I was talking to Allen Jones from Epic Planet Indoor Cycling DVDs today about my preferred length of class videos. I told him all my classes are 60 minutes long - except for my Sunday 90 minute endurance classes. I also told him my impression is that most clubs have moved away from the original 45 minute format to hour long classes.
"How do you know that?" was Allen's response. "Do you have some data that proves it?"
It was then that I realized that I didn't really know = time for a quick survey to find out.
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Host of the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast - the #1 Internet radio show for and about Spinning / Indoor Cycling Instructors and Cycling Studio owners.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
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I teach a 45 minute format for lunchtime classes, but the morning, evening, and weekend classes at my gym are all 60 minute classes. I suspect that many gyms in urban areas that get professionals coming in on their lunchbreaks will still teach 40-45 minute classes during that time period.
In addition to approxamatly twenty 60 minute rides we offer one 90 minute ride and three 30 minute Intro To Indoor Cycling (beginner) rides every week (24 rides per week). The Y has 18,000 Members and our classes average about 15 riders this time of year. We will be maxed out at 30 riders in January.
All MY classes are 60 minutes (or 55 at one facility that shares the room with other classes that are scheduled every hour on the half).
However, at one facility that I teach at that offers a lot of classes, my 60 minute classes are the rarity. Most classes are 45-50 minutes long, with the weekday noon classes being 35 minutes long.
our morning and lunchtime classes are 45 minutes, evening and Sunday classes are 55 and once per week we have a 90 minute class
I see a pattern here and my experience is not different. I teach two lunchtime classes at corporate facilities that are both 45 minutes.
When I first started taking S__n classes they were typically 45 minutes. To quote many instructors from that era, “if the class is taught right you can’t do more than 45 minutes”.
Indeed they were very high intensity classes remarkable by their short warm up, no recoveries, fanatical instructors, contraindicated moves and short cool down.
For what it is worth, I find only having 45 minutes limiting since I believe in a proper and adequate warmup as well as cool down. Still, as I move on to Indoor cycling 3.0 I strive to give them what they want in a safe sensible way.
Most classes at our facility are 45 min, with a couple of 60 min classes on the weekends.
45 min classes are commom with us for morning and lunch time slots, most evening classes would be 55 min with some 75 or 90 min. We do teach quite a number of 30 minutes in combo with core training which follows directly at the end of the cycling class.