Spinning 101

I finally went to my first spinning class at the gym this morning. I picked up the group fitness schedule a couple weeks ago and marked today's class as the one I would join. I knew nobody, and the only thing I knew about the instructor was that his name is Rich. I hadn't sat on a stationary bike at the club yet, so I wanted to arrive early to figure out how to adjust everything and, more importantly, get a bike. The desk personnel told me that nearly every class has been packed, and that they had to turn people away more than once.

The class started at 5:30 AM, but I showed up at 4:55.

It was officially the earliest I had awoke since my son wasn't sleeping through the night, but getting out of bed was surprisingly easy. I didn't even get to bed until well after 11 PM either. It may have been that I've been psyching myself up over the class way too much. I'm not sure, but either way, as I type this, I'm still wide awake, and feeling good.

After walking through the main aerobic studio, past a middle-aged man performing martial arts in sweatpants and a polo shirt in front of the mirrored wall and exhaling very forcefully with every "strike," I opened the door to the spinning studio to find two other early risers. Both greeted me, even while warming up. Very welcoming and friendly so far.

From talking with friends that attend a class at a different club regularly, I knew that my mountain bike shoes with plain old SPD cleats would work with their pedal system. I was tempted to just wear my running shoes, but after trying a few pedal strokes, my shoes were way too soft, and I was sure that my feet would be really sore by the end of class. I dialed in the bike adjustments to shadow my road bike as best I could, and I actually think I got pretty close. I may have even discovered that I like my seat a little higher after trying a couple different comfortable heights.

I did my own light spinning while practicing changing the resistance and tried to relax a little from my new environment anxiety.

Soon, who I assumed was the instructor walked in and pulled a bike to the center of the room. The bikes were arranged in a semi-circle around the front and center of the room, with the sound system against the front wall. The instructor adjusted his bike quickly: Clink, clink, clink, and quickly grabbed a mixed CD from his bag. He is a middle-aged man, I'm guessing mid to late 50's, probably around 5'7" and around 150 pounds. He had a hat on and a very bright smile. He knew the other two cyclists on the other side of the room, and they began discussing a class they had last night.

Soon, there were about 10 of us all spinning slowly and going through our own warm-up routines. Not many people were talking, but almost everyone said hello as others strolled in.

Before I knew it, the room was packed, and every bike had a rider. The instructor hopped on his bike, turned on his mic, and started spinning crazily. I didn't see anyone copy his cadence, but he was cruising. He began guiding us through a very fast workout, probably 5 minutes total. Had I not showed up early, I probably wouldn't have warmed up entirely before starting the actual workout, but he probably took into account the fact that almost everyone there had been pedaling for 5 to 10 minutes already.

As we end the warm-up, Rich mentions that he is going to switch up his routine from the last couple weeks, and I hear a couple Uh oh's from behind me. I have no idea what this means, or the effect it's going to have on me, but I take their word that they have been showing up for the last couple weeks and are familiar with Rich's classes.

As luck would have it, being my very first group spinning class and all, Rich goes on to explain that he's going to throw a random hill climb workout at us today, with no warning of "hills" as we "approach" them.

He wasn't kidding either.

Something that I wasn't used to, nor good at on the real road, is standing and mashing the pedals. Well, instead of the typical interval workout that I've been doing in my basement, Rich's intervals consisted of alternating sitting and standing at a resistance where you are able to stand and pedal, but still be able to keep the cadence up. He called it jogging, but it felt more like a stair climb.

What I found most difficult about it was the fact that, unlike standing out of the saddle on the road bike, you can't pull the bike back and forth with your body, allowing you to keep your weight centered. On the stationary, you have to exert quite a bit of upper body strength to balance yourself while churning out the hills. I'm pretty sure my core muscles will be more sore than anything else due to this; not that it's a bad thing!

We did do a hill climb that was long and steady where we alternated sitting and standing with a higher cadence, also known as my preferred method for climbing.

Rich ended the workout rather abruptly, but gave everyone the option to keep going on their own cool down. Because he sprinted us to the finish, I needed to take a few minutes to wind down the heart rate. Most people just stopped and did a quick stretch. A few just hopped off and walked out without wiping down the bike or anything. Mental note for wiping everything down next week.

I felt that the workout was quite similar to being on the road, something that I was concerned about heading into it. The club posted a video of another class to get a glimpse of what goes on, and it seemed more like an aerobic class than a cycling class, pedaling to beats and yelling and counting. I won't discount that type of workout yet, as I haven't done it, but I do picture myself liking Rich's format a little more.

Another positive: just having someone tell you to do something that burns makes a big difference in how hard you push yourself. I knew this before. Really I did. But I thought I was able to push myself hard enough at home by myself. I'd feel the burn, go a little harder, then a little longer, then recover. But Rich, oh man. I was burning 5 minutes into the ride, and then he made us go harder. It was great. He even put mental images in our head of chasing down the leader of the pack in a group and racing to the next telephone pole up the hill; things that can be parlayed out onto the road quite easily.

I'm already looking forward to next week, and am actually tempted to grab a class early Saturday morning. But I think I'll pass this week to let my body soak it in a little more.

I also need to see how I feel tomorrow morning; the true litmus test of physical ability.