A Tale of Two (Spin) Cities

I woke up at 5:10 AM this morning for the Spin-A-Thon!

Waking up at 5:10 is not fun. My mind was all fuzzy and I even put on my deoderant before my shirt, creating that mess of white lines all over.  I left my apartment at 5:25 and it was really the middle of the night. I got to Melanie’s at 5:45 as planned so I could drop off my huge bag o’heavy things/laundry and we headed to the New York Sports Club at Grand Central Station to meet up with Missy.

We all got to the gym at 6:00 AM — half an hour before the class begins. We wanted to be sure to get 3 bikes together and have time to get ready/set up our bikes. As I’ve mentioned, I am nutty when it comes to time and always need to do everything way ahead of time. Melanie is a lot like me and Missy probably feels pressured by us! We snagged three bikes together in a corner — and every bike had a free water bottle! That was great for me because I am always rationing my water during class so I don’t run out. I had brought 2 water bottles, so now I had 3!

Missy and me ready to spin (I love the reflections in the mirror — you can see me from 3 angles!):

 

When I spin, my hair needs to be in a bun. If any hair is poking out of the bun, it can’t be long enough to touch my face or neck. It really bothers me when I feel hair stick to sweat, or when the bottom of my hair is soaking wet and hitting my face, neck, back, etc. When I run, it can be in a ponytail. But for spin, I can only handle the bun. I also wear a sweatband during spin. When I  feel sweat dripping down my face and getting into my eyes I feel very uncomfortable.  I still have to wipe my face with a towel during class with the sweatband, but not nearly as much as I would have to without it — and it helps control the amount of sweat to deal with.

A few days ago, the guy on the bike next to me had a POOL of sweat surrounding his bike. Literally, a pool. I bet he wished he had a sweatband. Although that would have been like throwing a glass of water on a burning building.

I can only wear shorts during spin. I hate the feeling of material touching me when I am sweaty!  And I could never wear a short sleeve top, must be sleeveless for all gym exercises.

Missy and Melanie. Melanie wears lipstick to spin, as you can see.

 Missy and Melanie aren’t bothered by their hair or their pants touching their skin the way I am. Good for them!

We sat on our bikes and glided while talking and catching up. Because of our busy schedules, the three of us haven’t had time together in forever. While we were waiting for class to begin, Ashley, a reader who attended the blogger brunch last week arrived! It was really nice to know 3 people in one class since usually I am on my own.

The clock turns to 6:30. No instructor. 6:35. No instructor. Also, the room wasn’t filled up, which surprised me. Hello, people — eksusizing for charity! Give back while getting your workout done. It’s a win-win in my book.

At 6:40 someone comes in, runs up to the instructor bike and says that the 6:30 instructor never showed up! Pretty obnoxious of the no-show since we all paid to be there, and it was for a great cause! This person expalined that she was there, early, to teach the 7:30 session, so she would teach ours as well. So 10 minutes after our 6:30 session officially began, we started the ride.

I immediately liked the music, which included California Dreaming and Money (That’s What I Want). That is my kind of spin class! It reminded me of my very first spin class where they played Rolling Stones. I always want the instructors at my gym to play music more like this but they typically don’t. Which brings me to something I would like to discuss. And that is a tale of two (spin) cities.

I had taken spin a few times at previous gyms before joining The Sports Club/LA. And I took it a few times at Sports Club/LA after joining and didn’t like it (will explain in detail another time, likely in a guest post — info TK!), but as of the last few months, I have become completely addicted. I have fallen in love with spinning. I crave spinning. I always try to figure out which class I can take on what day, which class I absolutely refuse to miss, which would be okay to miss every now and again, which instructors I like best and why.

The more involved in studio cycling I become, the more curious I get about how class is at other gyms. Hence, my SoulCycle experience. I’ve wanted to go with Missy to spin but we never can find a good time.  So I was particulary interesting in seeing how the instructor would be at NYSC’s Spin-A-Thon today.

Keep in mind that this instructor is obviously not representative of ALL instructors at NYSC, just as each instructor at my gym is different than the others. But I have noticed a general trend at mine, which I will get into further down. I was curious to see how it would be somewhere else.

And keep in mind, I am a MAJOR amateur! Feel free to take in what I say, but really, what do I know? I’m just a girl who has a newfound love of studio cycling.

Differences

Instructor footwear. The first difference I noticed was that the instructor did not wear cycling shoes. Of course, it is normal in class for some people to have the shoes and some to not, but in my experience the instructor always has. Not a big deal, just an observation. Some of the instructors at my gym wear full-on cycling gear — the shorts, the shirt, everything!

Length of hills. Another difference between the classes I take at my gym and class today was the length of the hills. Today, no hill lasted longer than one song. That was new to me, since I am used to hills that span a few songs, hills that run from 6 minutes to 12 minutes to 20 or even 40 minutes long. Last night we had a 40 minute hill, and while I didn’t push myself too hard because I wanted to make sure my legs could work today, that length wasn’t unusual to me.

That said, I enjoyed the short hills. It divided the class up into such small sections that it was hard to get bored or for my legs to get tired — although legs getting tired is the purpose of the long hills, to work the muscles so hard that you build muscle and increase strength. But today was a nice change of pace with the short ones.

Jumps. A couple of instructors at my gym include some jumps, but from my experience with many classes there, most don’t seem to. I really enjoy jumps because they get my heart rate up high without feeling like I’m going to pass out from overexertion!  They’re fun and make class more interesting.

This morning there were lots of jumps, and I loved it. I really do wish the instructors in my gym would incorporate them more!

Music. As I mentioned earlier, the music was great today — varied and fun. The music at my gym tends to be more intense. Which brings me to my next difference.

Instructor background. There is a trend at my gym, as I touched upon earlier, and that is to hire spin instructors who are actually cyclists. This is awesome because the workout is authentic and tough. They teach in a more realistic setting (hence the longer hills) and the music they select tends to fit that type of real-world intensity. While there are exceptions, the songs generally aren’t as light or pop-py as those played today. This morning’s session really was a fun change in pace for me and I truly enjoyed the music.

During my usual classes, the instructor will remind us of small tips that make a huge difference such as reminding us to move our legs in a full 360 degree revolution, rather than pushing down. Or shouting out that we are not to bounce, letting us know what percent of our max heart rate we should be at or making comments on what muscles we are working during each position. Today, there was none of that. It was much lighter in spirit.

The reason for these differences is that this morning’s instructor, while awesome, was clearly an aerobics instructor rather than a cyclist. No complaints here – fantastic change of pace and I worked HARD! But that brings me to the next difference…

Focus on cadence and resistance. The spin classes I take focus heavily on resistance. A typical class will include the instructor telling us to increase the resistance repeatedly throughout — until it is so high you think you can’t take it anymore, and they tell you to up it just a little more, and you think you are going to die but you do it! They really push you to build your endurance.

Another focus is cadence. Some intructors will tell you how many RPMs you should be at during a specific hill or sprint, which is a great way for me to learn how different speeds feel at different resistances.

This morning’s instructor mentioned increasing resistance a couple times, but there was never any instruction to really push ourselves. Cadence wasn’t discussed as these bikes did not have computers.

All said and done, I had a really fun, challening ride this morning set to great music alongside my good friends! I am happy I came with my background in spinning because I knew when and where to push myself and work hard. I burned 451 calories according to my HRM, which is an excellent workout for me!

I want to add that my workout was also improved greatly by the fact that I didn’t have a day of eating behind me. This past week has been really rough, and I have gone to class on Tuesday while nauseous, on Wednesday a couple hours after recovering from intense abdominal pain, on Thursday feeling overstuffed and uncomfortable. That is because of my GI problems — all those are symptoms that I get just from eating a little.

This morning, I felt great. I had no food in me and I felt lighter and had so much more energy. When I eat, I become lethargic. I feel heavy and weighed down. I can’t push myself as hard as I’d like and I feel weak. I know the answer is more morning classes, but that just isn’t possible on most days due to my schedule. It certainly is food for thought (pun intended).

In conclusion
Every gym is different. Every instructor is different. Every class is different. Try out different spin classes to get a feel for what you want. I want to keep trying out different classes (hello friends with guest passes, please invite me) because I always learn something every time and really, how bad can a spin class be? Boring? Sure, but you are the one in control, so it can still be a great workout.

I am thankful to be able to belong to such an incredible gym as The Sports Club/LA because they have spin classes literally ALL the time. There is never a day where I couldn’t get to a class if I wanted to. You’ve never seen a gym schedule quite so robust when it comes to the spin! I haven’t tried out all the instructors, but I have tried many and always have a great workout. That is because I just love it. Today was actually my 5th day spinning in a row!

This morning’s studio

Change of topic, Melanie got us a copy of Hollywood Hills 90028, a movie that Bethenny Frankel starred in, mostly topless, in 1994. We cannot wait to watch!

Psst. Tina at Carrots ‘N’ Cake is having a Pure Bar Giveaway!