Spin bike tips

Spin Bike: Tips, Tricks, and Workouts!

Welcome to the world of Spin Cycling! Perhaps you're an avid cycler looking for a fix during the cold winter months. Or maybe your hyper-excited yoga friend piqued your interest, and you're just trying to see what all the hype is about. 

Let us enlighten you! Spin bike workouts give you all the perks of a great sweat and grueling thigh burn without having to deal with the outdoors. Spinning indoors makes everything on your terms: you control the weather, the time, the traffic, and the nature (ever had a bug fly into your mouth mid-ride? NO thanks). 

If you're new to the indoor spin community or just looking to maximize your cycling workouts, here are some tips, tricks, and workouts for you! 

1. Convenience Without Sacrifice 

Cardio is one of the best heart-healthy exercises out there, and cycling is a great form of cardio. It's important to say that there's nothing easy about an indoor spin workout! Make no mistake. An indoor cycling workout can be just as butt-kicking as an outdoor one. 

An average person can burn about 260 calories in 30 minutes of indoor cycling. Just because you can't feel the road beneath your treads doesn't mean you're not putting work in. In fact, indoor cycling training allows you to target specific muscle groups and hone in on building them up. This makes your outdoor rides that much faster and more effective. 

A note for advanced spinners, improving your endurance and speed in a controlled environment will allow you to be faster on the real road. 

2. Choosing the Right Bike

Indoor spin bikes can be a bit pricey. They're precision instruments that are made to last and take a beating in addition to tracking your progress and metrics, so it makes sense why they're so expensive. 

They can range anywhere from very simple ones at $200 to complex ones at $4000 or more. Consider how invested you are in this hobby. If you're a ride-or-die spinner (no pun intended) who likes to ride through the winter and usually rides every day, this may be a great investment for you to take your riding skills to the next level. 

However, if you're just dipping your toe into this niche, it may be better to start with a lower-end bike and see if this is really for you. 

3. Spin To The Beat

If you're looking for a little more excitement to your spin bike workouts, look no further than your own playlist! 

A simple workout you can do is pick your favorite upbeat songs and up the speed and resistance every time the beat drops (or the song adds hype). While this does take some discipline and commitment on your part (yes, that part of the song does count, don't be lazy), it's a fun way to work up a sweat with songs you already know and love. 

Most music subscriptions have premade playlists for cycling workouts to make your life even easier. Basically: every time the music gets loud or the song gets faster, those feet should be moving faster too! 

4. Must-Try Workouts

Next, we'll walk you through three workouts you can try right in the comfort of your home! 

20-Minute Resistance 

For this workout, you'll utilize 4 settings: Easy, Moderate, Hard, All-Out. 

• Easymeans whatever speed and resistance you can handle while maintaining a full conversation. This should be a casual cruising speed. 
• Moderateis still manageable but should increase your breathing rate a bit. Here, you should be able to talk a little, but not as easily, and not in full sentences. 
• Hardis any setting in which you feel like you are doing WORK. Your breathing is heavy, and it's hard to spit out even a word or two. 
• All-outis exactly what it sounds like: you're exerting maximum effort. You shouldn't be able to utter a single syllable at this speed! 

Total workout: 22 mins

1. Easy - 5 mins
2. Moderate - 30 sec
3. Hard - 30 sec (repeat 2 & 3 x4)
4. Easy - 1 min
5. Hard - 1 min
6. Moderate - 30 sec (repeat 5&6 x4)
7. Easy - 1 min
8. All-out - 45 sec
9. Easy - 15 sec (repeat 8&9 x3)
10. Easy - 2 mins

If you're feeling extra spicy, try doing this whole workout twice. 

Tabata Spin

A Tabata workout is one in which you do 4 consecutive minutes of work, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. 

1. Warmup: 5 mins at 50% effort 
2. 20 seconds at 80-100% effort 
3. 10 seconds recovery (repeat steps 2-3 8 times, about 4 minutes)
4. Recover for 1 minute at 30-50% effort
5. Repeat this entire set 4 times, about 15 minutes
6. Cool down for 5 minutes at 50% effort.

HIIT Spin

A HIIT workout stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. This type of workout focuses on a 30-20-10 second interval training with a recovery period. These cycles of getting your heart rate up quickly and letting it come back down repeatedly are great for your cardiovascular health and strengthen your lung capacity so you can go faster for longer. 

The workout: 

• Warmup for 5 minutes at 30% effort 
• 30 seconds at 50% effort 
• 20 seconds at 80% effort
• 10 seconds 100% effort 

(repeat 5 times)

• Recover 2 minutes at 30% effort 
• 30 seconds at 50% effort 
• 20 seconds at 80% effort
• 10 seconds 100% effort 

(repeat 5 times)

• Recover 2 minutes at 30% effort 
• Cool down for 4 minutes at 40% effort 

Conclusion

Don't spend a bunch of money on a spin gym membership: there is an abundance of workouts available to you online. So, go out there and get a bike, try one of these workouts, and reap all the great benefits spin bike workouts bring!