The Biggest Mistakes New Indoor Cyclists Make

My spin bike is one of those purchases that seemed frivolous at the time, but has become one of my favorite trainers. I use it for light cardio, for intense sprints, and just to get my body moving on rest days when it’s too rainy or cold for a pleasant walk. But there are certain pitfalls to indoor cycling when you are a beginner. Here’s how to get around beginner’s mistakes and get comfortable in the saddle.

The situation with shoes / boots scares

If you were going to just hop on a bike in your running shoes, I’ll stop you right there. While pedaling this way for the first time or two is fine, buying real cycling shoes can seriously pay off.

At the bottom of cycling shoes there are studs that snap onto special bike pedals. Your bike could have gone this route, or maybe you have a simple bike with flat pedals. Do yourself a favor and find out what pedals you have, or pick a few. (SPDs are common on many bikes; Peloton uses the LOOK Delta, so that’s another option.)

Then buy cycling shoes and install cleats that match your pedals. We have a guide to navigating the footwear and spike market here . It’s not that hard, I promise.

Once you install the cleats and pedal with the right shoes, you will get a lot more power out of your bike and a lot more out of your workouts.

I’m trying to do strength training on a bike.

Yes, your legs are working, and after a hard bike ride, you will feel it in your quads. But cardio doesn’t count as leg day . You still need to train your lower body if you want to be an all-around strong person. As a bonus, you’ll find that strength training helps your legs take on heavier loads without feeling stingy.

What about the upper body? Same thing: you won’t be able to do it on a bike. Yes, I know that many rotation classes have one or two songs where you swing tiny dumbbells or weights in the air. It’s better than nothing, but it’s no substitute for proper weight training. You are making your muscles tired more than you are making them stronger . Invest in a set of dumbbells that actually weigh something and do more traditional strength exercises after you jump off your bike, or consider learning to do moves like push-ups and deadlifts .

Worry about the leaderboard

Whether you attend a spinning studio class or go to a platform like Peloton, you will see that your results are ranked against others who are attending the same class. If you find it fun and motivating, great. But there are two things your brain can do to turn the leaderboard against you.

First, you may end up looking at the leaderboard as the only important metric. You will push yourself every time to move further to the top, or you will strive to break your old PRs. The problem is that training days should not be confused with competition days . Of course, from time to time arrange races or a good old race against the clock. They are fun and the challenge will do you good. But learning that actually makes you better isn’t glamorous. These are hours and hours of medium-intensity work, even low-intensity work, such as putting coins in a piggy bank. If you’re aiming for PR in every workout, you’re missing out on the type of workout that actually benefits you the most.

Another trap of the leaderboard is that you can get mad at people who have higher scores than you. Everyone who is below you on the leaderboard, you clearly beat fair and square. But someone taller than you is probably cheating, right?

Body size has a lot to do with cycling output. With more muscle mass needed to pedal and more total mass available to pedal when you’re standing, bigger people will end up higher on the leaderboard than smaller people of similar fitness. (Cyclists will talk about power per kilogram of bodyweight , but exercise bike leaderboards don’t usually make that adjustment.) There are other factors: bikes can be calibrated differently, and there are probably people who have managed to do so. somehow cheat the system.

However, none of this matters for your own training. Focus on taking the time and working to get better, and soon you’ll be enjoying those rides on your own.