I remember my first time like it was yesterday. Her name was Heather. I was nervous. She was patient and guiding. Could this be love?
It was Spring 2008 when I went to my very first Spin class. I was overweight, out-of-shape and looking for a good form of solid cardio with a kick to it. For years I've heard people praise Spinning as an hour (or more) of ass-kicking, calorie-burning, heart-pumping fun. It was time to check it out.
Heather was a Spin instructor at the Sweat in Queen Village (Philly). If I remember correctly, she taught class Tuesday evening and Saturday morning. I had no idea what I was getting in to, but I listened to my intuition and brought a big bottle of water and was sure to grab some towels before heading in to class. They both came in handy. I had to sign in a half-hour before class and spent those 30-minutes warming my body up a little, some light stretching, and maybe some socializing to dampen the pre-class jitters. (With the extra weight I was carrying around back then, it didn't take much to get my heart rate up.) The Sweat in QV had a pool table right outside the Spin studio which was probably my idea of a warm-up. Any who, Heather was quick to recognize a new face to the class and helped me set up the bike, go over the positions, how she ran class, etc. The next hour was a very unpleasant hour, physically, but a lot of fun. I left sore, soaked in sweat, out of breath and exhausted. My next stop was to the local bike shop to buy a pair of cycling shoes. I was hooked.
During my tenure as a Sweat Fitness member I only "cheated" on Heather once with a Spin instructor at the Manayunk location. I forget his name. But he was absolutely horrible. He floated in to class all high-and-mighty wearing a biking jersey and started talking about some road race he was signed up for. I remember not being very impressed. The next hour was a waste of time to the tune of one continuous techno song. Every once and a while he'd say, "resistance up," or "resistance down," as he sat on his bike (yeah, didn't pedal along with the class). Purposeless Spinning. The most entertaining part of that class was listening to a fellow Spinner talk about her breast implants which she got at a discount because she worked at the surgeon's office.
After leaving Sweat for The Sporting Club at The Bellevue I only dabbled with Spinning. For those who don't know the social scene of Philadelphia, let me start off by saying I didn't fit in at The Sporting Club. It's ultra posh and high-end. I'd regularly trade sweat with people like Ed Rendell and Michael Nutter. A friend (who is a native Philadelphian) asked me if they allow females to join yet (which they do) and I wasn't surprised at the question. The place reeks of an old-school, men-only sports club. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the dank training rooms in the back were once speakeasies. But I digress. The Spinning classes there were ultra-popular and required you to sign-in 45-minutes before class. And when you signed in, you signed your name to a specific bike. There was no way to peruse the class and pick a bike next to something interesting. The room was equipped with a powerful sound system and black lights; once the class started, the lights went off and the tunes went up. Had a good feel to it but I always thought the presentation was more important to them then the actual workout. I'd Spin at random times and with random instructors so I never developed a solid feel for their class. The only instructor that left me with a lasting memory was a woman named Shosanna. Her class was solid but I believe the reason she left an impression was her name and the connection I made, for the entire class, to the character in Inglourious Basterds. Kept on thinking about Col. Hans Landa screaming out, "Au revoir, Shosanna!" instead of shooting her.
Now out here in the Land of Enchantment, I go to a local chain of gyms called Defined Fitness. They're a pretty nice gym, kind of LA Fitness-ish. There's one not too far from me and it has a semi-decent pool which serves as my back-up lanes when the base pool is shut down (like on Sundays). They didn't buy into the Spinning brand so they have "Cycling Fitness" classes. Same thing, just without paying the extra money for the name. I actually like their bikes better than the Spin bikes I was used to. Not sure of the brand (like it matters) but they come equipped with a cycling computer that displays cadence, time, distance (arbitrary, in my mind) and most importantly, power! There's also a "gear" indicator so you can really hone in on what "gear" (again, arbitrary number) matches up with your "hill." My workouts are more purposeful and complete, in my opinion, with this wealth of data and information to assist me along the way.
With the cold, dark winter behind us, I'm starting to cut back on the indoor cycling classes and pick up on the outdoor road rides. Nothing compares to a nice long ride in the saddle. But when that's out of the question, I've been fortunate to have a bunch of good indoor cycling instructors here in the desert to assist in developing my fitness. Some are better than others, but the beauty of these classes is you can make-or-break your own workout, depending on how you manage it.
Regardless, no instructor will compare to my first.
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