Spinning Workouts

My first encounter with spinning was a fairly traumatic experience. It came during my junior year of college. I was taking a class on conditioning and as a part of our grade we were required to attend at least one workout session that was offered at the on-campus recreation center. I had procrastinated in this, and I was running out of time, so I chose a program at random, and as fate would have it, I decided to take a 15 minute spin course. I figured this wouldn't be so bad, it's just cycling...right?

I walked into the studio and took the only remaining stationary bike still available, and once the instructor was ready, we all began to pedal. It wasn't so bad at first, we warmed up at medium pace, but after a few minutes the workout became more intense. With the instructor shouting encouragement, we began to pedal at a more intense pace, which wasn't so bad...at first. Then the instructor told us to stand up while pedaling, then sit back down. This just about killed me. When he told us to do it again, I glared at him and began to contemplate where the best place to hide his body would be. This process was repeated several throughout the session. Thankfully, only my strength was depleted, not my self-control, and the instructor's life was spared.

Needless to say, my first experience with spinning was rather unpleasant, but it did work. Following the work-out, I had lost almost all feeling in my legs. Over the next few days my legs muscles remained sore, however, they did show signs of increased mass in my thighs. Not only was it an effective way to work my legs, it also gave me a great cardiovascular workout (despite the fact that my heart threatened to go on strike midway through the exercise).

Spinning, as illustrated above is an intensive lower body workout that simulates outdoor cycling in rough terrain while remaining comfortably indoors. The process of standing up while cycling gives you a similar workout to riding up a steep hill. It provides effective strength training for the lower body, while also giving an intensive cardiovascular workout.

I would not recommend this form of training for beginners to the gym. However, if you think you can handle it, this is a great work out to look into.

Works Cited

David Fiedler, "What happens in a spinning class?" About.com