Spinervals Competition 8.0 - Recovery & Technique

I won't go over the set since Lisa did such a wonderful job.

The video does technique work well. My biggest strength is my strength, so I tend to not do as well on the high cadance sets. Additionally, the one legged sets in this video (compared to 23.0) are also done at a higher cadance in a lighter gear, which hits my weakness again. However, I usually don't have a problem staying within the proper gear while maintaining the proper cadance and heart rate. I do get close to my aerobic threshold, though.

The music is a pretty bad wannabe jazz soundtrack. Wannabe Jazz King, Kenny G, would even be disappointed with how corny it is. With that said, the unintentional comedy that the music adds to the spinerval videos always makes them easier for me to do. Due to the "relaxing" modes of this video, the music is especially bad.

The athletes in the video are a good mix of professionals and amature athlethes, but all are at pretty good fitness levels. However, there is a much higher ratio of facial hair in this video. If you enjoy looking at a man with a good stache while working out, then get this video.

Even if you don't care about excellent facial hair this is still a video that's worth getting. I use this at least once a week during the winter to focus on my weaknesses and stay amused by the unintentional comedy. I mean motivated to work out.

Length: 45 minutes

Difficulty Rating: 7.5

Type: Technique

The format of this workout:

~ 8 minute warm-up - including standard 3x30 in BR/15

~ 5 x 1 minute 1-leg drill (30 seconds each) BR/23

~ 2 minute easy spin

~ 10 x 1 minute Super spin (cadence >120) with 30 seconds rest (SR/15-SR/23)

~ 1 minute easy spin

~ 3 x 1 minute 1-leg drill (30 seconds each) SR/15

~ 1+ minute easy spin

~ 3 x 30 seconds spin-ups (increase cadence every 10 seconds) with 30 seconds rest SR/18,SR/23,SR/23

~ 5 minute cool-down

This is a workout for easy days, and also to allow you to work on your technique. Sometimes technique workouts are hard for me to keep "easy" because my heart rate goes high when I do very high cadence, and sometimes (or maybe often) my legs get tired when I do the 1-leg drills. So, I usually have to adjust the gears when I do this type of workout, but I do feel they are valuable to me.

Since this doesn't have the intensity of other Spinervals, it doesn't have the same fun factor, but it is a good workout and doesn't bore me. The fact that the sets are fairly short helps keep it interesting. The music is boring on this, and since it is an earlier Spinervals, you can't turn it off and use your own. On the super intense workouts, this doesn't bother me, but on this one, I really wish I could choose my own tunes.