Indoor training

How to Race Cat 3 — with only two road rides per week

By Niko Triantafillou

Last winter, at an Equinox fitness club the Upper West Side, I came upon a group of people at the front desk, jockeying to sign up for a class. Some wore top-notch biking shorts or bibs; others looked like they had just rolled out of bed. These devotees had arrived an hour and half early — the ones in their PJ’s were planning to return to their nearby homes until class time — to book a bicycle for Chris Griffin’s 90-minute Sports Spin class. Arrive any later and you’ll be lucky to get on the waiting list, the front desk person said. These folks need to get out more, I thought. But that was before I experienced the class first hand.

Griffin has transformed spinning from second-class alternative to road riding to a competitive training tool. Even when the weather is fair, Griffin does the bulk of his training by teaching 12 high intensity spin classes a week at Equinox. It’s a non-traditional approach that’s earned the respect of other riders. As an active category 3 racer for a Century Road Club Association team, Griffin has won the 2000 Bear Mountain Road Race, as well as CRCA Masters Champion in 2001. At 45, the New York City native remains aggressive and intense, both on the road and indoors — among other racers, he’s known as The Animal. After a recent class, I sat down with Griffin to learn more about serious spinning.

NYVC: How did you first get into spinning?

Chris Griffin: I started teaching spinning about 10 years ago at a club in New Jersey. I was teaching high impact classes at the time. They were being phased out so I decided to get certified for spinning. I had to take on a new format and that was a good fit since I was a cyclist. I didn’t buy the concept at first but during the certification course, which I took with Mad Dogg Athletics, I realized I could improve my cycling with spinning and would enjoy teaching it.

NYVC: Were you racing at this time?

No, I started racing when I was about 20 but after about three years I got real burnt out. Then about five years ago I got seriously back into racing. I started out as a Cat 4. The first team I was with was on was a CRCA subteam Strictly Bicycles. Since 2001 I have been with Moneygram.

NYVC: You were part of the very first wave of spinning instructors 10 years ago. How has spinning evolved since then? I’ve heard that there used to be much more mind-body stuff back then with instructors lighting candles in the spinning room?

Yeah, the early classes were much more Zen. Johnny Golberg AKA Johnny G, founder of Mad Dogg Athletics, and really the pioneer of studio cycling, used to put a heavy emphasis on finding the athlete within and he still teaches that way. But spinning has gotten much more scientific now with the four different training zones: Endurance, Strength, Intervals and Race Day. That last one, Race Day, is what I teach in my classes and it’s basically a simulated race. It’s a chance for the participants to put into practice all the techniques and training they have been doing in other classes.

NYVC: You lead 12 classes a week but you prefer to teach only the Race Day style or simulated race format. Why?

There are many different styles of spinning instructors at Equinox. Some have a background in aerobics, some are recreational road riders and some are former or current racers. A lot of the other instructors give classes where members will gain the skills they need to be a good cyclist — skills like pedaling technique and learning how to gauge their own intensity. Every format has a niche to fill in this club. Some classes are more choreographed, some have a lot of cueing and some have less. The reason I like to teach a race style class is because it’s a chance for me to train and share that racing experience.

NYVC: Does spinning improve road cycling performance?

Without a doubt! I race Cat 3 and I do the majority of my training indoors. I only ride outside two times per week. Not including races.

NYVC: Are you kidding? You only do two outside rides a week?

That’s it! I have been doing it this way for years. I get a lot (13 plus hours) of high intensity training from the classes I teach. A few members of my team, all cat 3s, take my classes. As a matter of fact, a few years ago some class participants and myself went to the island of Guadeloupe on a trip run by VeloSport vacations, which is a tour company run by ex-racers. Kevin Livingston, a former US Postal and T-Mobile rider, was one of the guides and told me he taught spinning classes. I’ve also seen a photo of Lance Armstrong participating in a spin class!

NYVC: ‘The Boss’ spins too? Why do you think spinning is such an effective work out?

Three main reasons: the first is that you have the collective energy of 30 or 40 people in a full class – you have this volume of energy like riding with a group outside. Your adrenaline is pumping and people get caught up in that and push themselves. The second reason is that spinning takes place in a closed environment. It’s easy to do a consistent 80 to 120 rpm or whatever the goal is for that segment of the class for an hour straight with no freewheeling. The third major reason is that it’s easy to establish a fitness base with spinning. The class is regularly scheduled and people try not to miss too many. I can’t tell you how many people who have gotten into spinning go out and purchase a bicycle, then start racing and do well.

It increases every element in fitness: heart-rate, VO2 max, strength and endurance. And of course it helps you lose weight. On average, I burn about 700 to 1000 calories in an hour class. Someone who takes class two or three times a week — someone we would consider a beginner or intermediate spinner — burns 400 to 500 calories during an hour class.

NYVC: What advice would you have for new spinners?

Start slow, it’s easy to get too into the intensity. Overtraining is definitely a danger. You can easily over train with spinning because all the high intensity work becomes addictive after a while.

NYVC: Are your classes good for beginners?

I hate to say this, but no! [laughs]. The recovery or rest periods in my classes are not very long. I try to model them after races, remember. A beginner might not have enough time for their heart rate and muscles to recover in between elements causing fatigue early on in the class.

NYVC: Any last advice for riders who have never tried spinning?

Try it. You don’t need any coordination. There is no choreography. You don’t follow a tempo. You turn the cranks either light, moderate, or heavy. You can ratchet up the intensity as high or low as you want. The instructor gives you guidelines – but you are in control – every class can accommodate a beginner or an advanced spinner.

Thanks Chris, we’ll see you in class!

Niko Triantafillou holds a degree in exercise physiology and raced with CRCA in the late 80’s He currently works in Global Benefits for a fortune 100 company here in NYC. You can find him at: dessertbuzz.com.