Cycling is a great way to get a cardiovascular workout and exercise your muscles... but what do you do when you want to get a workout in the middle of winter, or on a rainy day, or when there aren't any good roads nearby? Or what if you want to improve your fitness and you want something more structured than just "riding"? That's where the Spinervals training programs come in. Ride Strong with Team Clydesdale is the first volume in the Spinervals Fitness series, and it's a great answer to all of those questions.

Fitness 1.0: Ride Strong with Team Clydesdale is a low-intensity intervals session for use with an indoor bicycle trainer or stationary exercise bike. On a scale of 1 to 10, the Fitness 1.0 program is rated 6.5, making it a solid aerobic workout but not an exhausting one: it's perfect for improving base cardiovascular fitness. The program is designed and led by experienced triathlete trainer "Coach Troy" Jacobson, and the high quality of the exercise program shines through. The 45-minute workout takes you through a series of intervals: fairly intense efforts followed by easy "soft-pedaling" rest periods. It's very well designed, with a varied sequence of different types of intervals keeping the program interesting; we get some "30 seconds on, 30 seconds off" intervals, two sets of "pyramids" (30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, then 60 seconds on, 30 seconds off, and so on), a set of "super spins" at high cadence, and four "tempo" workouts that get you standing up on the bike for part of the interval.

Coach Troy strikes just the right note of encouragement during the program. Most importantly, he always keeps you posted on what you're doing, how long you've been doing it, and how much longer until you can rest. It really helped me pace my effort as well as keep me going at the right intensity: if I hear that I only have ten... five... three, two, one! seconds left in the interval, I'll grit my teeth and keep up the effort to finish it... and feel satisfied with myself. Coach Troy does seem to have a good sense of what his students are going through, and several times he reminds viewers to take it easy and keep their effort sustainable, since this is a low-intensity workout.

It's also encouraging to watch the other cyclists who are being filmed on location for the Spinervals session. Coach Troy briefly introduces each one during the warm-up part of the program, and we get to see that these are ordinary people. These men and women are all amateur athletes, most in triathlons but some also in mountain biking, they come from a variety of professions, and they represent a range of ages and fitness levels. It's really a very approachable group to do the workout with, and it emphasizes that the Spinervals workout is a great workout for any recreational cyclist.

Fitness 1.0 is very well structured. Not only does Coach Troy provide clear instructions for each type of interval, several useful graphics are presented on-screen throughout the workout. First of all, a countdown of how much time remains in the program appears in the lower-left corner of the screen, which is useful in pacing yourself. Next, in the lower-right corner of the screen, a graphic appears indicating what gear you should be in for the correct level of effort. (Depending on your bike's gearing and your own strength, you probably won't end up sticking exactly to the suggested gears, but it's very useful as a general guide.) Lastly, a "perceived effort" bar appears at the top of the screen, showing just how hard you should be working, from 60% to 100% of your maximum effort. All of these graphics combine to help make this Spinervals workout very easy to follow.

It's always hard to stay motivated during an indoor workout, but the Fitness 1.0 program kept me focused, highly motivated, and interested throughout the full 45 minutes. At the end of the program, I had gotten an excellent low-intensity aerobic workout... and it had been satisfying and fun.

The DVD

Video

Fitness 1.0 is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and it looks perfectly fine for what it is: an exercise DVD. It's not as sharp and clear as a feature film, but who's going to notice that, when you're looking at the screen with sweat dripping into your eyes? (Hint: keep a towel handy while doing this workout, like the people in the program. I didn't, and I missed it.) The colors are clear and bright, and the print is clean: overall it looks very solid. The lettering for the on-screen graphics (the elapsed time, the gear ratios, and the perceived exertion) is always clear and readable, as it's nicely done in white letters outlined in black.

Audio

The sound here is a basic stereo mix, and it sounds fine. Coach Troy is always clear and understandable when he's speaking to the camera to give instructions or encouragement We don't always pick up his comments to the other participants, which is no big deal: you wouldn't catch all of them anyway if you were in the same room, pedaling away. The music is catchy and well balanced with Coach Troy's voice, so that we always hear what we're supposed to hear.

Extras

The DVD has no special features, per se. Popping in the DVD gets you a basic menu screen that lists all the chapters: you can select the first one to start the program from the beginning, or you can jump to any of the specific interval sequences. This is one instance in which having chapter stops is particularly useful, and is a huge step up in usability over VHS. The breaks are intelligently placed at the start of each sequence, whether it's an interval set or a rest break, so it makes the exercise program highly customizable. Feel like repeating the pyramid set, having a double helping of super-spins, or maybe just an extra 2-minute break? Go ahead!

Final thoughts

Spinervals Fitness 1.0: Ride Strong with Team Clydesdale will certainly form a part of my indoor training program from now on. It's an extremely well-designed and well-presented aerobic workout for use on a stationary trainer or exercise bike. Its high repeat viewing value is due in no small part to how customizable it is: as Coach Troy emphasizes during the program, it's up to you how much effort you put into each interval, and you can add extra rests or extra effort as desired. All in all, it's an excellent low-intensity cardiovascular workout that's suitable for any viewer who wants to get into shape on the bike for recreational cycling, or for more competitive cyclists who want a "recovery" session. Highly recommended.