Spinning Classes
Whether you’re out of shape or very fit, spinning classes
can help you improve. You ride a
stationary bicycle in a group, with a leader who tells you what to
do and plays lively music to set the tempo. Many health clubs
and gyms offer these classes, and I recommend them to all of my
patients. Spinning is relatively safe because it is done with a
smooth rotary motion that does not involve the muscle damaging
road shock of running.
The pedals drive a chain that is attached to a heavy
flywheel that spins smoothly as you pedal. The amount of work
you do is determined by the resistance on your pedals, not by
how fast you spin. You perform a lot of work when you spin
slowly against great resistance, and do not do much work when
you spin very fast against very little resistance. A brake is
attached to the flywheel and you regulate the resistance on the
pedals by turning the brake clockwise to increase the resistance,
and counter-clockwise to decrease resistance.
Before you start real training, you need to do some
background work. Start out by pedaling at a very slow rate with
no resistance. Stop when your legs start to feel heavy or hurt.
You may be able to go ten minutes on the first day, five on the
second, and perhaps not be able to exercise on the third. Persist
and eventually every healthy person should be able to work up
be able to work up to a full 45-minute class.
Your instructor will have you warm up by spinning
without any resistance until you start to break a sweat. Then you
will turn up the resistance a little and spin the pedals until your
thigh muscles start to burn. Then pedal easily with little or no
resistance until you have recovered, usually about a minute or
two. You will continue to alternate “into the burn” and “out of the
burn” until your leg muscles start to stiffen, which is a signal that
you are through for the day.
You need to experiment to learn how high you have to
turn up the resistance. If you turn it up too high, you will burn out
your muscles and not be able to finish the class. If you don’t turn
it up high enough, you will not achieve a high level of fitness, not
feel sore the next day, and not gain the benefits of being in a
high level of fitness. If you have worked out correctly, your thigh
muscles will be sore on the next day. Then you have to pedal
easily with little or no resistance for as many days as it takes for
your muscles to feel fresh again. For most people, this will be
one or two days. Then when your muscles are fresh again,
you’re ready for another hard workout.
Checked 1/12/12