The Tour de France is the greatest endurance race in the world and this July High Life Highland will be getting in on the action with the TDF indoor cycling challenge, from 6th July to 26th July your local High Life facility will be offering you the chance to SPIN To WIN. Each participating centre has a yellow jersey cycle top up for grabs and the pièce de résistance grand prize of an official Carrera TDF road bike.
If you need any more motivation to take part, here are the just some of the health benefits associated with cycling:
- Calorie burn: Indoor cycling is a top weight loss tool, an hour spinning can blast off an impressive 700 calories. It also boosts your metabolic rate which means you’re still burning fat long after the workouts finished.
- Cardiovascular fitness: Cycling strengthens your heart, lungs and vascular system by boosting the amount of oxygen pumping round the body energy and endurance improves.
- Muscle tone and strength: You will notice an improvement in strength and tone of your core, lower back, legs, thighs, rear end and hips. Peddling faster at lighter intensity enhances toning, whilst peddling slower at higher intensity builds and strengthen muscle.
- Suits all: You control the pace and intensity. Being able to choose when and by how much you increase the resistance, means you are always in full control; rest when you want, ramp it up when you’re ready. There’s no choreography or complicated moves, 3 simple positions that will come naturally. Equally suited for a serious spinner or novice exerciser this is the perfect class to match your comfort with current fitness levels.
- Low impact: Many CV activities are high impact which places pressure on joints leading to pain and injury. Spinning allows you to achieve an intense workout without the impact. It’s the perfect cross training method for other sports such as running, cycling gives the muscles a break from wear and tear of impact and works different muscle groups giving better balance and reducing run related injury.
- Low risk of injury: controlled cycling motion relives pressure on joints particularly knee and hips, the movement enables you to increase mobility in a guided manner and safe environment.
- Motivation: You will experience flats, climbs, sprints, through the class. The music will be matched to the ride profile and the instructor and other members will create an atmosphere to keep you motivated, engaged and challenged.
- Mental Fitness: Any athlete knows races can be won and lost on mental strength, spinning exercises the body and mind, physical exertion serves to relieve stress and pressure. Completing the class or challenge requires discipline and determination giving a sense of achievement and satisfaction.
Haven’t tried indoor cycling before here’s hers a few tips and what to expect.
What do I wear: Wear sports shoes and shorts or close fitting bottoms, bring towel for sweat and water for hydration.
When to arrive: Arrive in good time so the instructor can discuss any injuries or issues and show you how to set up your bike properly.
What to expect: The instructor will guide you through the workout, taking you on a journey of climbs, flats, sprints and muscle isolations. The class will be planned to music to help you match your pedal speed (cadence) to the action. The instructor will be positioned out front demonstrating the actions, telling you when to increase or decrease resistance using the tension adjuster on the bike, when to pedal faster and where to put your hands so you are in the optimal position throughout the ride. Feel free to decrease tension, ease off, sit down at any time and join in again when you have recovered.
It’s the perfect class to start you on your fitness journey, stick with it and you will be ready for your first road race in no time.
