First class

[CR400]

Ok, I did my first spin class last night and I thought that I was gonna die. How many of you felt like this durning your first class?

My heart rate was around 93% to 98% for twenty minuets of the class. Is this normal for a first class? I do ride a road bike in the summer so I was surprised to see it go so high.

I think I may have had the tension higher then I was supposed to on accident. I played with the tension before class and was not sure if I had loosened it all the way.


Well as painful as it was it was fun.

[Adventure Girl]

My heart rate was around 93% to 98% for twenty minuets of the class. Is this normal for a first class? I do ride a road bike in the summer so I was surprised to see it go so high.

What do you mean by 93% to 98%? 93% to 98% of what? Heart rate should be expressed as number of beats per minute (say 150bpm). Or are you saying that was 93% to 98% of your maximum? You could NOT sustain that for 20 minutes.

[snapdragen]

Yes, my first class I thought I was going to die. It gets better.....not easier...but better.

[CR400]

Ok, I'll try to give the actual bpm. I use my heart rate monitor to display the time of activity and then it only shows it as a percent. My max heart rate is set at 210. So between 190 and 210 should be between 90 and 100%. So i guess that would mean it was between 195 and 207. I did have to slow down a few times and even stopped a couple of times and set even though we were supposed to be standing. To try to get my heart rate below 90% or close to it. And yes it really was that high for 20min. Does this mean that maybe my max heart rate is higher then I think? Also have sustained 200bpm for three miles. After which I slowed down for fear my heart would give out not because I had to, ok the feeling of wanting to throw up helped, felt the same way last night.

[wabisabi]

I think that sounds like too high for too long. You might talk to the instructor. The good ones will provide some information about this. Yes, when I first started I would blow up at some point, and woudl have to slow down. For me, the trick is a sufficient warm up, then you can do a lot more without blowing up. When it does start, you should definitely back off. I agree, it gets 'better but not easier' because you compensate by cranking it up more. For me, it does definitely help, especially with sprints and hill work.

[alpinerabbit]

I nearly died my first class too. Boyfriend had to carry my bag home.

[traveller_62]

Ok, I did my first spin class last night and I thought that I was gonna die. How many of you felt like this durning your first class?

Well as painful as it was it was fun.

For my first 4 weeks of spin class I felt like I would either pass out or throw up (or both!) at every class. And my heart rate was off the charts....Eventually though I acclimated to pace of the workout and to the spin bike.

Hang in there, it will get better! Spinning has really helped my cycling because my instructors are all die hard cyclists and have designed their classes to work on specific cycling skills.

- traveller

[Irulan]

if it's that bad the first few classes, you should back way way off on how hard you are working. It's very easy to overdo it in a spin class if you aren't used to it. That's what the tension knob is for, set it for what works for you. Just becasue the gal next to you or the instructor cranks hers halfway around for evey gear change, doesn't mean you need to do so. Use little tiny increments to establish a level that is comfortably intense, but won't cause you to blow up.

[alpinerabbit]

I went to my second class this winter, today. I had a stomach bug to get over this week so I took it easy and did not go beyond 170, I think. I tried keeping up with the cadence at all times but did not put on too much resistance...






..... note to self: when riding during menses, do not wear zebra-striped shorts. wear black.

[anne_77]

You might want to try out different instructors. I go to about four or five different instructors at my local gym (I go around 3-4 times a week right now) and one of them in particular does everything by "zone 1, zone 2, zone 3, and zone 4" of your heart rate. An instructor who measures exertion by heart rate might help you sustain longer and get a more satisfying workout if you're having trouble pacing yourself.

[Irulan]

You might want to try out different instructors. I go to about four or five different instructors at my local gym (I go around 3-4 times a week right now) and one of them in particular does everything by "zone 1, zone 2, zone 3, and zone 4" of your heart rate. An instructor who measures exertion by heart rate might help you sustain longer and get a more satisfying workout if you're having trouble pacing yourself.

at our gym, they do not use heart rate at all as an indicator, it's all "percieved exertion" on a scale of one to ten. This is the gym policy. .... "You should all be at a low 7 right now..."

I suggest you get a HRM if you don't own one.

[anne_77]

"Perceived exertion" measures the same thing that a heart rate monitor is supposed to measure - physical activity intensity. And it can be done on a scale of 1-10 or 1-4.

What I was trying to explain, just from my own experience, is that measuring your heart rate does nothing if you don't use it to pace yourself. And it's easier to pace physical activity intensity in a spinning class with an instructor who uses physical activity intensity as his or her benchmarks for the class.

There are a lot of instructors who simply tell the class what resistance they should be at (1-10), whether they should sit or stand, and what cadence to achieve. Unfortunately that's worthless if you're not in the same shape as the instructor.

So again, from my personal experience, I've found it helpful to try a variety of instructors, and I personally particularly like instructors who measure how hard you're supposed to work as opposed to what resistance you're supposed to be at.

[Irulan]

huh. I wonder if this is a factor of any given gyms' set up. Aside from personality differences and music difference, all the class leaders do it the same at my club - just tell you to go up a "gear" or down a "gear", percieved heart rate, or higher /lower cadence. They are very general. There's a real homogenity to the experience really, not sure if that's a good thing or not.

~i.

[CR400]

Thanks for all your replies. It has been five weeks and 10 to 20 classes later. Not really sure how many I kind of lost track. It has become so much easier my heart rate is well in hand. The problem was that my heart was not used to the intensity of the class. Now I have to push to get it above 90%, I have to spin really fast (were talking cadances above 150) or go really heavy at least 6 full turns. I have a high LT naturally about 193bpm. Climbing gets my heart rate up faster then the high cadance though. A cadance of 110 feels so slow now even on my road bike on its trainer. The rest of my team mates and I do two classes now back to back so it is like an hour and 45 min of spin class with two different instructors.

The one lady was right about the different styles on instructors. At my gym we have four ladies who lead classes. Which range from a half to a full hour. One lady is really big on high resistance and low cadance work, loves to do hovers and pulls. Another lady is really big into sprints and fast works with less resistance, but has a more balanced class, she rides road. Both of them lead parts of that long class I mentioned. The other two are a combination of both but a lot easier. I do the muscle tension class twice a week and the speedwork class every Saturday. My cadance has gone through the roof I hit 186 one time. It was really hard to push down to keep from bouncing. I had really sore pecs later that day.

[Irulan]

I swear to god I'm going to scream if I have to listen to the Matrix soundtrack any more. Instructors, vary your music!!!