Biking Bison

I joined a gym this month to see what I have been missing out on. Really, I have never been much of a gym rat, but my wife Erin is due with our 4th in March, and she needs a place to work out that isn't as strenuous on her body. Things like yoga classes, and running on the elliptical rather than hiking and jogging are perfect for her right now.

The gym has a pretty good sized spinning room with 40 or so bikes, which caught my interest. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pretty excited about it, because I have heard a lot of good things from people about spin classes.

Spin class is NOT cycling.

I was glad to see that the bikes allowed me to wear my clipless shoes and lock in. I thought it was pretty cool that we would be watching cycling on the big screen while we spun away. But I was really confused by how to make this spin class feel right. The hardest thing to get used to was the tension settings. I never knew how hard to set it on. The instructor would say "adjust to your 5," and "now we'll ramp it up to your 6.5." I couldn't determine where those levels might be for me. I was certainly strong enough to spin a tougher number at times, but how hard was I supposed to be working? It was all new to me.

The biggest adjustment was how long the instructor would have us out of the saddle to climb. First of all, If I was standing at my level 6 I would nearly fall off the bike. I had to ramp it up to my level 7-8 just to keep enough back pressure to stand on the pedals. Then when we'd sit back down I would have to ease of the tension just to spin along, while everyone else seemed ok with keeping to tension the same in a seated position.

Here's the thing, on the road you never stand for more than a 30 second burst at the most. We are watching videos of cycling giants climbing the Alps, yet not one of them is standing. Why are we standing for 5-7 minutes?

Here's my conclusion. Spin class IS very good for you.

First, everyone I got raving reviews from about spin class was a non-cyclist. I should have noticed that.

Second, this was not cycling, but it works. I walked around all day with new aches and pains and different fatigued muscles. I was dripping with sweat, and polished off a full water bottle without hesitation. I don't typically do that in just a 1 hr training session on the bike.

Want to get an amazing workout? Try a spin class. Want to challenge your body in every way? Get a good bike and get out there!