Do Spin Classes Help Improve Bike Speed? (Page 2)

 I guess my last post was a little confusing.  What I was trying to ask was, why wouldn't I be able to get the same work out on my spin bike at home as I would on a road/tri bike on a trainer (I am trying to set my spin bike to my tri bike as much as possible)?  Assuming I follow the same prescribed work out?

Sure, of course you could do a similar workout and get similar gains.  Again, the resistance will be different than on a decent trainer.  And again, you will not be on your bike with your saddle, cleats and fit.

But if you have both a trainer and access to a spin bike, then it does not make any sense to me to NOT use your bike and the trainer.  If the spin bike is your only option, then make the best of it.

I am a n00b but I am a indoor spin cycling instructor.  In my class (and the rest at my gym), we stand for 70% of the workout which is 65% more than you would in a bike workout/ride.

 I do 2-3 songs worth of sprints to improve speed but only on 20-30 or 40 second bursts at a time.

Okay, so let me ask you this.  Would you send an athlete to the track and have them run flat out 200's for 10+ minutes with limited recovery bouts between and then have them do this a few times a week?

Not sure what this gains you in the long term, only in the very short term.

Oh well, I've said my peace on the subject.

:shrugs:

I agree exactly with the above. 

I started going to spinning before I started Tri-training and went with a great instructor who focused on Aerobics.  She was good-looking and really funny so I stuck with it for a while.  It definitely made me a stronger runner and stronger on the bike.  Like several people have said, It all depends on the instructor. 

I had an instructor once who wanted to have us climb, outside the saddle for 5 minutes straight on level 8 resistance.  My achilles/plantar facia were sore in both feet for a week.

I had another instructor who had us doing jumps for about half the time.  It was not very effective.  There was a really good post on this subject previously.  If I can find it, I'll post a link.  Pilgrim knows where it is.

Of course I would not. The only true benefit in spin classes is getting cardio workout.  Does it improve bike ability?  I am not sure, but I know it improves cardio tremendously if you measure HR etc.  And in the long run, improving cardio is worthwhile especially for tri's.

I can't imagine how a spin class would NOT help bike speed if you're doing it with intensity and good duration. Even if you're not "building power", the gained aerobic endurance will help your average speed eventually. And I do think that if you crank up the spin bike resistance knob, you can really get some mashworthy resistance that will definitely build power - just as long as you can keep it up!

I don't stress too hard about the "type" of bike training. As long as it's an upright style bike, I can ride it hard enough to give a valuable workout that directly translates to bike performance on my Cervelo. (The only exception I'd make is that I would hesitate to ride a gym bike for 2+hrs at a time due to the bike fit issues, but anything 90mins and below, I'll happily hammer away at.) 

The problem is that "cardio" isn't a thing.  Are we talking about aerobic endurance?  Anaerobic endurance?  Muscular endurance?  You could argue that it might be some of each but to what degree and how long does that effect last?  The shortest of triathlons is still an aerobic endurance event, so that's the primary effect people are looking for.  All the short, very high intensity interval stuff just doesn't do that.

While it's true that those uber-short aerobic sprints will definitely not suffice on their own as a base for endurance racing, they are definitely beneficial for strength in climbs or accelerations, especially when supplemented with good endurance bike base training. In fact, that's what I use spin classes for - motivation to do really hard out-of-saddle climbs and sprints, which I definitely wouldn't do on my trainer.

Even marathon runners are prescribed weekly 10 x 200m sprints in Pfitzinger's "Advanced Marathoning" book, and that's for a 26.2 mile race. Similar concept, I'd imagine for short bike sprints.

I just happened to have PD in my hands as I read this. They're not "200msprints," but rather 100m strides. Different concept altogether.

You (Decatur, not Derek) are an indoor cycling instructor. You may or may not be a Spinning(R) instructor. Don't worry, though ... Mad Dogg Athletics rarely prosecutes individuals for misusing the trademarks.

In any case, what you described is not a Spinning(R) class nor in accordance with the Spinning(R) program, which (sigh) teaches that high-intensity workouts ARE STILL to primarily be taught as endurance workouts, within weekly and yearly periodizations that are to be primarily endurance-based.

I am fully aware that most indoor cycling instructors don't teach this way, and even that (gasp) there are a lot of rogue Spinning(R) instructors who choose not to teach this way.

I had a great workout this morning. I don't push myself as much as I should, so in a class the instructor helps me put some intensity into it.

Helen has a good point, we pedaled backwards a little. I should have just done my own thing then, but I'm not a rebel and its a small class. I did stay on the bike to cool down longer because I needed it, while everyone else stretched. No one really looked at me too funny.

I would say that for 99% of triathletes who have A LOT of gains to be made by working between z2 and z5 (steady, tempo, threshold and VO2 max) it would be a waste of time to do any work to increase their anaerobic capacity. Plus unless you are doing ITU racing there are hardly instances in triathlon in which you will need to get out of the saddle and establish a escape from a group, bridge a escape or climb a hill as hard as possible...

The reason P-D includes 100m strides (they do not have anything shorter for the track than 600's in their plans - and none done faster than 5k pace) into their workout is simply to stimulate the fast twitch fibers and let you work on turnover and quick accelerations to break up a workout.

Again, VO2 max., "strength gains" and such are short lived.  They should be done in the last phase of a build to a race to enhance an athlete and get that last little edge put in.  Doing them 6 months out from an event is going to have a lot less (if any) benefit to the athlete.

It seems that there is  a sentiment here that interval training does not benefit triathlon training.

 For those who minimize their training time but still put up results, aren't they doing doing it by utilizing interval workouts?

 In my humble opinion, if you just go grind out training time you are accumulating junk miles.

 I would rather have a 45-60 minute interval session in a good spin class than 2-3 hours of cruise speed riding on the bike.  That being said, I still put in plenty of saddle time on the weekends.  I just use intervals during the week when I have limited time for training.

Every session should have a goal and a structure; it is not the same doing a spinning class which forces you onto the anaerobic system often or pedaling standing up for most of the class than doing a z4 interval session on the trainer on your ike on the aero position. The former will help you improve at spinning standing up (not really specific to tris) while the latter will help you improve your power at threshold, get comfortable riding on your bike and all this in turn will allow you to ride faster from sprint to IM *if* you do the race distance specific training

Going back to running and Daniels ........ he puts it very succinctly:

If you cannot answer the question"What specific purpose does my workout have today?" then you should not be doing the workout.  There are no such things as "junk miles."  There may be some time where your training does not have a focus, and in those instances you really need to evaluate what you are doing and make changes.

To throw in the old "that's not what the pros do" ........ professional cyclists ride anywhere from 4 - 6 hours a day in their training camps never going above 18mph.  They do not sprint, they do not jump, they do not hammer the hills, they just ride BS'ing about their families and favorite soccer teams just getting the time in the saddle.  There is a time and a place for interval training.  But it needs to be structured with proper rest and specificity in time, gearing, effort tailored to your individual needs.  Otherwise it is just a way to burn calories for gym-yuppies while having a chance to watch others in tight clothing sweat all over the floor .......