Have you ever been to a spin class before?
Well…the first time I heard of it, I thought it sounded kinda stupid. A stationary bike? C’mon, isn’t that how people worked out in 1993?
Then as I heard more about it, I became a little afraid…people told me terrible stories about how badly it hurts their butts and how unfortunate it is for the pathetic little guys who don’t have the fancy bike shoes that clip into the pedals.
So when I went to my first spin class, I was a little nervous, and I didn’t know what to expect.
Here’s how it all went down:
Ada the Dog and I went up to Vancouver, B.C. this past weekend and stayed at my friend Rachel’s house. (Thanks Rachel!) Rachel told me about a spin class that we could go to in which the proceeds benefited cancer research or something of that sort. I wanted to try spinning, and it sounded like a good cause, so I agreed to go. It was to be a 45-minute spin class. That sounded reasonable enough to me.
The 45-minute break down:
Minute 0:00 Oh yay! Everything is great! Hey nice instructor lady, can you help me figure out the right height for my bike? Oh thank you! This is going to be fun. Let’s take pictures!
Minute 1:00 (Warm-up). Ugh. This is not fun. How many more minutes? What? 44 more minutes? Ugh!
Minute 5:00 Drip drip, drop, drop. Oh. I seem to be sweating profusely.
Minute 10:00 Hmm…this guy next to me is a legitimate biker. I wonder what his tension is set at. I’ll try to look….Uh oh! He saw me trying to look. Now he thinks I’m a creeper! Back to pedaling furiously!
Minute 15:00 Am I having fun yet? This is just painful. Is this how non-runners feel when they run? This is awful.
Minute 20:00 O.M.G. I want to quit. I really want to quit. Dang it! I’m in public. I can’t quit. If I quit everyone will see me. That would be embarrassing. I better finish. Hmm. Maybe that’s the whole point of exercise classes…embarrassment pushes you farther.
Minute 25:00 Okay, so maybe quitting will be embarrassing, but I can cheat! When she says to increase the tension by two, I’ll increase it by only one! Oh yeah! I’m sneaky. This is perfect!
Minute 30:00 Cheating.is.not.working. Must blatantly sit and pedal along while the rest of the class does up-downs. Can’t.move.up. Sorry instructor lady.
Minute 35:00 Oh goodness. I reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally hope that there’s a 5 minute cool-down. I might only have 5 minutes left! I hope I don’t die before then. Please, instructor lady, give us 5 minutes for cool-down!
Minute 40:00 Still no cool-down? Really? And she’s telling me to go faster? I can’t go faster until you tell me what’s next lady….what if you’re tricking me and the next thing is even harder? Oh! Increase the tension you say? I knew you were tricking me! You sneaky instructor, I don’t trust you.
Minute 42:00 Please? Cool-down? Pretty please?
Minute 43:00 Cool-down starts! Oh yeah!
Minute 44:00 That was my cool-down? That 60 seconds? And now you want me off my bike to stretch? Okay…Uh, whoa. My legs seem to have lost their bones and turned to jello. I will do my best to stand up.
Minute 45:00 Done! I did my first spin class. That was awful. Do people like that or do they just like to push themselves? I can understand why people do it, because its good for you, but it is not pleasant!
Spin class is not fun, people. It’s not like yoga or zumba where it honestly is enjoyable during the workout. It’s mostly painful. BUT there is something very nice and useful about a class that pushes you beyond where you’d try to go on your own…so maybe I should keep doing spin till I don’t feel like I have to cheat at it!
Do you like spin? What’s your favorite group exercise class?
I LOVE spin class. I do not take it often because I prefer to use that time running but it is a great workout! I sweat like crazy in spin classes. They are harder than anyone thinks!
Yes, I was dripping with sweat! I wonder if my feelings for spin will ever turn to love. Right now I mostly have feelings of ambivalence!
I love, love, love spin!!! I was petrified of it at first. I actually made my hubby go with me so he would look like the dumb dumb and not me (at least I was hoping it would work out that way). I ended up becoming obsessed with it (hello type a) and even started going twice a day. Now I have my very own spin bike at home. 🙂
Wow, you are tough if you can push yourself that hard at home! I really truly needed fear of embarrassment to keep me going! I’ll probably go back sometime, but it’s more about achievement for me than actually enjoying the class!!! I can’t imagine going twice a week, not to mention twice a day!
I absolutely love spinning. I go at least two times a week and wish I had time to fit in more classes. It’s a huge stress relief after work and my instructor has a fun playlist that makes time to go by pretty fast.
I will probably do it again someday. Maybe it starts to be fun on the 3rd try?
I love spinning! I throw in a few spinning classes between run sessions for triathlon training. It’s quite hardcore sometimes (depending on the craziness level of the instructor) and really pushes those fitness levels. Attend a few more classes – it might just grow on you!
I love minutes 10 and 25. Haha! Totally been there.
I LOVE spin class. But I’m picky about the instructor! I need to find an instructor that is super hardcore and challenging
OMG, this made me laugh! Thank you! I just did my first-ever spin class today, thinking it was going to be 25 minutes of biking with a 5-minute cool-down, but NO. It was. AN HOUR. I almost didn’t make it. I can see how it might get easier with time, but I hated it. I don’t everrr want to do it again! I feel your pain!
I promise you I would have walked out if it wouldn’t have been so potentially embarrassing to do so! I’m actually probably going to try spin again sometime soon! The doctor just told me no running and no elliptical, so biking and swimming is all I’ve got!
Just finished my first spin class today, and my experience was VERY similar to yours. It was horrible. I wanted to leave so bad, but I also didn’t because I was terrified of being embarrassed even worse on top of the fact that about half way through I could no longer do the up downs and was just spinning. Plus my instructor didn’t even tell me how to increase the resistance. Thank god, plus I wasn’t looking for it very hard lol- I was just dying!!! Probably one of the worst work out experiences ever. and now I can barely move, and my girl area is in the worst pain ever! ahhh… I have made up my mind to try it again though, because after googling “first spin class” and “pain” it seems a lot of people have the same experience. (which makes me feel a little better. ha!) just glad to know I’m not the only one! 🙂
Ha! I still can’t imagine that anyone would actually find spin class to be FUN, but I have friends who claim they enjoy it!