. And he's in favour of HRMs etc because of the need for a serious athlete to regulate his/her effort very precisely in pursuit of specific goals.

But have you reached the age or the stage in your development as a cyclist where you know enough about what you want to do in the sport to actually have specific goals yet? Do you therefore really need to worry if on a club run you are out of zone for 90 seconds on a hill?

My advice to you would be to take on board the basic principles of the Black Book:
- The annual pattern of base training, intervals of gradually increasing intensity and length, etc.
- The shorter roughly monthly cycles of building up then resting.
- The need to regulate your effort in order to make progress.
- Etc
- Etc
It's easy enough to base your riding on those principles in a rough way without getting over-scientific about it.

For a year or two, you should be doing lots of riding of lots of different kinds (circuit races, cyclocross, track, TTs, sportives, etc, etc) and finding out what you've got a natural aptitude for and what you most enjoy ... while at the same time getting stronger and fitter 'naturally'. When the time comes that you say to yourself, "I really want to be a first-cat road man" (or whatever), that's the time to start defining precise goals and adopting a rigid training plan that serves those goals (possibly, but not necessarily, with the help of a professional coach) .

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 16 Nov 2012 17:48

Cheers

Between Peaks · Post by **Between Peaks** » 16 Nov 2012 18:58

Harry, you don't need a heart rate monitor - mostly it can be done on feel (e.g. you can gauge roughly what 'zone' you're training at by whether you can talk in sentences, phrases, words or grunts

).

Lots of sensible advice from George, but if you want a turbo trainer I have one you can have for free.

Oh, and burn the Black Book - work of the devil IMO

Tim · Post by **Tim** » 16 Nov 2012 22:05

Yep, HR monitors and power metres provide specificity to your training.

Research has shown if you go for a 60minute ride and try to work at say 70% of your maximum you will actually only be at 70% for maybe 20-40% of the ride whereas if you use a power metre you can work at 70% for 90%+ of the ride.

So if you like numbers and following training plans to the letter and you've got £40+ to buy a HR monitor or £1k+ for a power metre then these can be useful tools.

But I would just ride, lots, and do different type of events/races etc and then focus on what you enjoy most.

In simple answer to your question on how do you improve your aerobic fitness significantly is you need to do 5hours or more of aerobic/cardiovascular exercise per week.

One thing I would suggest is keeping a diary or plot your miles on a graph. You could maybe set targets/goals too to try and stretch you ie. 100miles per week or 3000miles by end of March of whatever.

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 16 Nov 2012 22:44

Can I have the turbo trainer please I am very grateful and thanks a million can train indoors now!

I showed my dad the black book, now hes reading, well, almost read the whole thing!
And pete read who is this no mark he wants a check for £11 for some book, I dont think hes heard of internet piracy has he!