Spinning back into Shape

I can't tell you how many times I said the phrase, “I need to workout” my freshman year in college. Not having the luxury of competing on a high school team and no longer having a membership to your favorite hometown gym is often enough for students like myself to give up exercise completely while away in college. Although there is Gregory gym and gyms at many apartment complexes, I hated the idea of working out in front of everyone I knew. So when I returned home for the summer, I knew I had find a way to get back into shape and make it a habit before I came back for fall semester. I knew I had a long way to go before I could start feeling and looking the way I wanted to again, and I had no idea where to even begin. Jogging sounded awful and I no longer had a membership to a gym, plus I knew I would never keep up with going regularly. Then one day I saw a coupon on my kitchen table for a free spin class at a place called “Lococylce” so I took a friend and tried it out. It’s safe to say I'm a spin addict now. Here’s why.

First off, spin is FUN. Once you find the right place, with the right instructor who plays music you enjoy and motivates you to push yourself, it doesn’t feel so much like dreadful exercise anymore. Lococycle features stadium like bike arrangements with neon lighting and a great speaker system to give you the feeling of being at a nightclub. Sometimes you get so lost in a song that you don’t even realize how much you are actually helping your body. A lot of spin classes also have heaters, which enable you to work even harder and burn twice the calories (at least 500 a class). I’ve become addicted to the exhausted euphoria spin class brings me. Another benefit to spin is that it improves cardiovascular heath and endurance, while giving you extremely toned, shapely legs in no time. Also, the spin class I go to gives you a balanced workout, incorporating ab work through pushups and even including a weight lifting portion, while you are simultaneously spinning. So if you thought that spinning wasn’t a sufficient workout for your entire body, think again.

What is also great about spin is how it caters to everyone. No matter what shape you are in, you can still keep up with the class because each bike has a resistance feature, giving you the chance to go at your own pace. Spinning with an entire class with a motivating instructor gives you an energy that you cant get from a treadmill. Seeing everyone working together makes you push yourself even harder. If you keep going to classes regularly, you will notice a big improvement in not only your endurance but how much resistance you can withstand. Another benefit to spin is that it forces you to workout at a given time. Once you reserve a spot at a certain time you have to go or else you just wasted your money. If it weren’t for this I think I would still be sleeping in until noon every morning and keep telling myself “Oh, I’ll workout tomorrow”. This forces you to actually DO IT.  Spin also goes by extremely quickly! An hour-long class can feel like 20 minutes if you’re doing it right.  I’ve been going to spin 3 times every week this summer and it’s made me healthier, stronger, and a happier person in general. I am definitely going to have to find a place to spin close to campus when I get back. So if you are like me and want to become healthy and fit, definitely give spin a try. You wont regret it!

ZLAM
PC'14 Zoe Schetman