spinning

[alecstilleyedye]

i did my 5m commute today spinning lower gears at a high rpm today, and it felt like more of a workout than usual.

i've heard that spinning is better for fat burn and fitness, is this true, and should i adopt this style of riding every day?

cheers in advance.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Err, maybe.
There's a sea-change in thought in this area. During Lance Armstrongs reign there was much talk of spinning, Lance vs Ulrich, spin vs grinding. The view has been recently that spinning a low gear wwas most effective and maximising your cardio systems performance.
All this talk of high cadence coincided with my joining a club, where my naturally low cadence was beaten out of me in favour of spinning. For 2 seasons I span like the rest of them worked hard and got nowhere. In the 3rd season I got pissed-off with spinning and reverted to my more natural lower cadence style and found I was going much better, particularly acceleration wise and I seemed to be working less hard to keep up. I assumed I was a freak or a crap cyclist.
However, there have been some reports in C+ lately and elsewhere suggesting recent research states that people are most efficient and effective if they pedal at a natural/comfortable rate and that high cadence for all is not necessarily the big benefit it was thought to be. This certainly ties in with my own experience which may not be unique.

My advice is to experiment and choose the style that suits you best.

 

[mr Mag00]

what is the defintion of spinning. i recently added a cadence meter to my bike more really to see what i was doing rather than as something i was trying to acheive as training objectives. i find i ride at about 75 - 80 which i guess isnt grinding which i find really hard to do and go no faster, yet.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i do tend to spin higher gears anyway, especially in the hills. it's just that keeping a constant rpm throughout the short ride seems to be doing me more "good", although i could not keep that up over a longer distance.

 

[Ravenz]

what is the defintion of spinning

Spinning does have a resonance of a fast to very fast cadence..
It is a highly personal and subjective field though. Stress that

My own training at the moment is to take myself out of a comfort zone of my own 90 ish cadence and up it up 105 110 range and boy yes holding that for 30 minutes is demanding (for me anyways).. especially when throwing in ultra short extra resistance intervals towrds the end.
This is done on a stationary bike simply because I can concentrate on smooth rhythmical pedal stroke and have my music playing to dull the 'pain'

Taking things out on the road, keeping deliberately to a higher gear and getting the legs moving, I am not losing speed at all... with a 50/18 ..and a 100 cadence moving up to 35kph.

I am of an age and do like to change things around .. I bore easily ..so may go back to mashing when the wind changes.. ....

 

[yello]

Spinning better for fat burn? Some say so, included learned people.

Personally speaking, I don't think it's as simple as that statement. I think you have to unpack it. Like rightly questioned by mr Mag00, what's spinning? 80? 90? 100? What's fat burn? You burn fat at all levels of exercise. It's just the % of fat is greater at lower levels of exercise. That's not to say you don't burn fat at higher levels, in fact you probably burn more, it's just it's a greater percentage of total energy expended. That is, 80% of 100 is less than 50% of 200... get my drift?

But it's all so, um, theoretical imho. There are times (depending on your goals) where you say '**** the science' and get on with it. So, in short, I agree with FF! Go with what feels comfortable at the time. If your goal is fat burn, you'll do that whether you spin or grind!

 

[jimboalee]

Here he goes again...

Road speed requires an amount of power. It is independant of gear ratio.

Refer to my post in 'Bike for the beginner' where I pasted a photo of Eddy with a 45 x 21 granny gear. (Although they used 38 x 25 in the mountains.)

They were high-torque, low rev grinders back then and I am in that ilk, as I find that style easier.

Don't take a 'follow the leader' attitude. Go on some rides round the same route using different ratios (warm up properly first), and find out if you are slow-twitch or fast-twitch.

If you find you are a spinner, stick with it, and visa versa.

 

[tyred]

I'm certainly not an expert on the subject as I cycle for relaxation more than as a serious work out but I would think the sensible thing to do is to go with whatever feels comfortable. If you want to work up to a higher cadence, then I would work on increasing it gradually as too much at once could be counter productive.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i'm still no wiser…

 

[jimboalee]

+1 Yello.

Fat burn occurs during aerobic conditions when the muscles are receiving sufficient O2.
Its roughly linked to heartrate. There are websites that detail it, but the real info is held in University libraries and we have to pay for copies of their papers.

My info is at home.

Respond quickly if you would prefer it to stay in the cupboard.

 

[yello]

Out and proud... I spin and grind. Oh baby, I love it when you talk dirty.

 

[jimboalee]

Incidentally.

Depending upon your own muscle type, fast or slow twitch, there is a crank speed at which you cannot physically apply force on the pedal. You could plot a 'Power curve'.

It the same as the 'flame front' during the combustion of gases in an internal combustion engine. The piston won't be pushed downward faster than the increase in pressure from the expanding gases.

High revvers, like the Truimph TT600, have an ignition timing so far forward, the piston is going over the top just as the 'flame front' is hitting it. As the piston is moving so fast, there is not a lot of force on it and resultantly very little torque but 12,500 rpm makes up the power output. - Spinning

Lower revvers, thumpers, Harley Davidsons, Buells, Aprillia V60s and Dukes rely on enormous amounts of torque to produce the power. - Grinders.

I think of myself as an Aprillia Mille V 1000. ( a bike I tested at SAGEM ).

 

[yello]

I think of myself as an Aprillia Mille V 1000.

What? Hard to get parts for??

 

[robz400]

no he means he's moody and unreliable

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

I think of myself as an Aprillia Mille V 1000. ( a bike I tested at SAGEM ).

I'm a CG125.