Decided to mix it up a bit in the offseason, and try out some spin classes on top of a swim focus block for the upcoming 2-3 months. I've been riding almost entirely indoors anyway on a Kickr + Zwift (I love my setup with a 50" TV hooked up to an Macbook pro with video card for max 4k).
I've done a few spin classes before at other gyms and YMCAs, and always felt they were legit. Meaning you can bury yourself in an hour if you want to, even if the class is made up of mostly bike noobs.
Signed up for an outfit in my area of Norcal called "Cyclebar" - I think it's a lower-cost version of the pricey SoulCycle and other cycling craze outfits. Was about $60 for 5 rides, I've done 3 already.
In this one you ride Schwinn-branded spin bikes that have powermeters. I'm very skeptical of the accuracy of the powermeters; I've been doing enough power to know how much it hurts for me to hold 240w for an hour, and in both classes I was averaging nearly that even with rest periods, so I'd definitely take that with a grain of salt.
For sure though, it was surprisingly easy to really bury myself for an all-out interval experience. Coupled with no-fan, my HR was higher than it's every been on a bike. Definitely legit for a 40 min workout! Music was LOUD, which was great.
The workout in this one is too short for long bike training, but for short bury-yourself intervals, it's all good.
Oh yeah - and on the weekdays, I was literally the ONLY dude there in a class of 20 women. Yeah, not weird at all. The busy sunday class was probably 15% men. So definitely attracts mostly women, for what it's worth.
I def wouldn't trade a good outdoor ride for this, and I doubt I'll do more regular classes after I use up these 5, but I could see myself doing this from time to time just to mix it up.
I've done a few spin classes before at other gyms and YMCAs, and always felt they were legit. Meaning you can bury yourself in an hour if you want to, even if the class is made up of mostly bike noobs.
Signed up for an outfit in my area of Norcal called "Cyclebar" - I think it's a lower-cost version of the pricey SoulCycle and other cycling craze outfits. Was about $60 for 5 rides, I've done 3 already.
In this one you ride Schwinn-branded spin bikes that have powermeters. I'm very skeptical of the accuracy of the powermeters; I've been doing enough power to know how much it hurts for me to hold 240w for an hour, and in both classes I was averaging nearly that even with rest periods, so I'd definitely take that with a grain of salt.
For sure though, it was surprisingly easy to really bury myself for an all-out interval experience. Coupled with no-fan, my HR was higher than it's every been on a bike. Definitely legit for a 40 min workout! Music was LOUD, which was great.
The workout in this one is too short for long bike training, but for short bury-yourself intervals, it's all good.
Oh yeah - and on the weekdays, I was literally the ONLY dude there in a class of 20 women. Yeah, not weird at all. The busy sunday class was probably 15% men. So definitely attracts mostly women, for what it's worth.
I def wouldn't trade a good outdoor ride for this, and I doubt I'll do more regular classes after I use up these 5, but I could see myself doing this from time to time just to mix it up.