First, let me start out by saying that ~every day~ is an exaggeration.
Nearly every day is much closer to the truth, because if I had spun on the bike every. Single. Day. For five weeks.
My legs probably would have fallen off. And that is not an exaggeration.
Hofstra has a notoriously long winter break that runs us around five weeks, so if you’re not doing a winter class or a J-term abroad, it’s entirely up to you to figure out your situation for the entire month of January. My choice was to spin.
Now, you may be thinking, “Just another girl taking us on her fitness journey *hard sigh*.” And it’s true, I definitely went on my own journey of finding a workout that makes me feel good and gives me that feeling of wanting to come back to the workout, but not you nor I have any interest in reading that journey.
So here, instead, is everything that I learned and everything that happened during my cycle class commitment.
Gif courtesy of Giphy
Not all trainers are made the same.
This may seem obvious, but different trainers are guaranteed to run completely different classes. I followed the Aaptiv fitness app classes for my cycle journey, as we have a single spin bike in my home in Jersey. Every trainer on the Aaptiv app had a different style of teaching and different level of intensity. If you find a trainer you like, stick with them.
I did lose weight.
My weight and I are in a state of constant combat, but I didn’t go into this hoping to lose a certain number of pounds. In the end, I lost about five pounds, which is about a pound a week. The work it takes to get through a spin class makes it feel like I should have lost way more, but, again, that wasn’t the focus.
If you try it, it will be one of the best workouts of your life.
Endurance, speed, strength, core work, breath control. Spin classes will train you in every area, and the work is hard. The trainers are hyper-motivational for a reason: without them, no one would be able to sustain the intensity for that long.
Gif courtesy of Giphy
The motivation has to come from within.
Sure, the trainers are intense, powerful, strong, and fun. They certainly make the work way more enjoyable, and some you’ll want to come back to again and again. However, I rode the bike alone in a tiny corner of my house, with only earbuds and a coaching voice getting me through the class. I didn’t have to increase the resistance every time, I didn’t have to speed to my max effort, no one was watching me. It took that internal motivator to say, “I want to, and I can.”
That post-class high is REAL.
I’ve never felt particularly “good” after a workout, but spin is what did it for me. The classes, whether in person or on my phone, made me feel so inspired and ready to take on whatever the day handed me, or gave me that euphoric sense of release after a full day. I believed the endorphin high to be a myth, but I’m telling you, it’s legit.
It might not feel like a big deal, but trying something new and pushing your limits when no one is watching will boost your self-esteem 300%.
We tend to do things that are new in front of others in order to gain some sort of recognition or pat on the back. There’s nothing wrong with this objectively, but it decreases the value of doing something new or scary for the sake of the personal experience. Spin, no matter how basic, taught me to try something new for my own sake.
So, go out, try something new today, and maybe you’ll learn something about yourself.
Gif courtesy of Giphy
*All gifs courtesy of www.giphy.com