When I first heard about hydrobike classes I will admit to scratching my head. A bike .. in the water? I could neither envision it nor understand how that would work.
Let’s fast forward a bit. I love fitness trainings and I love to teach so, when presented the opportunity to learn how to teach hydrobike classes I decided to attend.
What is a hydrobike class like? I am sure that there is a formal description but I’ll give you my two cents. It’s not indoor cycling and it’s not aqua aerobics. It’s almost as if the two had a baby and the child was an evolved hybrid of sorts .. 🙂
After the training was over with, while I knew the gist of how to teach the class I was still a bit nervous .. I just could not wrap my brain around it. So, I opted to attend a class while a fellow instructor was teaching in order to see a full class taught. That helped .. so much .. although the class was ‘full’ so instead of riding a bike I jogged in the pool and observed the class.
Ok .. I was finally ready to teach it.
Officially being in the teaching rotation my first class time happened. I walked in prepared start to finish. Everyone was set up, we got the bikes into the pool (something about throwing the bikes into the pool is very therapeutic .. heh), I hopped on, and we started to warm up.
After the warm up we started right into the meat of the workout. And … about a minute later I realized this …
Hydrobike is no joke.
I was seriously winded and fighting the water. It was uncomfortable, challenging, and energetic. I never feel like I conquer the spin / indoor cycling bike but I have a grasp on my workouts when I am on them.
So .. how does it work?
The hydrobike has no resistance knob on it, so you never change the tension to find hills, or flats. The resistance is controlled by the rate at which you pedal. Faster legs = more tension. So when I went all out on that first song, the water fought me back, big time.
A bonus to the scenario is this .. you’re working in water so, when cycling was low impact, this is even lower impact.
Like any class you control the workout. You change speed, change positions, and, something new, can incorporate water weights / upper body movements into the equation. You can even change your body position relative to the bike to alter the workout.
Note: As a spinning instructor I had a hard time grasping the things that are considered big “NOs” in spin .. but I kept / keep reminding myself that this in not spinning .. 🙂
After teaching it a few times I can definitely say that it’s been a positive addition to my teaching regimen. It’s a different workout for the legs and change is always good for avoiding those dreaded fitness plateaus. I highly recommend people trying it, if the opportunity is there.
What do you need for class?
- Bathing suit (a one piece bathing suit) OR just wear a tank top / shirt and shorts
- If you wear a tank top / shirt and shorts you’ll want them to be form fitting otherwise they’ll drag with the weight of the water.
- Most people seem to wear tanks and shorts .. I wear a bathing suit and shorts about half the time. The other times it is a tank top and shorts.
- Shoes that you can wear in the pool
- You’ll actually strap into the pedals, like you do in regular indoor cycling classes so you need shoes. Water shoes, old shoes, .. something that you don’t mind getting wet. If you do it barefoot you may miss some of the benefits of the workout.
- Water bottle
- Towel .. to dry off with 🙂
Some people may need other items (ear plugs, etc) but those are at least the basics to get you through class.
I hope this helps and I really hope that you try it out!
Thanks for reading!
Feel free to follow me on social media!
Finding Fitness 