Spinning

I spin 5-6 days a week in addition to working out with Cathe. Mix up the types of Spinning you do. Strength one day, Endurance the next, Interval, Recovery rides, shorter and longer rides. You want to keep it fun and balanced without over training in one area.
 
Is it a high calorie burner? I am trying to loose the last 10 pds.

It can be - it depends on the ride. Recovery rides are high calorie burners, but you need to do them so you can get through the harder rides. I use a heart rate monitor to track my calories burned. If you add a 40-50 minute ride to your workout routine 3-4 days a week, you'll be burning some serious calories. Watch your food intake, though. If I ride hard, I get very hungry! I have to be aware that I need to have some extra fuel, but not as much as I want to eat!
 
How do you do spin sessions?

I'd love to do more spin but only use Cathe's. Does anyone recommend anything else? Do you do your own thing and if so, how???
 
If i'm not feeling a spin dvd, I do my own thing with spinning apps on my phone. I watch tv, and the phone dings when it's time to push harder or ease off a bit. It's so fun!
 
I make up my own playlists of music I enjoy. BUT, my favorite cycling workouts are The Sufferfest. You can only get them as downloads, and they are more cycling than spin (that was an adjustment), but I find them tremendous fun and whew, do you burn the calories. They are advanced workouts, so Cathletes will feel right at home.

When I say they're different that spin, it's because you're not changing positions as much...it took me a while to get used to spending so much time in the saddle. When I first started, I'd just stand whenever I wanted to. I also found that it works my quads differently than pure spinning...not better or worse, just different. I'm all for cross training. :) FYI, these workouts have great music and feature pro cycling footage. Each workout has a story of sorts and lots of humor, all intended to push you to go harder.

The workouts are relatively inexpensive, about $13 each, so if you're at all tempted, try one out. I caution you not to try one of the $8 workouts for your first effort....they are meant to be used on combo with the existing workouts and don't have warm ups or cool downs. And one, called The Long Scream, will make you do just that if you're not already used to the SF, at least in my opinion. Anyway, give it a try, and you may become as addicted as I am.

FYI for you Sufferlandrians out there, the new Sufferfest is coming out next week...112 minutes of suffering. It's called Blender and was designed by Taylor Phinney's coach. Heaven help us! Of course, I can't wait! :)
 
Bonnie - thanks for the Spinning HR chart

I've visited the Spinning site numerous times and never seen it. Great information.

I enjoy the Spinning DVDs because they give the suggested heartrate zones that you should be striving for. Spinning DVDs with Josh Taylor are favorites of mine. Schwinn Cycling Workout with Jay Blahnik is excellent also. I bought Cycle Master Volume 1 with Gregg Cook mp3 download from Amazon and like it also. But, my favorite will always be Cardio Coach workouts. Coach Sean O'Malley used amazing music and perfect instruction! They are designed to be used with any cardio equipment so spinning is great. Cardio Coach workouts are not videos though but are wonderful!

Sandi
 

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