When the first front-wheel pedal-powered bicycles appeared in France in 1861 – called Vélocipèds or “bone shakers” because they had no pneumatic tires – people had no idea what a boom spinning (also known as indoor cycling) would experience in gyms around the globe some 150 years later. It is impossible to imagine fitness studios without bicycle ergometers, because they enable endurance training on a bike at any time of the day or year that is easy on the joints. You can forget about heavy traffic and bad weather when you sign up for a spinning class. Find out what’s behind the sport here.
What is spinning?
Spinning means nothing more than indoor cycling or cycling indoors, but it is a trademarked term of the American professional cyclist Jonathan Goldblum, who “invented” the stationary bike. Indoor bikes in studios have a large flywheel that weighs at least 15 kilos, with a continuously adjustable brake that can be used to set the resistance. The beat, i.e. the cadence, is set by the music or the trainer. You can adjust a knob to set whether you want an easy ride or an uphill and downhill ride where you have to get out of the saddle for a short time to keep up. Speaking of the saddle, they are not very comfortable. Inexperienced riders sometimes get pain in the buttocks, because a training session lasts a whole hour. There is no idling, permanent cycling is the order of the day. In a 60-minute spinning unit, men consumed an average of 643 kcal (kilocalories) and women 500 kcal.
Spinning is easy on the joints
Cycling, whether indoors or outdoors, has many positive effects because it:
- Promotes endurance
- Protects the cardiovascular system
- Is well integrated into everyday life
Since the body weight is carried by the wheel, the spine and joints are spared, which is particularly important for overweight people and people with musculoskeletal disorders.
Proper endurance training
To avoid overloading during cycling, physicians recommend small gears at a high cadence. This is basically the same outside as in the gym:
- After a five- to ten-minute warm-up with slow cycling, you hit a brisk and steady pace.
- In the main phase, the pace and resistance vary. The individual load blocks are usually oriented to the length of music tracks and last four to five minutes, followed by a recovery and drinking phase of about two minutes.
- A training session ends with a warm-down phase at a reduced pace.
- Loosening and stretching exercises in between are important.
The correct heart rate for spinning
In any case, you should use a heart rate monitor when spinning. The standard formula for an optimal training pulse in cycling is: maximum pulse: 220 (men) or 230 (women) minus age. This formula is only a rough guide. A good endurance training condition is usually indicated by a lower resting pulse. While the heart of the untrained beats between 70 and 80 times per minute, values of less than 60 are the rule for trained amateur athletes. This means that blood pressure is regulated, because the heart pumps the same amount of blood with fewer beats, and the pauses between the individual beats become longer. In addition, there are better flow properties of the blood and thus also more favorable cholesterol and blood fat values. Since it is best to exercise between 60-85% of your maximum heart rate, it is important to use a heart rate monitor. Too low (below 60) or too high (above 120) cadence (rpm = revolutions per minute) minute should be avoided to prevent knee problems. Most often ridden between 80-120 rpm, but this also depends on the riding technique chosen.
Spinning: customize training
For the beginner, the focus is on moderate cardiovascular training with light technique exercises to improve basic endurance and fat burning. Advanced exercisers want to improve their fitness (endurance and strength). The medical journal writes about the risks: “Especially for older participants with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease or already existing risk factors, the exercise capacity should be checked within preventive examinations.Here, the specification of an individual training heart rate makes sense especially also from the point of view of training effectiveness. “*
What is aqua spinning?
A special form of spinning is aqua spinning or aqua cycling. Here the wheels are in the water, the upper body is, sitting first on the wheel, above the surface and the water reaches only to the hips. After a loose warm-up phase, the arms are used, for example, they are pulled sideways through the water. Pedaling while standing alternates with pedaling while sitting. Aqua cycling can be done in two directions: Forward or backward pedaling is possible. This can be very strenuous as you feel the water resistance.
Who is aqua cycling suitable for?
Aqua spinning is good for joint problems and is an important rehabilitation activity. The movement in the water acts like a massage. In the process, the legs, buttocks, arms and abdomen are toned and the cardiovascular system is strengthened. In addition, the body weight is reduced to about one tenth in the water, which relieves the joints. Especially in the case of knee injuries, aqua cycling is said to ensure faster healing. The reduced body weight in the water eliminates the protective posture assumed under normal gravity. Regeneration of the knee joint is faster and more effective.
