If you go to spin class long enough or are a spin instructor you will eventually hear all the following bellowed out at one time or another: "Sprints" ~ "Breakaways" ~ "Attacks" ~"Surges" and "Pushes" - these terms are integral to ride design and communication with Riders and all fundamentally represent periods of much higher intensity (RPE's), and my overall rule is that the more intense the effort, the shorter the work periods should be. In my experience, ranking them from higher to lower intensity (RPE's) would be as follows:

The Sprint Drill

Cue: "load it up, go like hell, go breathless"

The sprint drill is a fast high power drill - riders should be loaded with plenty of resistance on, RPM's are brisk with fast legs (BUT no bouncing), usually standing & and bordering on near maximal effort (RPE's>7)

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The Break-away or Attack Drill

Cue: "Little more resistance.. BUT hold or increase RPM's.. effort over "X" time"... hard breathing!!!"

The break away or Attack would be a little bit below sprints in terms of effort (Watt meters help here a lot), and I usually have riders "attack/break-away" then hold an effort that's still pretty high intensity a for a longer duration. Think more intense effort over time.

A Surge or Push Drill

A surge or "push" would be a slight increase in power/effort over whatever baseline effort the class is holding at the time. Depending on the baseline effort the push could require a little or a lot of focus and could be on a flat, hill, or a true climb.

Every instructor should develop their own vocabulary to describe drills so that their classes can understand what is happening with min verbiage. Be clear and CONSISTENT. We want to use less words so that our riders are not confused on the bike trying to interpret us. Remember its a noisy place in the studio. Riders are tired. Sometimes rattled. Keep it simple. The key for Rock Star instructors is to communicate what YOU mean in a way your Riders can connect with you, the music and the drill.