Ever try a spin class?

I wanted to give you guys an update on how my workouts are going since I haven't been posting as much exercise related stuff lately. As many of you know, I hurt my foot a while back during a run and have been trying to rehab it now for the past eight weeks or so. My foot is definitely getting better, I'm just not to the point of really pushing it on a daily basis yet. I've backed off of my morning walks to try to rest my foot and I've only gone on two runs in this eight week period. that certainly doesn't mean that I've been slacking off on working out however. I'm still doing something active every single day whether it's riding a bike outside, an exercise bike in the gym, the elliptical machine, lifting weights or walking on a treadmill - I'm still keeping myself very active. Which leads me to the other point of this blog - have you guys ever tried a spin class?

Last week Mandi floated out the idea that we try a spinning class together. It made sense to me since there isn't any pounding on my foot and we would be able to do cardio together. We haven't been able to do our cardio together for quite some time because of my bum foot. Mandi has been religiously running every morning while my lazy butt stays at home. Once in a while we'll walk side by side on a treadmill, but she generally wants to do something different since she already has a morning run in. She's not a fan of exercise bikes so when I would hop on one of those she would often do the stair stepper. So anyways, the thought of doing some cardio with my wife was very appealing.

To spinning...I've noticed the loud music coming from the spin classroom before and was always intrigued by it. People seem to be enjoying themselves and the class is always packed so I deduced that something was going right in there :) I also remember a time about 10 years ago when spinning seemed to be all the rage. I never tried it however, but always wanted to. Last Thursday we gave it a go. Some of you may have seen my update on last week's spin class already but for those who didn't, it went a little something like this, “I felt like I was going to throw up for 42 minute of the 45 minute spin class.” Doesn't that sound appealing? Your first thought is probably no, but I'd like to encourage you to give it a try if you are at all inclined. What's nice about a spin class is you control your own speed and effort, but you also have a "coach" yelling at you, or should I say the entire class, to get it in gear. I generally respond very well to coaching so this kind of a thing is right up my alley.

At today's class I was sweating during the 3 minute “warm up” period. Today's instructor was all about climbing those hills and my legs were paying for it. I will say though, what's nice about spin class is that it's based music. It really helps you keep a rhythm and you always kind of know when your next break is coming. It's important to point out that it's not 45 minutes of all-out peddling, but a constant back and forth between taking it “easy” and going all out. I can tell you this for sure, if I can do it, you can do it. I'm already looking forward to my next class and I hope that I can push myself even more than I did today.

So the question is, do you spin?