Spinning workouts are very effective cardio exercise method, designed to burn more calories in a more efficient period of time. As a result, you can lose more weight rapidly after joining spin classes or doing your own spin workout routines at home. Due to the increasing popularities of the spinning workout in the past few years, you can easily learn from DVD instructional videos, or online from YouTube or any other sites where you can view or download.
However, it is important to have a proper program to make the most of your spinning workout, to get the most benefits and better results. Not to mention, some routines will cater to beginners better, while veterans might be better off with other routines. With that being said, we have compiled some of the best spinning workout exercises available, to whom they might be suitable, and how to make the most of the spinning workout routines.
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Tips Before You Get Started
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Adjust Your Saddle Height Properly
The most common mistake people make for stationary bike exercises is setting the bike seat too low. It is possible that you are also doing the same mistake, and here is how you can determine it: make sure that during pedaling, your legs are bent about 25 degrees when you are at the bottom of the rotation. This will relieve workload from your quads, preventing injury and preserving your stamina.
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Know When To Get Up and When To Stay Seated
Ever been confused about why spinning workout routines will tell you to sit up or stay seated? Here is the basic principle: lifting up your hips from the saddle will add intensity, working out your core, legs, and hips. In turn, this practice will also burn more calories.
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Don’t Underestimate The Music
Good music can improve your mood as you ride, and you can choose the right beat to match your pedal stroke. So, don’t hesitate to look for music downloads, many of them are free nowadays anyways.
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Upper Body Training
During the seated position and relaxed cycling, you can do upper body workout to increase the effectiveness of your spinning workout routine. Simply pick up the dumbbells, and do triceps pulldown, biceps curl, and reverse biceps curl.
You might also want to check these products to enhance your spinning workout experience:
Madd Dogg Athletics Spinning Crank It Up DVD
A very popular Interval Spinning Workout instructional DVD. Many customers gave positive reviews and the workouts included are sure to let you lose some weight.
Cycle Coach Indoor Cycling Music Mix
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We have discussed the importance of a proper music playlist for a spinning workout exercise. This Music Mix is designed with a proper BPM (Beat Per Minute) mix to ensure the HIIT effect of your spinning workout.
30-minute Tabata Spinning Workout
Image Credit: Shape
The name ‘Tabata’ stands for the founder of the Tabata-style workouts, Dr. Izumi Tabata, who designed a fast-paced high-intensity interval training (HIIT). The Tabata workouts are designed to achieve more in a relatively short amount of time for the busy Japanese and will be suitable for us who seem to never have enough time for workouts. How then, can the Tabata principle be applied to a spinning workout? It is actually quite simple, so hop on to your bike and follow this formula:
- Cycle lightly for a 6-minute warm up
- Cycle for 20 seconds with moderate intensity followed by 10 seconds of recovery. Repeat this 16 times (5 minutes and 20 seconds total)
- Follow with a 1-minute cycling with low effort
- 40 seconds of high-intensity cycling, followed by 20 seconds of recovery. Repeat this 8 times (8 minutes total)
- Another 1-minute cycling with low intensity
- Follow with a 1-minute cycling power sprint at your maximum speed
- 5 minutes of cooldown
With only 30-minutes on your bike, you can expect rapid fat loss using this Tabata spinning workout method. The Tabata Spin Workout is Ideal for beginner bikers to veterans alike. You can use the video below to do your own Tabata Workout Plan, the audio is designed so that you can use your own music playlists with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjLAwVvL78U&feature=youtu.be
45-minute indoor cycling workout
The 45-minute indoor cycling routine is wildly popular among bike classes. If you have joined a class before, chances are, you have tried a variation of 45-min cycling workout. Besides designed as a good way to lose weight in under an hour, this regime is also good in building your endurance, so it is also ideal for athletes and runners willing to build their stamina. The 45-minute indoor exercise routine is also fairly easy, so it is ideal for beginners to try.
However, it will take a little practice to get used to. So, prepare your songs in the playlist, and follow these steps below:
Workout routine
- For the first 5 minutes, do a light intensity warm-up with around 100 RPM cycling. Stay seated on your bike
- Minutes 5 to 10, increase resistance to moderate, maintain a 70 rpm cycling. Rise out from the saddle
- For minutes 10 to 12, decrease resistance but increase speed to 110 rpm. Keep rising from the saddle
- For minutes 12 to 15, keep the resistance but increase the speed to 120 rpm. Sit on the saddle
- Minute 15 to 17, increase resistance, rise out of the saddle and cycle in 80 RPM
- Minutes 17 to 19, keep resistance but increase speed to 120 RPM, keep staying out of the saddle
- Minutes 19 to 21, keep resistance, decrease speed to 80 RPM, sit on the saddle
- For minutes 21 to 22, keep resistance, increase your pace again to 120 RPM, rise out of saddle
- Minutes 22 to 25, decrease resistance, cycle in 100 RPM, and sit in the saddle
- Minutes 25 to 30, increase resistance to heavy, rise out of the saddle, cycle for 70 RPM
- For minutes 30 to 35, decrease resistance, cycle to 80 rpm. You can do seated arms workout here
- Minutes 35 to 40, Increase resistance to moderate, cycle for 100 RPM and rise out of the saddle
- Last 5 minutes, sit on the saddle and cool down
At first glance, this routine might seem complicated, but after a few tries, you will get used to the pattern. You can simply tape a note on your stationary bike where you can see it. Or, if your bike comes with programmable setup (such as Keiser M3i or similar bikes), you can pre-program the routine. You might notice there is only one time you should increase the resistance to heavy, which is from the 25th to 30th minute. This exercise is designed so that your body can slowly adapt to the intensity, which will burn fat in the process.
As mentioned, on the 30th to 35th minute, you can do seated arms workout with dumbbells.
- This Interval Energy Zone Ride is an unbeatable way to get into the best shape of your life
- Led by Spinning Master Instructor & professional cyclist Josh Taylor
- Push yourself to the next level
- Also includes chapters on: Set-up and safety and Spinner bike assembly
- Approx. 67 minutes
60-Minute Endurance Spinning Workout
After we have discussed the two routines above, you might see that they have similar ideas based on the HIIT principle. This 60-minute spinning workout will also be based on the same idea but will focus more on endurance. This spinning workout will be ideal for those looking for more challenge, both in stamina and intensity.
Here, we will give two different alternatives for the 60-minute spinning workout. In both workouts, we will begin with the following warm-up routine:
- Start with 3 minutes of relaxed pedaling
- 1 minute of moderate-fast pedaling with low resistance
- Another 1 minute of relaxed pedaling
- 1 minute of maximum effort (100+ RPM), keep the resistance low
- 1 minute relaxed pedaling
- Another minute of sprinting
- Last but not least, 2 minute of relaxed pedaling before we go to the main exercise
Workout A: Over-Under Intervals
Over-Under Intervals is a workout method to reach your lactate threshold, featuring sudden accelerations for a more effective HIIT training.
This workout will be divided into three 9-minute sections, with 4-min of relaxed spinning between the sections or intervals. For the 9-minute intervals, here is how you do it:
- Start with a moderate intensity and speed for 2 minutes (roughly 8 out of 10 of effort)
- Increase to 9 out of 10 of effort for 1 minute
- Return to 8/10 intensity for another 2 minutes
- Another 9 out of 10 effort for a minute
- Repeat the 2-minute 8/10 intensity cycling
- Lastly, another 9 out of 10 effort for 1 minute
It should be pretty easy to remember, then do a relaxed spinning workout for 4 minutes, and repeat the 9-minute interval. Complete three intervals and do a 10 to 15 minutes cooling down. After you get used to the exercise, you can increase the effort to maximum (10 out of 10) instead of 9/10. You can also increase the interval durations to 12 minutes each.
Workout B: Speed Intervals
This Speed Intervals workout is designed for more accelerations, which in turn will burn more calories. This method will be more effective to shed more fat but can be more challenging. In this workout, there are 3 sets of 8 intervals, with 30-second within each interval and in-between. Between each set, there is a 5-minute relaxed cycling.
Sounds complicated? It is actually simple once you have tried it:
- Within the 8-minute intervals, you simply cycle lightly for 30 seconds and sprint for the next 30 seconds until you have spent 8 minutes.
- Follow it with 5-minute of relaxed cycling
- After you have done 3 sets, cool down for 10 minutes
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Bottom Line
Spinning workout routines can be really effective not only to lose fat but to build endurance and make you healthier overall. If you are currently joining a gym, or have a stationary bike at home, you should definitely try a spinning workout routine.
There are many more variations of spinning workout methods available, and you can definitely make your own routine, as long as you have understood the basic principles. Using your favorite music where you can adjust the cycling speed with the beat is an effective method. You simply need to choose the correct mix where the beats of the music are varied according to the workout routine.
Learn a lot from the article. Great one man. I have a question about keiser bike, Is keiser m3i is comfortable for body?
I am only getting 27 minutes for the 30 minute workout