CourtneyMCulligan
Member
Okay...I have a bad habit of not watching Cathe intros because I get too excited and go right to the workout....she has a great bike set up segment on CycleMax with Brenda! Great info!
I can't get through Cycle Max
- Thread starter Amy Steppe
- Start date
Standing Work is Killing Me!
Amy, just want you to know you are SO not alone on this one! I am struggling big time with Cycle Max too but for me it's all the standing work that kills me. I'm fine with anything sitting down and increasing resistance/cadence and short bursts of standing work but anything longer than a few seconds of standing..well, it just ain't happening. No matter how many times I try, I just can't seem to improve my ability to do standing work for longer than maybe one minute before I have to sit down again! Amy, just wondering whether you're finding Cycle Max any easier now and whether anyone can offer advice on improving my endurance for standing work.
Amy, just want you to know you are SO not alone on this one! I am struggling big time with Cycle Max too but for me it's all the standing work that kills me. I'm fine with anything sitting down and increasing resistance/cadence and short bursts of standing work but anything longer than a few seconds of standing..well, it just ain't happening. No matter how many times I try, I just can't seem to improve my ability to do standing work for longer than maybe one minute before I have to sit down again! Amy, just wondering whether you're finding Cycle Max any easier now and whether anyone can offer advice on improving my endurance for standing work.
horsing around
Cathlete
Standing Work
Is it possible you are adding too much resistance in the standing positions? I didn't have the problem, but grew up biking in western PA! I either pedaled up hill or coasted down hill, so little flat spots.
Keep trying, you'll get it!
Lisa
Is it possible you are adding too much resistance in the standing positions? I didn't have the problem, but grew up biking in western PA! I either pedaled up hill or coasted down hill, so little flat spots.
Keep trying, you'll get it!
Lisa
Fembot40
Cathlete
Out of all the different cycle workouts I've tried, none are out of the saddle as much as Cathe's. My husband tried Cyclemax once and didn't think it was too difficult, but he isn't comfortable standing on the trainer. I told him he needs to get his balance and retry it AND THEN make an opinion. We road bike on 40 mile hilly routes and I find Cyclemax exhausts my quads more than our outside runs. I really hope Cathe films more of these!
UNLVCrjChick
Cathlete
I guess I'm in the minority re: standing work on the bike: I find it much easier than sitting down. So interesting how we are all different but still find spinning challenging. Can't wait for more spinning workouts from Cathe!
DebbieH
Cathlete
Lisa, I also wondered if her tension was too tight?? Like Sherry, I find standing easier then sitting! But, we are all diff. I have tree-trunk thighs
Mjd, hang in there and just keep at it...you'll get better & better the more you do it.Traildoggie
Cathlete
I'm also new to spinning. I've done the workout twice, the second time I stood about 90% of the time I was "supposed" to. my cadence is much slower than cathe's. It feels like the fastest my legs will go is about 80-85, regardless of tension. I have clip- in cycle shoes. (didn't like them for outside riding so we put them on the spin bike)
my bike does not have numbers. how can I interpret the numbers cathe uses, like '3' or "8"? what should the emphasis be on at first? faster cadence, less tension, or the opposite?
I tried to complete the workout using any technique to get keep moving the whole time.
my bike does not have numbers. how can I interpret the numbers cathe uses, like '3' or "8"? what should the emphasis be on at first? faster cadence, less tension, or the opposite?
I tried to complete the workout using any technique to get keep moving the whole time.
Traildoggie said:
I worked out it takes 5 full turns of the tension knob to get from slight resistance (1) to nearly full resistance (10)
So, I'm using each half turn to increase by 1.
Using this method will mean a 3 is one full turn.
It's not a perfect method, but might help...
jldx2in2000
Cathlete
I thought Cathe was referring to the Rate of Perceived Exertion not necessarily a number for the resistance. She uses the RPE on alot of her cardio workouts to describe how hard you should feel you are working. A 1 RPE being that of laying on the couch watching TV while a 10 is running from a tiger. So as a previous poster pointed out, a 6 will be different for each person.
Hope that helped!
carolmcf
Cathlete
RPE works too
You can use your own rate of perceived exertion to regulate your workload. It will probably be of more benefit to you if you adjust the rate so that you can finish the workout. There is no doubt that it is intense!!! You can adjust the intensity by resistance or speed, and Cathe is pretty specific about which one she is using to adjust the intensity. But when I do this workout, sometimes I can't match her intensities and use my own RPE to adjust this and do speed if I can't add resistance. Your HR will tell you if you are cheating, so HR monitors can help with this. I have tried several other spin workouts and still think Cathe's is one of the hardest.
Good luck!
You can use your own rate of perceived exertion to regulate your workload. It will probably be of more benefit to you if you adjust the rate so that you can finish the workout. There is no doubt that it is intense!!! You can adjust the intensity by resistance or speed, and Cathe is pretty specific about which one she is using to adjust the intensity. But when I do this workout, sometimes I can't match her intensities and use my own RPE to adjust this and do speed if I can't add resistance. Your HR will tell you if you are cheating, so HR monitors can help with this. I have tried several other spin workouts and still think Cathe's is one of the hardest.
Good luck!