40 minute ride

[PartyDrummer]

Your SIM tells you the duration of a Spinning(R) ride, that's 40 minutes, including 5 minutes warming-up, 5 minutes cooling-down and 5 minutes for stretching.

That's what Johnny G called a 40 minute Spinning(R) ride. A ride over 40 minutes is called a journey.

I realised that people don't understand the 40 minutes principle. In their eyes it's too short and they want to do journeys.

Is a 40 minute ride really too short? Please give me your arguments and opinions.

PartyDrummer:

3 years of teaching experience at 3 different clubs gave me the following generally accepted understanding with respect to duration of a ride.

In my opinion, a 45 minute ride is a "minimum" that includes a 4 to 5 minute warm-up,... a "easy" flat ride home (3 mins) and the stretching at the end (4-5 mins). All the activity between the beginning and the end is up to you. Most riders I have come in contact with consider the 45 duration a "quickie" and, generally speaking, most prefer the 1 hour ride. Our gym offers both so there is some variety and accomodation of ridership needs. Putting a profile together for a 45 minute ride typically means to me that the middle part is a tad more intense than a 1 hour ride. It's a tighter ride,. where there is no "slop" in the middle for coasting. Regardless, see what works best for your situation. Seems most (if not all !) gyms have a unique culture and what works well in one may not work well in another. I teach both the 45 minute and 1 hour classes. Again, for me a 40 minute ride is too short.

YOUR JOB is to understand what works at your gym,.. and then fill that need. THEN you can branch out a bit (aka step outside the box) and see what else works.

Enjoy the challenge,... LISTEN,... WATCH,... OBSERVE,... as the ridership is typically trying to tell you something,....

Hope some of this helps.
Yours in Spinning,....
SPARKY

At the club where I teach, all of the members in my class wanted a 1 hour ride. So I do an hour. I like it better.

[AC]

The length of the class is determined by the management of the facility, not what's in your manual.

[jcharry]

Some of my riders want to ride longer, some shorter, some earlier, some later, and so on and so on and so on . . .

I teach back-to-back classes on Sunday mornings, so I've told my riders that they're welcome to come in for a 2 hour over-distance ride any time they would like and that I'll keep music on between the classes for them and sign them up for the second class. Sometimes people will continue to ride through the cool down, and sometimes people will leave early. I have the flexibility to offer those choices to them because there are no other demands on the room or my time. My ride from warm-up to the start of cool down is 45 minutes with about 10-15 minutes for cool down and stretching.

Management posts that the classes run for 40 minutes, but unless there are time constraints on the room, instructors are free to teach longer classes if they want to and riders are free to leave early if they need to.

[labo]

I find it interesting that with the proliferation and popularity of the 'Curves' type workout (now followed but a men's version called Cuts..hehehe) that promote quick in/out sessions with effective workouts we are still debating the efficacy of a 40 minute class....

[EastSpin]

I teach and hour slot, with a 45 minute ride. From the beginning of the warm up to the beginning of the cool down is 45 minutes. Withy stretch, set up ect it is an hour class. As for Curves, I just read a great article from Cedric Brown (ACE) about the effectiveness of a 30 minute workout, and bottom line..you will get results going from sedentary to Curves, but thats it, 30 minute workouts coma and go every few years. most curves owners will be taking a beating over the next 5 years..it's all cycles (remember Ballys and Holiday Spa) that HAD HUGE 30 minute programs..today, not so much.

[zoepup]

I agree 100%. I started by teaching 1 hour classes. I always thought it would be easier to put a profile together for a 40 minute ride since you usually would need less music. Now I do a mix of 1 hour and 40 minute rides and have found the 40 miunte rides just as challenging to put music together for because there is no 'slack' time. If that makes sense.

Z


PartyDrummer:

3 years of teaching experience at 3 different clubs gave me the following generally accepted understanding with respect to duration of a ride.

In my opinion, a 45 minute ride is a "minimum" that includes a 4 to 5 minute warm-up,... a "easy" flat ride home (3 mins) and the stretching at the end (4-5 mins). All the activity between the beginning and the end is up to you. Most riders I have come in contact with consider the 45 duration a "quickie" and, generally speaking, most prefer the 1 hour ride. Our gym offers both so there is some variety and accomodation of ridership needs. Putting a profile together for a 45 minute ride typically means to me that the middle part is a tad more intense than a 1 hour ride. It's a tighter ride,. where there is no "slop" in the middle for coasting. Regardless, see what works best for your situation. Seems most (if not all !) gyms have a unique culture and what works well in one may not work well in another. I teach both the 45 minute and 1 hour classes. Again, for me a 40 minute ride is too short.

YOUR JOB is to understand what works at your gym,.. and then fill that need. THEN you can branch out a bit (aka step outside the box) and see what else works.

Enjoy the challenge,... LISTEN,... WATCH,... OBSERVE,... as the ridership is typically trying to tell you something,....

Hope some of this helps.
Yours in Spinning,....
SPARKY

[zoepup]

I teach and hour slot, with a 45 minute ride. From the beginning of the warm up to the beginning of the cool down is 45 minutes. Withy stretch, set up ect it is an hour class. As for Curves, I just read a great article from Cedric Brown (ACE) about the effectiveness of a 30 minute workout, and bottom line..you will get results going from sedentary to Curves, but thats it, 30 minute workouts coma and go every few years. most curves owners will be taking a beating over the next 5 years..it's all cycles (remember Ballys and Holiday Spa) that HAD HUGE 30 minute programs..today, not so much.

A sucker is born every minute... While great for those in sedentary lifestyles wanting to get some form of workout, I think curves will be a flash in the pan. Typically these type of people either wont stay with it or want to move on to bigger and better things.

Z

[MsSpin]

A most interesting post. I teach at a large chain of clubs on the east coast and, although the parent company defined the cycling classes as 45 minutes, those of us instructors at a specific club typically ignored it and had 1 hr classes. My classes were about 50 minutes from the beginning of the warm up to the beginning of the cool down. The members had been used to the 1 hr format for years.

Recently, a mandate came through that said all cycling classes had to be 45 minutes. When this was announced, the membership went ballistic. Many complaints were logged and one woman wanted to alert the media (there is a local reporter who does consumer type reports at the noon news show and this particular member wanted to contact her--I am NOT making this up).

To add to the problem, the group exercise coordinator was saying 45 minute classes and the general manager of this paritcular club was saying "Teach whatever you want." Boy, talk about contradiction.

For the moment, some people, like myself, are teaching a 45 minute cardio (from the beginning of the warm up to the beginning of the cool down), while other instructors went back to the 1 hr format. I really think that if the membership had started with 45 minute classes, they would find a 1 hr class more challenging.

I can't wait to hear the next mandate.

[Ron]

I really think that if the membership had started with 45 minute classes, they would find a 1 hr class more challenging.

Would you agree that that would be the case as long as they rode at the same intensity? I find that most will lower their intensity to allow for the longer ride. Which has a purpose in training, but do we really want to sell the general population that we need them in class longer when 40 minutes will suffice for the average joe?

I'm just thinking in terms of marketing a class. What sounds more appealing? 40 minutes or 1 hour? If either will get the job done. And again, I'm referring to the general population.

[Todd S]

I thought I heard somewhere that this is what lead MDA to trademark, copywrite, or whatever the '40 minute class'.

http://www.acsm.org/pdf/Guidelines.pdf

Sound familiar?

[Ron]

I realize that this is not the Spinning forum, but here is the post that Todd is remembering if anyone cares to read it:

The 40-Minute Spinning Ride – Johnny’s Response
Posted on the Spinning forum on 10-26-00 by Lucinda

Based on the discussion generated from the "40 minute class" posts, Johnny has asked me to share the following information with you. Please note, this information can be found in the November 1999 Blackboard. Please note. I also stand corrected with my first post on the topic. There are several reasons why a 40-minute ride has been the foundation of the Spinning program since its inception. First, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends 30 minutes, three times per week for cardiovascular fitness. The ACSM Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 6th Ed. states, " ...exercising at 70-85% HR max or 60-80% HRR [heart rate reserve] for 20-30 minutes, excluding time spent warming up and cooling down, enables most individuals to achieve health, fitness, and weight management goals." The Spinning program fits nicely within these parameters with the five-minute warm-up and five minute cool down.

Secondly, after 40-minutes, riders need to replenish water and calories to prevent cramping and dehydration. The 40-minute format is safe and effective and should be observed as a standard by all facilities and instructors.

In the case where you have students who wish to train for outdoor events, we suggest back-to-back 40-minute (over distance training) classes along with outdoor training on the bike.

Although we would like for life to be "black and white", we are faced with the reality that there are hues of gray in between. As such, for those facilities and instructors who find themselves in a timeslot that is longer than 40 minutes, here are a few tips to help you with the legal side of the 40-minute debate.

1) 40 minutes = ride or a training session

2) More than 40 min. = journey

3) If format for session is longer than 40-minutes, at the 40-minute timeline inform the class that the training session for a Spinning ride has ended. In this way the students have the option of either staying for the rest of the "journey" or leaving because their training session is complete. **Please note they should be instructed to stretch once leaving the Spinning area.

In all phases of the manual the Spinning man logo is found at the beginning and end of each profile. As stated on page 1.42 in the SIM, this indicates that we all need to start in the same place. Hence, if you have students who enter the Spinning area early and begin their warm up, it may be a good idea to have everyone start the class in a non-pedaling position so as to bring the group together, and then proceed with the session.

A small note on the warm up and cool down. These terms mean different things to different instructors. As per the ACSM guidelines, a "warm-up facilitates the transition from rest to exercise, stretches postural muscles, augments blood flow, and increases the metabolic rate from the resting level (1 MET) to the aerobic requirements for endurance training." A "cool down period provides a gradual recovery from the endurance/[work] phase and includes exercises of diminishing intensities".

In summary: A 40 minute session in the Spinning program consists of 5 minute warm up, 30 minute ride, 5 minute cool down.

For longer duration sessions, provide students with the option to take back-to-back 40-minute sessions.

Training sessions of duration in excess of 40 minutes are JOURNEYS and should inform students at the 40- minute mark when the training session has been completed.

If you have been informed differently from the above, I apologize for the miscommunication. Sometimes when a program grows it takes a little bit of time for everyone to be on the same page.