The last couple of months I've been using the bikes in the gym for my cardio workouts, and well I'm really pleased with the results I'm getting. I love to workout and have done running, kickboxing, weights and so forth. But either I've totally forgotten what my body felt like before my last pregnancy (1 year postpartum) or I'm getting leg definition I've never had, especially in the hamstrings. I love to work hard and get a good sweat going on - but other than that have no clue what I"m doing or what my goals should be That's where I need the help

I started out at high resistance going about 60-70 RPM, the fastest I could go at that speed. I would work up quite a burn.

Then I was told to to high RPM and low resisitance since my goal is to slim the legs down. So I've been doing that low RPM and going about 85-95 RPM. Also I feel quite worked out.

My time usually is 45-60 minutes a workout. I probably get in about 3 workouts a week averagely. Sometimes I try to kick it up during the workout and try to get the RPM to be around 100 for like 5 mins or so.

I'm wanting to get into a spinning class this coming up new year to learn some techniques as I have none. But wondered if anyone had some input for me. I really am liking this alot. I like running but for whatever reason my hips have a hard time long distance running. The longest I've ever run was 6.2 miles, and that hurt my joints. That's my problem with running my joints give out before my leg muscles do. I've pushed myself before to run as long as I can, then couldn't sleep on my sides for days because of the pain. Biking seems much more gentle.

So what should I do next, what do I work up to? Do I turn the resistance down more to get a RPM of over 100, do I want to do high resistance once a week? What's next?

My goal: To get some more muscle tone until spring then learn to ride a real bike LOL. I had a really bad wreck at 11 and almost had to get a skin graph on my knee. I've been scared of bikes ever since. But...I'm getting such good results in the gym that I'm gonna take the plunge this spring and learn to do it for real

Any help would be great, book recs and such too would be a big help!