Perhaps you remember Master Cycling Instructor Jennifer Sage, whose high-powered instructional manual about spinning and indoor cycling, called “Keep It Real”, was reviewed on this very website, in the post “Why You’re Not Losing Any Weight in Your Indoor Cycling Class”.
Today Jennifer is back, and she’s on a mission to clean up spinning and indoor cycling around the world…
You see, there are many, many things that happen during indoor spinning classes that people simply should not be doing – spinning moves that can be very dangerous for knees and backs, indoor cycling styles that can be ineffective for weight loss and fitness, and a general lack of good knowledge among certified spinning or fitness instructors about how to actually teach the spinning or indoor cycling class.
Jennifer appears to be quite fed up about these problems, and so she starts her post today by featuring these two YouTube videos…which show some big mistakes made by indoor cycling instructors…
So here’s what Jennifer Sage has to say…
“Don’t think this stuff happens out there? It not only happens, it’s actually prevalent in some places! Sorry, I have to take off my normal diplomatic hat and get downright indignant here. The contraindicated stuff just won’t go away, and as such, I just can’t/won’t shut up! The shananigans in these Youtube videos are not only contraindicated, they’re just plain stupid.
I mean, isn’t a properly conducted Spinning, or any indoor cycle class, hard enough without goofy moves that take away from actually riding the bike? And this class in the first video is only doing some of the most egregious moves; perhaps it saves the others for the next song, the hovers, squats, & isolations. The second video, I’ll leave you to comment (er, gag) on the “Spingasm” hovers, gyrations, hip thrusts and backbends of Angela’s Joyride.
I’m slightly relieved to see that these aren’t real “Spinner” bikes and is not my beloved “Spinning” program. But that doesn’t make it OK or give it credibility. There is not a single indoor cycling program certification worth its salt that condones these outrageous types of class formats. It is bad to a ridiculous degree.
These are instructors who are not certified and/or they are making up stuff because they don’t know how to ride a bike and they think their students need to be entertained by erroneous fluff. They don’t trust that their students are smart enough to know the difference (or maybe, dare I say it, their students aren’t smart enough to know when something hurts it’s not good for you). These instructors feel that every one of their students has a bad case of ADD and cannot sit for more than 15, 30 or even 60 seconds and just pedal a bike correctly, without having to flap their arms.
They probably watch The Biggest Loser and get their class ideas from Jillian. They don’t understand physiology, biomechanics, or the mechanics of pedaling a bike (even if it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s still a bike)!
Common sense would preclude this from taking place, but we’ve all heard that common sense isn’t very common anymore…
Tell me, who will pay for the dental work for that woman in the back when she slams her face into the handlebars in the first video? Or the chiropractor visits many of these students will need over time, from either of these classes? Actually, maybe the students don’t have the sense to put two and two together that it was their cycle class that threw their back out (except that backbend in Angela’s joyride would be a sure culprit for most people in touch with their bodies).
It is my hope that eventually this blog post makes its way around the country until it actually reaches instructors who teach like this so they see the error of their ways. Hey, maybe it will even make it to these particular clubs. The first one is in Italy and the second in Los Angeles not far at all from the Spin Fitness HQ (I guess only in Los Angeles would you find an orgasmic Spin experience!)
Well, maybe that’s a pipe dream that they’d suddenly convert from the dark side…Maybe we can have just a little effect and clean up indoor cycling around the country, maybe even the world!”
Wow! Strong words from Jennifer – but as an “ex-indoor spinning instructor” myself, I’d have to agree with what she has to say. The bottom line is this: make sure your spinning instructor knows how to truly make indoor cycling effective for fitness and weight loss.
Want to learn more about Jennifer and her book “Keep It Real”, a manual for indoor cycling and spinning instructors? Just click here…
Tim Gilreath LMP
I know nothing about spin classes but these two videos made me a little sick feeling. It reminds me of crappy massage or sexual massage being compared to true sports massage. Very frustrating for Jennifer I’m sure.
Jim McIntosh
I don’t know who is dumber? The “instructor” or the “students”? get them all in line though and you have a wind tunnel.
Nicolas
You know Jennifer, I never heard about you before, but I couldn’t agree more with you, I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one thinking this way. It is so obvious that these are not actually spinning instructors. But sadly you can see these kind of huge mistakes on certifyed instructors too. There’s also another issue that it’s no mentioned here, and that’s the intensity of the classes. I use to see a great % of instructors who teach every single class like if it was a race day. They don’t have the common sence to think on curves of training or even on the stimulus intensity on each exercise. Meaning, no recovery, no warmup no cooldown. Let’s be honest, a 5 minutes cooldown after an intense hard work out with sprints or even after a long climb it’s not enough to remove the lactic acid on your muscles.
Now, why is that they do that kind of mistakes?
I tend to think it’s a mix of things.
1. There’s a certain number of instructors that doesn’t care…
2. Some times instructors feel the pressure of their bosses to have their classes with no vacants and sadly, people (students) use to think that the only good class is a hard or intense class. So intructors tend to take that way of thinking too.
4. And this I think it’s te most common issue, is that some instructors just DONT know anything about training physiology. Why? and to be honest again with you, spinning program just tells you how they think a training should be but doesnt really teach you how to do it. Yeah sure it’s your responsabilty to keep going to the education courses, but in the meantime between your certification and the moment you’re actually a certified instructor you have 6months wokring and teaching classes without knowing how to apply what you’ve learned.
This of course applyes to instructors that know nothing about physiology or training. Sadly they are a huge number. I can always remember finishing the certification day and thinking, I’ve been all day there and the only thing I’ve learned is how they think you should set up the bike. The rest, on how to make a planification, how to program that planification and how to periodizate it was something I allready knew.
Sorry if my english is not that bright, you can obviously tell that english is not my mother language.
Regards!! and keep up the good work!
rachel
wowsers those videos were frightening! i teach cycling full time at equinox. actually have taken some of your classes before and they rock! keep spreading the word!! i did a tour de france ride recently inspired by you (we climbed mont ventoux)
Sue Rigler
Unbelievable that instructors would put their students at harm doing such incredibly stupid moves. Angela’s joy ride is a mess! I think she thinks she’s riding something else besides a bike! I’ve been a spin instructor for 10 years now and have always cringed at some of the moves I see done by others. If you can’t do the move on a road bike, it shouldn’t be done on a spin bike. Keep up the great job Jennifer!
Sheena B.
OMGoodness! I don’t mean no harm but these are a hot mess! I felt like crying through the 1st one and laughed through the 2nd!
Chantal Parry
I’m shocked !!!! Spinning is supposed to be outdoor cycling simulated inside, not so !?! Imagine if we did some of those moves on the road!?! We’d all land up in hospital !!!!
Marilyn
Holy toledo! I couldn’t even finish watching the second video (no orgasm for me!). As for Angela’s Joyride, I’d walk out very shortly after class started. It was all I could do to refrain from commenting on youtube. As a Spin instructor, who is considered hard but nurturing and has worked with seasoned Spinners and people who had never done spin and didn’t bike, the three hand positions and five moves are all you need for an effective, challenging, fun class. Keep it simple,keep it safe.
Jon
We were just talking about this in my spin class yesterday. Most of us all agreed that you shouldn’t do anything in spin class you wouldn’t do on your bike during a real ride.
Marshall
Jennifer is spot on with her comments. I’ve raced bikes for over 20 years, and I have yet to find a spin class where the instructor knew anything about cycling. It’s just insane what these people do, and more to the point, it’s counterproductive. I have never encountered anything like it and was astounded at how stupid and pointless the workouts were. I tried the spin classes during the winter at the local Y and gave up after trying all three instructors, because it was obvious that they all learn from each other, and not a one of them knew anything. Mostly, they seem to think that redlining your heartrate is the only game in town. And the people in the class just drink the Kool Aid. Nutso. Just give me an old school wind trainer any day!
Mike
Ok, those videos are a little retarded, but you guys are crazzy to not want a spin class to be hard all the time. These classes are there for you when you need motivation reaching you max (or 90%) heart rate during high intensity interval training. You don’t need to be in a class seting with lots of suport and encouragment in order to have a proper cool down or a recovery workout. You can do that on your own in front of a tv. I want a spin class to be hard every day of the week. That way I know what it’s going to be and if I need it I’ll use it. Your fitness is still in your own hands spin is just a tool you can use.
Karen Mc
Watching these videos made me want to cry. As a seasoned indoor cycle instructor, I find myself competing for prime class times and students against so-called instructors who perform moves similar to Angela’s. The managers of the clubs are all about filling seats and not about fitness. People who go to these classes are there for entertainment. They trust their instructor not to harm them and when they have back, hip, shoulder, knee pain they blame themselves. I get sick and tired of the pressure to compete with this garbage.