What a treat today! All-around awesome spinning instructor Sally Mander has been sending me some fantastic Power Songs over the last few months, and shared a fun 60-minute workout and spinning mix with readers by posting a playlist in the comments section of the About & Contact page back in March.
Sally has such a passion for spinning and a great musical ear that I asked her to put together one of her favorite mixes to share with the Power 10 Spinning community. This is an advanced sprints and hills routine based on the general training philosophy of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).
A couple quick things…
Sally has a great tip to share with current and aspiring workout/music-mix DJs: When the 30 second sample clip on iTunes or from the Amazon MP3 store is not enough to decide whether you want to buy a song, listen to the entire song after searching for it on YouTube. Simple, practical, brilliant!
Also, if you are ever in the greater Miami, Florida-area and are looking for a good spin class (or if you want to send me your own Power Songs and spinning mixes!), leave a comment or send an email to jasonatwood [at] gmail [dot] com — I’ll forward your contact info to Sally who can let you know where and when she is teaching.
On with the ride! Take it away, Sally!
SPRINTS AND HILLS
advanced spin class
For this hour-long class, we alternate between climbing hills and sprinting on the flats. All the hill songs are approximately four/five minutes, which are split-up with three/four minutes of flat riding. We’ll be doing 3-4 sets of flat sprints per song, with each spring ranging from 30-60 seconds.
Approach the hills slow and strong, and tackle the sprints hard and fast. Be sure to take advantage of the active recovery between the sprints (e.g., grab some water, do some light stretching) — you will need it.
1. Go by Moby / 4:20
Warm-up on a decent flat gear. At 1:56 into the song the music will drop a bit—turn up the gear enough so you can get off the saddle and do a warm-up run for the rest of the song.
2. Bust Your Windows by Jazmine Sullivan / 4:30
All the hills today are about 4-5 minutes long. The music is chosen for the pace—slow. Take the hills at a gear that puts you at 60-65 RPM. This one is out of the saddle for the whole song. Practice hill form here—relaxing the upper body is key. Hang the eyelids at half mast and the body will follow. (This technique works with running as well when you need to relax.)
3. The Police vs Coldplay: Put on the Red Light [Mash-up] by DJ Lobsterdust / 4:30
Three sprints each at the chorus for about 30 seconds. First sprint is at 1:13 and done with a flat gear. At the very start of the sprints, turn-up the gear by 1/4 turn—just enough to feel a slight change. By the 3rd sprint you are almost a full turn up from your starting gear. Take the last sprint up and running!
4. African Herbsman (Remixed by Sen Dog of Cyprus Hill) by Bob Marley / 4:50
Here we are back to using our slow-twitch muscles to climb. Watch your hill form—relax the grip on the handlebars, let the energy go to your legs, keep the peddle strokes smooth. STRENGTH, BABY, STRENGTH! Work it out, get your rhythm and follow the strong beat.
5. Vertigo by U2 / 3:15
Sprints on a flat gear. Here we have 3 sprints on the chorus ranging from 20-30 seconds each. First sprint is at :38. Turn the gear up 1/4 turn at start of sprint—hit your top speed and sustain. The sprints are short, but if you turn that gear up enough, they will be worth the effort. Take the last sprint standing—you are almost a full turn higher than when you started.
6. Sympathy for the Devil (The Neptunes remix) (Radio edit) by The Rolling Stones / 4:05
Another steep hill to conquer. Keep it steady and challenge yourself with the gear. See what you can handle!
7. Hot N Cold by Katy Perry / 3:40
Here we are at sprints again… Three sets of sprints at the chorus, first one is at :31. Don’t forget to turn up that gear at the start of the sprint… By the last sprint the gear is heavy enough so you can take it up and running. GO FOR IT!!! DIG DEEP!!! DON’T FADE OUT—KEEP IT STRONG. It’s worth it, trust me.
8. Mama Ararira by Afro Celt Sound System / 3:40
Oh it hurts! This is a slow grinding 12% grade hill. Stare it down, turn that gear up and find the level that challenges you to you to the core. This is our shortest hill today, but our slowest. Nail it!
9. Move your Ass by Scooter / 3:40
The name says it all… Fast and furious – four (!) sprints at top speed. Let the music guide you—first sprint starts right away at :13. GO! GO! GO! MOVE YOUR ASS!!!
10. Love Lockdown by Kayne West / 4:30
We are now heading towards the finish line and this is where the going gets tough … SPRINTS ON A HILL!!!! Take this hill as a seated climb with a strong and powerful gear. On the chorus, you are going to jump out of the saddle and try to sprint through the gear in position 3. First sprint at :55. The first two sprints are only 15 seconds. Sounds easy? Not if the gear is heavy! 15 seconds seems like eternity. For sprint #3, dial BACK the gear about half-a-turn because this sprint is 65 seconds!! This brings me to my knees every time. Can I do it? Yes I can.
11. Sandstorm by Darude / 7:30
Excellent sprinting song—two sprints, each for a minute (+/-) on a medium gear at your top speed. This is it! The finish line is up ahead… Dig deep and give it everything you have. Relax the face, loosen the grip, channel all the energy to your legs. The first sprint comes at 2:45. Use that time as active recovery. Gather in all your energy, find that runner’s high and work it.
You Made it to the finish Line. Raise your arms up for victory!
12. Sleepy Lagoon by Alfred Alpaka / 3:05
This is the loveliest and corniest Hawaiian Music—I love it. Use it as a cooldown. After all that hard work, you deserve a trip to Hawaii (Kona?)
13. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) by Shawn Colvin / 4:01
Great cover of a great Talking Heads song.
Thanks to Sally for leading us on a great ride! And again, consider this an open-call for Power Songs and spinning mixes/workouts… Leave a comment or email me with your favorite tunes.
Power 10 Spinning!
J.R. Atwood
5 Comments
Oh I am so flattered to be on your website!!
I used this workout today–BUT of course I tweaked it a bit.
I kept the format the same—4 minute hills alternating with 4 minute sets of sprints. However–I chose only songs that had 3 sprints with the last sprint the longest. We took that last sprint standing/running—and we did not sit down at the end, instead we seamlessly changed gears to climb the next song.
ON every hill we sprinted uphill for the last 45 seconds–before that sprint (about 1 minute 30seconds from the end) we drop to seated climb turn Up the gear for 30 seconds–then take off that extra gear and sprint for final 45 seconds on hill gear!!!whoah!
The last hill was long –8:33. S
during that hill at the 6:40-7:45 mark we sat–added 2 or more turns and did seated climb..at the end of that minute we returned to previous gear–jumped up and sprinted to end of song (@1 minute) on that hill gear!
Right before we tackle that last long hill–I give the class a breather–I play 2001:space Oddity for a minute
the finale of the class–William Tell overture –in honor of Kentucky Derby—rolling sprints on a flat for 3 minutes.
Here is the Playlist from today (almost the same as above..)
1) Go by Moby
2) Bust Your Windows by Jazmine
3)Put on the RedLight Mash-3sprint
4)Flower by Moby
5)Poker Face by Lady GaGa -3 sprints
6)Right Now by Akon
7)beautiful day by U2-3sprints
8)why does my heart feel by Moby
9)sandstorm by darude(3:45)-2sprint
10)2001:space oddity–CATCH YOUR BREATH
11)WOn’t Get Fooled Again by The Who
12)William Tell Overture–rolling sprints
To expand on Sally’s comments, a bit…
The best spinning instructors are those who — no matter how much time and effort was invested making a workout/mix — are able to adapt to the needs, atmosphere, and energy of the class. Sometimes a Power 10 just isn’t the right thing to do, even though that’s the cue in the workout; sometimes a standing charge might be more interesting than a seated climb.
These workouts are to serve as rough guides; they are not instructions carved in stone. If I were to use this mix in three different classes within a week, I can promise you that I would lead three very different classes… The time of day, the size of the class, the level of experience among your members, the length of the class — all of these are variables that dramatically influence how we teach.
The takeaway: Have an idea of the kind of workout you want to do, and a very thorough, deliberate idea… But don’t be dogmatically committed to it. Have fun, be spontaneous, and go with the flow of the class.
Thanks again, Sally!
Where is the RSS feed button so I can subscribe to the posts and comments for this blog? These look like some great routines and playlists and I’m going to try many of them!
Hi Vic_toria,
I just added an RSS feed button to the site after reading your comment… If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll see “RSS Links” at the top of the right-hand side-bar.
I really like your blog, too! Interesting research about the effect of going public with one’s stated goals.
Cheers!
J.R.
I love the spinning blogs