I'm sure Office fans remember this scene.
How are you keeping in shape this summer?
Ron Artest: My secret weapon is spin class. It's crazy. My first time there, I'm like, "What the hell is this? A bunch of girls and old people on bikes? Easy." So I get on the bike, and within 10 minutes I wanted to quit. But I can't when these girls are hardly sweating. Can't quit. So I kept going. When it's over, I've got a pool of sweat under me. I've never done anything so hard in my life.
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I consider myself to be in really good shape, even for someone my age. I'm kind of a compulsive exerciser and I eat a very healthy diet. I ran a sub 6 min. mile after about a week and a half of running. I only have 3.34% body fat. So yeah, I take a lot of pride in my fitness.
That was why it was so surprising to me when a bunch of middle aged women, people who I normally would scrape in any sort of athletic or fitness test, absolutely put me to shame in a spin class I did this morning.
Even my own Mom was making fun of me in the car ride to school today. My sister and I poke fun at her slow and methodical way of exercising and even she couldn't resist a few jabs.
Dang.
I woke up at 5:20 AM so my mom and I could leave for Vivre by 5:35. We get there and all the clothing racks are chic female workout clothes. I took a peek into the gym part of Vivre and immediately noticed the pale green walls and pink, purple and blue exercise balls. Instant negative points for realizing that this is a chick gym but it boosted my self esteem. This couldn't be so hard could it?
I got set up with a bike in the far corner (all the better situated bikes were "claimed") and people started to file in. I think the first sign I was in for a rough time was when the instructor said I shouldn't feel bad if my butt got too sore or I was too tired and had to get off. But I just popped in my iPod headphones and started to tune people out. I'd just do my thing on the bike , listen to some music and get in a good sweat.
Once the workout started though I had to stop listening to my iPod because I couldn't hear the instructor and she was playing music. They turned off the lights which was cool. It was so early it was still dark out and the only light was a small purple lamp. When I was talking with my nanny later we concluded that this purple light must be what you see when you're dying.
The second ominous sign was when a tiny blonde woman in her mid 40s said that most kids don't last more than one class and that she and the others were "crazy." I wasn't about to let a 5' woman with arms half the size of mine tell me what I could or couldn't do. Are you kidding me? I probably outweighed this little fairy by like 40 pounds. Whatevs.
My legs were motoring to start off the beginning of class and I was feeling good. The instructor kept telling us to ratchet up the resistance and I kept powering through. We did some "climbs" and I got a nice burn going. I glanced over at the guy next to me and saw that I was spinning was faster than him. Sweet, I got this. I was feeling good so when we did the fast intervals, I really pushed myself.
I hit a wall thirty minutes in. The hard thing for me was that I had never cycled before so my body wasn't used to this type of exercise. Also, since I don't cycle I'm not accustomed to biking for more than like 20 minutes. I remember when I was absolutely dying, in an "up and out" extended interval. I looked at the clock and we were halfway done. My thighs were burning, I had a pool of sweat that had dripped onto the floor and about three more of this mini climbs left.
It was so demoralizing seeing that tiny woman in front of me barely sweating. I hunched over in hangdog mode with a scowl on my face, just trying to hang on, and here she was all chipper, pedaling with no hands. And then there was the 70 year old guy in the back, my mom and my friend's mom all doing it too.
There are a few things that make spinning so hard to a beginner like myself. First is that your body just doesn't have the muscles it takes to ride a bike. Even if you're in great shape you still aren't used to this type of exercise. Since you probably on bike when you bike to school or to go over to a friend's house you aren't used to biking for longer than half of an hour.
Reason número dos why spin class is so brutal is the resistance. About every two minutes you turn the knob to make the ride harder. Even when you're climbing and on like your 5th "up and out," the instructor still tells you to turn it up. It never gets easier, its a tough combo when you are getting more and more fatigued and have to keep making it harder.
Third, there's no breaks. This to me is an aspect of spin class that is more difficult than cycling. When you're biking out on the street, or if you're like every parent in the Bay Area, if you're out cycling in Woodside, you probably coast a lot of the time. On flat parts when you're taking a sip of water. When you're descending a mountain. When you're stopped at a light. But in spin class you're pedaling for the entire hour. You're never allowed to stop.
Lastly, the class is just hard. The instructor works you hard and whenever you're out of the saddle it kills your thighs.
But, like any great work out, you feel great afterward. Since I had been up for so long I was completely awake for my morning classes and was just in a good mood in general. Plus, Fraiche is right across the street and I got a large yogurt with three toppings. Mmm.
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