55 Minute Spin Class with Music & Drill Tutorials
Hi, Lovely!
If you're new here, welcome! My name is Emily and I'm an online health coach, a national level bikini competitor, and of course... you might have guessed from this blog post, a spin instructor!
A couple of months ago I thought it might be fun to post one of my fave little 55 minute indoor cycling class routines and it was a mega hit with you guys!
And well... I have 3 notebooks jam packed with some seriously awesome calorie torching spin routines so I'm thinking this needs to be a regularly scheduled post on my little corner of the web!
If you missed the first spin class routine, you can find it here.
If you do try these, I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment down at the bottom of this post or shoot me a DM on instagram! Y'all gave me some fabulous feedback on the first routine, and I'm SO glad you loved it!
If you're ready for the second routine, you are in for a treat! Since my first routine, I've started incorporating some fun new drills to get you an even better burn. So here we go!
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Picking Your Gear
It's important to note that the gears are going to feel different for every person based on your bodyweight and your activity level. Think of it this way, if I asked a male bodybuilder and a fitness beginner female to both perform 10 dumbbell curls with 10 lb weights, do you think they would get the same workout?
The man would probably feel like the weight was way too light and the woman might feel as though it's hard to complete 10 full reps with that weight and need a lighter set of dumbbells. The gears on your spin bike are the same way.
In order to ensure you get the intended results from every drill, regardless of your level and weight, I incorporate a scale of 1-10 based on your rating of perceived exertion. (RPE)
Instead of saying, "everybody take the gear to 12!" I will say, "on a scale of 1-10, you're at your 7 right now," for example.
Your 10 is the most gear you can have on the bike and still pedal at 60 RPM. This is your max, heaviest gear. So in general, if we are on a seated or standing flat or we are sprinting, your gear is at your 6 or 7 on a scale of 1-10.
When we are climbing, your gear is usually at your 8 or your 9 on a scale of 1-10.
The Drills Explained
Warm Up
I keep the warm up the same every time, as I've found this warm up routine to be very effective in preparing you for all of the RPM ranges you will encounter during class.
During our warm up we always do some light pedaling and some upper body stretches. We stretch the lats, shoulders, triceps, wrists, and chest.
As we move into the second song of the playlist, we take our warm up a step further and complete 30 seconds in several RPM ranges:
90-100 RPM
80-90 RPM
70-80 RPM
60-70 RPM
With each 30 second interval, we added gear to the bike to bring us into the new RPM range.
With the time left of the song at the end of this drill, we lower the gear down to our 6 on a scale of 1-10 rating of perceived exertion. We alternate pedaling in the saddle at 80-85 RPM and out of the saddle at 70-75 RPM to complete the warm up.
Jumps
During jumps, I advise the group to take their gear to a 6 on a scale of 1-10 rating their perceived exertion.
We transition from pedaling in the seat to standing, and then back to the seat.
These transitions should always feel slow and controlled.
Don't use your body's momentum to transition. Keep the core tight and push up and down with your legs.
Sprints
When we sprint, I encourage riders to find 105-110 RPM. Any higher than 110 RPM puts unnecessary pressure on your knees and can cause you to lose control of your pedal stroke.
If you find yourself bouncing up and down when sprinting in the saddle, raise your gear a little bit.
If you find yourself pumping with your upper body to get through each pedal stroke, lower your gear a bit.
For the first sprint song, New Rules, there are 2 30 second sprints. The first half of each sprint is seated and the second half is standing.
Timing of the Sprints:
I time my sprints to the beat of the song, so if you'd like to follow along, here are the exact times of each sprint.
New Rules - 2 30 second sprints
1:16, 2:41
Jump - 4 sprints: 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 15 seconds, and 30 seconds
0:15, 0:59, 1:58, 2:35
Run for Your Life - 2 sprints: 15 seconds, then 30 seconds
1:04, 2:09
Climbing with Pull Drills
For this climb, we take our speed to 60-65 RPM. This allows us to put some nice heavy gear on the bike.
Don't let your RPM fall below 60. This, again, isn't safe for your knees. As with sprints, if you find yourself pumping with your upper body, take some gear off the bike.
If you're in a standing climb, hands should travel to hand position 3, which means they are wrapped around the very top of the handle bars. Keep your back flat and your hips back over the saddle for hamstring activation and proper form.
We spice up the first climb with pull drills. Pull drills allow us to create better mind muscle connection by isolating each leg. You're going to pick a side, and pedal with just that leg for 30 seconds. Really pay attention to how the quad feels each time you push downward.
Let the other leg just be a passenger. Still keep your knee in line but don't pedal with that other leg. A single leg should be doing all the work.
Once 30 seconds are up, switch to the other leg and repeat.
We usually do this drill for 2-3 rounds. Each time you're starting again with your first leg, add 1 gear to make it more challenging.
Tabatas
My class absolutely LOVES this drill, and it's my personal favorite. Tabata training was discovered by the Japanese and it's incredibly effective for both your aerobic and anaerobic systems. It's a GREAT fat burn! If you want to get a quality sweat in limited time, tabatas are your BFF.
You will usually see tabatas performed as a weight lifting workout. But they are fabulous for cardio too!
The song needs to be about 4 minutes. Honestly, my songs are usually a little shorter or longer but I care more about using a song that I KNOW will get the class fired up. So pick something upbeat and as close as you can to 4 minutes long.
For 20 seconds you are going to pedal ALL OUT at your 6 on a scale of 1-10. Give your max output. Then you get 10 seconds to recover. Then you do another 20 seconds all out. Then 10 seconds to recover.
You do this for the duration of the song. Woooo! It hurts SO GOOD.
If done correctly, you should feel like you absolutely NEED that 10 second recovery by the end of each 20 second interval. If you don't feel that way, gimme more gear, girl! Let's go!
One Big Hill
Oooo this one is fun too!
The whole song is going to be one giant hill with the peak right in the middle. If you use my song for this (I'm Only Human After All by John "The Rain Cajun" Jones.... what a name! Haha) then the peak is at 1:54.
You're going to start at your 8 on a scale of 1-10. This should be nice heavy gear. Give me 70 RPM to start.
As you head uphill, you're going to keep adding gear until you hit that peak at 1:54. Make it heavy! Make it hurt!
Once you hit the peak and you're ready to head downhill, you're going to periodically take gears off until the end of the song and speed up each time.
We do the entire song out of the saddle with hands in position 3. If you do it with enough gear, those glutes should burn by the end! If you feel unstable or you're new to spin, you can totally do this drill in the saddle or take breaks and sit in between standing.
Cool Down
We take the gear back down for the cool down and take a water break while continuing to pedal. Once the heart rate starts coming down, we do some of the upper body stretches from our warm up.
Then we dismount the bike. We do standing quad, hamstring, and glute stretches.
Always make sure to keep hydrating after class and also do some foam rolling for optimal recovery!
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