Spinervals and/or equivalent?

[Grog]

I ride both on road and use a mag trainer when the weather is crap. Never had an opportunity to even see a Spinervals or equivalent training DVD but considering the idea for motivation / challenge / variety. Be interested in people's thoughts who have experience with them.
* Are they useful?
* Are they the sort of thing you can reuse multiple times without getting bored or past the challenge of the particular DVD?
* Is there any specific order to these things? - I notice there certainly are a lot of them avail.
* Spinervals or someone else's equivalent programs?
* Have they helped you?
* Will I want to throw a brick at the TV screen because of the presenter's accent and/or attitude?

Cheers, Grog

[Max]

Hiya Grog,

I use Spinervals DVDs from time to time, mostly when it's rainy or I just want a quick session. To answer your questions:

1. Yes, very. I've found Spinervals DVDs have helped my hill climbing technique.
2. I've yet to complete an entire DVD because I'm so pathetically unfit. That said, I've never become bored with the parts I've done.
3. I just bought a few that seemed relevant to me - one for hill climbing, one for general fitness, and another one whose name I can't immediately remember.
4. Spinervals, but I'm sure there are others
5. Certainly
6. In the case of Spinervals, definitely YES. The background music is like cheesy B-grade pr0n bow-chicka-wow-wow. It often obscures the presenter's voice. The presenter's voice itself is not annoying, just the music. His attitude is just fine, no complaints there.


Max

[slane]

There's also this book ..

http://www.amazon.com/Workouts-Binder-I ... 289&sr=8-2

but you have to keep track of your times and cadence and and effort yourself. I've converted a few to mp3s with voice prompts telling me what to do when, and music to tell me the cadence. Cheaper than spinervals dvds.

[Grog]

Hi Max, appreciate the info and candid response. Think I'll have to bite the bullet and just get one to see what I think.
Not sure about what "cheesy B-grade pr0n bow-chicka-wow-wow" music sounds like though......being such an innocent lad myself, of course

Hi slane, interesting looking book and an interesting approach. I'll investigate that more fully. Reviews I've seen appeared mostly positive.

Guess what I'm really looking for a decent plan of attack when using a trainer as opposed to just pedaling my tail off.
Thanks guys - Grog

[slane]

There's 3 workouts for trainers here with video footage of races. Haven't tried them yet.
http://www.thesufferfest.com/?page_id=293