Spinning Your Wheels
Instructors, how many times have you seen a student take resistance off the fly wheel and thought, “what are they doing, they do not have enough resistance as it was?” Students; how many times have you been in a spin class and heard the instructor say something like, “If you’re working too hard then back off” and thought what the heck does that mean? How do I know if I’m working too hard and what am I suppose to back off of?
We have all heard that communication is key and this is a perfect example of why. Both of the above situations are very common occurrences in spin classes and usually neither the instructor nor the student speaks up to correct the issue. As an instructor myself, I believe that the fault here lies with the instructor’s ineffective communication.
Spinning is relatively simple in that there are only 5 basic core movements; (seated flat, seated climb, standing flat, standing climb and jumps) and 3 basic hand positions, but within each of those 5 positions there are guidelines that help us as riders to determine what we need to adjust in order to successfully complete our mission. It’s those guidelines that some instructors fail to teach and/or communicate properly. As instructors we live and breathe this stuff and we sometimes forget that our students don’t, so we need to cue every class as if it is our students first. Heck, I have students that have been spinning for over 4 years and they still repeat the same bad habits that can come with muscle fatigue, so I have to be constantly watching out for these issues and coaching my riders to better form and alignment while making sure that they have the proper resistance on the flywheel to find the correct cadence for the working position to move their heart rate into their target range. The following three little words are the keys in the communication needed in order to avoid the above misunderstanding from ever happening.
RESISTANCE, CADENCE AND HEART RATE As a student, if you have never heard these words before in your spin class then perhaps you should find somewhere else to spin. While we are on that subject, if you have ever heard your spinning instructor say, “Turn your resistance knob one full turn.” or “We will be sprinting for the next 5 minutes.” or “Take all the resistance off your bike.” Please dismount your bike and run as quickly as possible for the nearest exit. Knowing how to use resistance, cadence and heart rate together is what makes our spin classes so effective, so let’s look at each one: Resistance – A force that opposes or slows down another force. In our spinning classes we use resistance to keep our weighted fly wheel from gaining momentum, essentially slowing down the wheel in order to protect the knees from the force of that momentum. Cadence – The beat or measure of something that follows a set rhythm. Our cadence in spinning is the revolutions of the pedals per minute or RPM. Each of the 5 basic core movements has specific guidelines as to what cadence range our pedal should fall within. Heart Rate – The number of heartbeats occurring within a specific length of time. The heart rate is the most important aspect of our spinning classes. It allows all of us to work out together regardless of age, fitness level or gender. During cardiovascular training we use beats per minute to determine if we are working at a proper pace to deliver the results that we are striving for. The best way to determine our target heart rate range for cardiovascular training is to calculate it from our resting heart rate, but since it is impossible to know someone’s resting heart rate upon entering a spin class, we use an age and gender predicted scale. Your instructor should be wearing a heart rate monitor themselves and should encourage you to do the same. They should also know how to calculate your target heart rate ranges by age and gender and be able to tell you what those numbers are as percentages of your maximum heart rate.
As I mentioned before, each of our 5 basic movements has a cadence guideline that helps determine what resistance should be applied to hit our target heart range. The cadence for a flat, either seated or standing is 80 to 110 RPM’s. Cadence ranges for a climb, either seated or standing is 60 to 80 RPM’s. Depending on the ride of the day the instructor will give you a target heart rate for each element of the ride. We use the resistance to slow or increase our cadence to the proper RPM’s for our position to move our heart rate into our target range.
So, in the scenario above, we could have experienced a much different outcome if the instructor had communicated these three little words a little better. It may sound something like this, “Let’s slide back on the saddle and come into a seated climb, adding enough resistance to replicate a level 8 hill, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the easiest hill and 10 being the hardest hill. Now that we have found our hill let’s take a cadence check. We are looking for a cadence between 60 and 80 RPM’s. Let’s allow our heart rate to move up to 80% of our maximum heart rate. Keeping check of our heart rate and constantly monitoring our breath. If our heart rate moves above our target of 80% and we are on the higher end of the cadence range then let’s slow our cadence down just a bit to get the heart rate under control. If our heart rate is still below our target of 80% and we are on the higher end of the cadence range perhaps we underestimated our number 8 hill, let’s add a bit of resistance and allow the heart rate time to respond. On the other end, if our heart rate is above our 80% target and we are on the low end of the cadence range then perhaps we overestimated our number 8 hill, let’s take off a bit of resistance and allow the heart rate to come down into our target range. If our heart rate is still below our target of 80% and you are on the lower range of the cadence scale then let’s push ourselves and pick up the pace just a bit.”
Notice how they all go hand in hand. The heart rate is our guide; it determines the resistance which affects the cadence. I know this seems like a lot of communication going on and some instructors are fearful of this, either because they feel like they are talking too much or because they are having trouble controlling their own heart rate riding and speaking. As instructors, we need to remember that we are coaching our classes, not leading an aerobics class; lots of communication and feedback are needed when coaching a student. We, as instructors also need to have built an aerobic base, to be able to ride the same ride as our students while communicating effectively what we are asking of them; or dismount our bike and coach the class from the floor. The classes that we teach are not the time for us to get our workout, they have nothing to do with us and everything to do with our students, that’s what makes the difference between an instructor who is just there to get paid to workout and an instructor who is there because they are passionate about helping people reach their fitness goals safely.
I hope that you have found this information helpful, both instructors and students, so that your spin classes become more effective and enjoyable.
Written by: Barbara Nobles; Owner of Body Benefits
Comments