I'm booked into my first spinning class next week! What should I expect? Where in class should I try and get a bike? What will I

We’ve talked since you sent me this so I know you already read this older post of mine and went to your first class (yay!) but since the post is old here are a few extra tips with another year and a half of these dang classes under my belt:

  • The pre-class snack is important but I go to the first class of the day and so I’m usually eating at 4:50 am. Eating at that time of day is gross. I mean, everything feels gross at 4:50 am, but eating is especially terrible. I’m never hungry when I wake up but I can push myself much harder if I have some fuel in my stomach. I’ve tried many snacks and had varying success. The easiest is a protein/energy bar but they can sit really heavy so I’ll eat half pre-class and the other half post-class. Chia Bars are great. They’re small, taste decent and give me a lot of energy. KIND bars work well too. They don’t sit like lead in my stomach and they’re pretty tasty. Something that doesn’t work well for me? Smoothies or shakes. I tried this a few times but it’s too heavy and I feel like I’m sloshing as I pedal. It’s a good post-workout option, but they’re a little too much first thing in the morning. The winner for me is usually a banana with a spoonful of peanut butter smeared on the top. It’s easy to eat as I drive to class. If we’re out of bananas and I’ve pressed snooze once (or twice) and I’m running late, I’ve been known to gag down two spoonfuls of straight peanut butter. On the rare days I wake up hungry, I’ll make a frozen flaxseed waffle (from Wegmans) in the toaster, spread peanut butter on it and fold it in half like a sandwich so I can eat it in the car. Basically ANY food is better than no food for me, so I’ll grab anything in a pinch—a string cheese, an apple—but I definitely prefer some items over others.
  • It’s really beneficial to find out how hard you’re actually working. Polar’s FT4 (starting around $60) or FT7 (starting around $70) allow you to track your heart rate in real time. Spin class is so aerobic that regardless of how hard you’re working, you’ll probably sweat. This creates this annoying little setup where I think I’m working really hard (SWEAT ROLLING OFF MY FACE) and then I check my heart rate and I’m working in the high 70’s of my aerobic max. No spin class is immune to this. I’ve read reviews of SoulCycle by fitness instructors (before they were banned) and they were seeing really low total calorie burn numbers. Most things I’ve seen say that 400-600 calories per 45 minute spin class seems to be a good target zone. One of my harder instructors says that 600 calories should be the minimum for her more difficult rides if we follow her to the letter. Basically all this is to say that I’ve had classes where I think I’m putting in some really good effort and then I check my heart rate monitor and realize that I could be pushing myself more rigorously. The way I see it is that I’m taking the time to get out of bed and go to the gym instead of sleeping for another two hours, I better get the absolute BEST outcome I can. Unfortunately (or fortunately), because of the format and self-sufficiency of spin classes, a lot of that responsibility falls to me. A heart rate monitor is really the only way to find out how much effort is actually happening. (Some spin bikes have watts monitors. Watts is a combination of your cadence—how fast you pedal—and resistance. The faster you can pedal at a higher, tougher resistance, the bigger your watts output. Watts monitors are a great way of seeing how much power you’re putting out on the bike—some classes even turn it into a competition against other riders—but a heart rate monitor is still important because you can see how your body is responding to the watts you’re generating on the bike.)
  • Pay attention to how long it takes to recover breaths and/or heart rate during recovery or active recovery portions of the ride. When you go anaerobic—try to hit that threshold at least once or twice per class—take an informal note of how long it takes you to catch your breath or how long it takes for your heart rate to drop back to aerobic levels. Breathe in through your nose and out your mouth to speed up recovery. You’ll know when you’ve fully recovered either by checking your heart rate or because you can breathe in and out of your nose comfortably. The more classes you take, the faster this recovery gets. This is really important training if you decide to start cycling outside too. (I haven’t run in years but I have to think this kind of cardio training would be great for runners too.) Downhills or coasting are really the only recovery portions of an outdoor ride. Usually you have only a few seconds to bring an anaerobic heart rate to a place where you can start another climb or pick up the cadence without lactic acid eating your legs. Anyway, tracking your cardiovascular fitness as you go to more and more classes is really rewarding. It’s so fun seeing cardio efforts get bigger and recoveries get faster.
  • Cycling shoes aren’t cheap, but they make a such a big difference. (You can rent them at a lot of spin studios now though.) Sizing can be tricky so I recommend you go to a bike shop for fitting, but if you do know your size, I saw these Shimano shoes selling for $78 in certain sizes on Amazon. The cleats aren’t sold with the shoes (another reason to go to a bike shop, they can get you all situated with the right stuff), but SPD cleats are compatible with most (if not all) spin bikes.

Have fun! I can’t wait to hear how this week goes. :)

(ETA: Here’s another post I did about spin class earlier this year.)

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