Re: what about spinning?

[Guest guest]

> I have used recumbant stationary bike at high resistance and seems

to have helped a lot in developing muscle. Now i am thinking of

going back to spinning (i used to do it a couple of years ago)

>

> has any one experience with this or any suggestions on this

> tx for your response

> vrishab

>

Spinning is the best thing I've ever done for my knee. I've been

doing it for 4 years, mostly Cycle Reebok classes. When I first

started I was not able to stand when pedalling on resistance levels

higher that a 4 or 5 (scale of 1-10). After a couple months of

classes 3x a week I was able to stand at resistance level 5 for as

long as the class was doing. A few months later I could do 6, and

eventually 7 or 8 if I wanted. Good spin instructors should warn

people with bad knees not to stand on high resistance levels unless

you can do so without pain or discomfort. So, for everyone with

Chrondromalacia, when starting out be careful whenever the

instructor calls out for everyone to stand and let comfort be your

guide.

Another thing I had difficulty with for the first 6-9 months of

spinning classes was when you are standing and pedalling and the

instructor tells you to " freeze, " i.e., keep your upper body still

and not bounce. This is one fantastic quad exercise and is really

hard to do (it'll get your heart rate up!), but--again--do not

attempt it until you have been spinning for a while and know that

you can do it without pain or discomfort. The best instructors at my

club would have people " freeze " for 30 or 60 seconds (or more, if

you could do it!) a couple times in each class, and this really

helped me build my VMO.

As stated in a previous note, I pretty much avoid leg extensions

because I cannot do them without pain, but I can do leg presses and

spinning. My " bad " knee knee is the best it has been *in my entire

life* and I am 42 years old. I have not been doing it as much lately

because I moved to a new city, and my new health club does not have

very good spinning instructors or bikes. I'm going to look into

classes at another club soon.

If you do start spinning, be sure to get cycling shoes with SPD

clips. Otherwise you might be working the wrong muscles. I waited

about 6 months before buying cycling shoes, and then realized that I

had been pointing my toes outwards on the pedals which does not help

your VMO very much.

Last, do take a heart rate monitor with you if you have one. Many

instructors require them.

Cheers,

[Guest guest]

> I have used recumbant stationary bike at high resistance and seems

to have helped a lot in developing muscle. Now i am thinking of

going back to spinning (i used to do it a couple of years ago)

>

> has any one experience with this or any suggestions on this

> tx for your response

> vrishabons of this message have been removed]

I submitted a long post about 10 minutes ago, and it has not shown

up yet. I'll wait a bit and then retype it if it does not show up.

Just want to add, too, that with spinning, as with all exercises, it

is really important to stretch well after your workout, especially

the Iliotibial Band (ITB). That is the band of tendons in your outer

thigh that tend to pull your patella out of alignment. I read once

that one reason so many women have chrondromalacia is that our

pelvises have evolved to become wider for bigger, healthier babies,

but our hip/knee alignment did not evolve with them to keep our

patellas tracking properly.