indoor cycling

Indoor cycling classes make for lovely gams, this is true. But with cycling shoes on your feet, the ones that clip into the pedals, you will be toning your muscles much more effectively. Rather than overworking your quads by mashing the pedals downward to make the crank move, when you're "clipped in," you can make a smooth circular stroke that activates your hamstring, too. Pulling up with your heel at the back part of your pedal stroke utilizes the power of your hamstring — I for one am always trying to figure out new ways to work my backside. When you work the entire leg, you bike stronger and more efficiently, too, so you tire later and can really kick out the jams throughout your sweat session.

Another feature of cycling shoes is the stiff sole, which decreases the chances of your feet bugging you in class by going numb or developing hot spots. The stiff shoe also ensures that the power you put in to pedal moves the pedal rather than flexing the shoe. Cycling geeks like to wax poetic about the "power transfer," but when you're in standing sprint, rocking out to the latest Rihanna remix, you want your pedaling to move the crank, not bend your shoe.

If you're looking into purchasing a pair of kicks dedicated to your spinning obsession, look for mountain biking shoes with SPD cleats for two reasons: most spin bikes are equipped with pedals to fit this cleat style, and the shoes are much easier to walk around in than road bike shoes that tend to have very big, slippery plastic cleats. The Women's Spirita Touring Shoe ($90) by Specialized has a great stiff, nonslip sole for easy walking to and from the cycling studio. Cycling shoes may seem like a big investment, but in my experience each pair lasts for many seasons, unlike running shoes, which I find need to be replaced every 300 to 400 miles.

Indoor cycling offers an hour of sweaty cardio goodness. Your legs power this workout, so it’s best to stretch those tired muscles as soon as you hop off your stationary bike. In fact, that stable bike makes for a great stretching partner.

If you only have two minutes to spare on flexibility training, you should focus on your hamstrings and quads. Start with your hamstrings by resting one heel on the crook of the bike and leaning forward with a flat back, doing this basic hamstring stretch. And if you’re super flexible, you can put your foot on the bike seat. Next, you want to stretch your quads by bringing one heel to your bum, like this to stretch the front of your thigh. Squeeze your glutes and bend your standing knee to increase the stretch, and do hold onto that heavy, stable bike for balance. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds.

If you have a bit more time, you should stretch your glutes. Using the bike, you can do this variation of the ultimate booty stretch from yoga — pigeon pose. Moving down the legs, next on the list is your calves. You can stretch them on the bike by bringing the pedals parallel to the ground (one forward and one back), and dropping your heels to lengthen the muscles on the back of the lower leg (be sure to do this stretch once with the right leg forward and once with the left). Or off the bike, flex your foot placing the toes on the base of the bike keeping your heel on the ground similar to the "kiss the wall" stretch. Lean forward to stretch your calf.

I still have a few more stretches to recommend, so keep on reading.

Winter rain and snow means it is indoor cycling season: I'm talking about spinning. Equinox has filled its Cycling Studio with new spin bikes by Schwinn. The bikes are pretty dang sweet.

I rode one during 45 minutes of Sports Cycling, and the ride was smooth and comfy with so many different hand grips available — the handlebars are tilted for ergonomic placement. The tension on the fly wheel is created by magnets too, ensuring that all the bikes in the room create the same tension across the board. Best of all the bikes have console computers, which not only work with most heart rate monitors, but also measure miles per hour, cadence, distance, and watts. The pedals have cages, if you don't have cycling shoes, and the pedals are compatible with road bike cleats as well as mountain bike cleats — very versatile.

These indoor cycling bikes will arrive at Equinox gyms starting now throughout early Winter. They are exclusively at Equinox for the time being, but these bikes can only spell upgrades for most gyms. Tell me, do you spin?