NOT spin etiquette

I’ve posted a few times about spin class and spin etiquette.  When I’m into it, I might do it 5 or 6 times a week, sometimes doing double classes.  A good class is a great cardio workout, and can be a great endorphin rush.  Sometimes, people get so into the class, and start yelling and getting all excited.  I never do, in fact, I sort of giggle when I hear people yell.  But hey, whatever floats their boat.

Strangely enough, at an Equinox no less, there was a case of “spin rage.”  A guy got off his bike, and threw another guy, while still on his bike, into a wall.  Are you kidding me?

The “attacker” released a terse statement saying the “victim” has a “vivid imagination.”  This, on top of the fact that the “victim’s” membership has been terminated, definitely gives off a funny odor, and not the same one you smell in the room at the end of a class…

Runners always find dead bodies

I love my Pearl Izumi cycling shoes.  They are pretty old school, ugly, and don’t breathe.  I still love them. What I didn’t realize is that they are more than just a cycling brand.  And now they are really pushing this angle.

Keep Reading

What motivates you?

I lead a pretty active lifestyle. I workout at least once almost every day, either running, spinning, cycling, strength training, cross training, or swimming (no, climbing my six flights of stairs everyday does not count). Checking out different gym memberships, though, made me consider, why exactly do I, or you, bother?

Keep Reading

Spin Etiquette

A while back I was wondering if instructors cared whether students left class early. I wasn’t sure if it was disruptive for the class or if it was offensive, since a lot of time people walk out early because they don’t like the class or person teaching.

Keep Reading

Douchebags!

Is it just me, or does it feel like there is a higher concentration of douchebags in a workout environment than anywhere else; at least in real world day to day life. It kind of makes sense, after all, people tend to get into cramped quarters, get all sweaty, energized, and to some extent, completely self-involved. Social norms such as politeness or even basic etiquette tend to get thrown out the window. Maybe it’s the elevated levels of testosterone, or hey, maybe it’s just the fact that some people are complete douchebags.

Allow me to provide a few examples:

Keep Reading

Coffee, coffee, coffee!!!

It’s 5:30AM, and I am sitting at my desk with a cup of coffee, home brewed. If it weren’t for this cup of coffee, I would still be in bed. Sure, no matter how many times I hit snooze on the alarm clock (and subsequently pissed the neighbors off), I need the kick of some serious caffeine to get me going, like a lot of people. Still, there seems to be an almost stigma associated with drinking coffee (or other caffeinated drinks), and it’s effects on exercise.

Keep Reading

You’re not tired, you just think you are

So says my good friend, spin instructor Joanna S. In the middle of her hour long or two hour long rides, after pummeling us with wicked hills and kick-ass sprints, when she is telling us that just because the song has ended, doesn’t mean we can sit up on our bike and break, she tells us this: “You’re not tired, you just think you are.”

These are words to live by, and it’s in the same vein as the “No Pain, No Gain” idea, in that figuratively speaking, you can push yourself harder than you think you can. Obviously, pushing yourself through an injury can be stupid, like what I’m doing now I would do.

Keep Reading 

Spring has (finally) sprung

A very, very long time ago, I had written about how I was going to be spending a whole lot less time in the gym, and a whole lot more in the gorgeous spring sunshine, riding my bicycle or running along the West Side Highway in NYC. After all, it was almost the middle of March, and I was ready to stop spending so much time inside of the gym, and a whole lot more outside. Boy, did Mother Nature totally NOT get the memo.

Wait, some might ask, “but FitFiend, we thought you liked working out, what happened?” Well, I do, but there is only so much time you can spend indoors with a bunch of machines and a bunch of other smelly, sweaty people, some of whom probably contributed to my feet issues. These are same people who wear gym clothes too many days in a row without washing, and the same ones who sometimes forget that just because you are listening to your IPOD, doesn’t mean that nobody else can hear or smell when you are baking brownies (Disclaimer: I am by no means 100% innocent of any of this).

Also, I will certainly still be hitting the gyms, but just not spending as much time in them as I had to over the colder months. While most of my cardio will be outside, there are still certain spin instructors who make life worthwhile. That’s right, a great spin class can be the highlight of my day, sometimes even week. Sure, some spin instructors revel in their classes pain, but if they are any good, I usually like it!

That said, these last 3 days in NYC have been gorgeous. I was trapped inside working on Saturday, so I couldn’t enjoy a run or a bike ride, but I have made up for it the last few days. Unfortunately, I have checked up on the weather, and I think that Mother Nature was just teasing us, because it is going to be headed back into 50s and raining later this week. This means, I will have to back inside and aside from lifting, and probably spin, I will be stuck to the treadmill or stair mill, both of which I hate. If only running on a treadmill was as much fun as this looks.

Spin Class – Part I

This is an overview one of my favorite cardio workouts is spin class, or, the ride. It’s an indoor cardio class on stationary bikes, which you have complete control over in terms of how heavy the tension on the bike is and how hard you work.

Now, if you have never done a spin class, it might sound boring (a classroom full of people riding stationary bikes) or, intimidating, considering the loud thumping music emanating from the cycling studio.

The classes I take are usually in a big room with lights out, black lights on. The spin instructors play music ranging from Evanescence and Justin Timblerlake to Joy Division and the Cure to the Chemical Brothers and Commander Tom, and everything in between. You lose yourself in the waves of the music while you are sweating so much that there are giant puddles on the floor.

Of course, it’s not just the music that makes the spin class what it is. One of the things that is often important to a class is the energy of the people. It shouldn’t matter but it does. How hard are the people around you working? Is everyone really into the class? These are things that help you push yourself harder. I’ve even written before about an unspoken rivalry I seem to have with someone else who takes most of the same classes that I do; I guess it’s because when I feel like I am tiring, I look to other people to draw from their energy, and then I try to “beat” them.

Aside from the energy of the class, the instructor is also huge. Sometimes their music is crap, and they walk in early on a Saturday morning saying, “Hey guys, let’s get ready for my theme of the week, bad 80’s karaoke!” I’ve had another one yell out at one point, “Okay, now do the Cabbage Patch, and then shimmy!” And still, there are others, who want to manage every second of your ride. I get up and walk out of these classes, they just don’t do it for me. However, the rest of the class usually stays, because these instructors are just catering to their “regulars,” the people who show up to their class every week.

But those are anomalies. Most spin instructors focus more on either endurance or some type of high intensity interval training, and even try to make the entire class into a cardio-abs class by making us focus on our core the entire time.

It really can be a phenomenal workout. For me, a less intense class, whether it is my own fault or because I am not being pushed hard enough, which to some degree is still my own fault, I burn a minimum of 450 calories in 45 minutes. I have gone over the 600 mark in 45 minutes, and that is when there is sweat dripping off the brim of my hat. Also, while most spin classes are 45 minutes, one of my friends often offers up 2 hour classes. Heck, I’ve even done a 3 hour. These workouts are just so great, and I would recommend them to anyone.

In some upcoming posts, I will tell you more about some of my favorite instructors (ones who don’t try to make their students shimmy). But for now, I’ll leave you with this guy.

High Intensity Interval Training

People take this type of training very, very seriously. I am not an expert on it, although, as someone who grew up playing as a competitive athlete, I can tell you we did a lot of this type of training. I don’t remember hearing the phrase “High Intensity Interval Traning” being used, though it was referred to, circumspectly, by coaches and trainers. For example, we knew the way to get the most out of a run was to throw in some sprints, then actively recover.

I suppose indoor cycling does incorporate this as the class is generally run on an interval principle.

When I say that people take HIIT very seriously, I don’t only mean those who do it get really into it, I also mean that there is normally a huge disclaimer that is only for people who can handle advanced training and who have no medical or health issues. The main reason is that your heart is put under stress by spiking your heart rate and then bringing it back down, then repeating the cycle several times.

I would guess your average FitFiend who incorporates cardio into their regimen, barring any underlying health problems, would have not problem doing this.

Aside from doing spin classes, which I generally do 3 or 4 times a week, I have been trying to do HIIT on the Stairmill. Over the course of about 30 minutes (after a warm up, of course), I would spike the setting to Level 20 for 30 seconds, and at the end of 30 seconds, I would bring it back down to Level 7. For the 30 seconds on Level 20, I would basically be running up the stairs (running, not sprinting). It would get me pretty winded, and my heart rate generally did spike. It certainly was a great workout, although, for the sake of true HIIT, I think that doing it off of a machine is probably better. With a machine, you have to wait for it to increase to the desired level, etc. Also, since I was running up the stairs, I could have still worked harder, but the machine was at capacity.

Results wise, I definitely felt like I had gotten a great workout, and did so in less time than for a comparable jogging workout. Calorie-wise, I am a little skeptical, but maybe if the machine could bring me to a sprinting level, it might have been more comparable.

I know I have been saying this for weeks, but winter is finally over (I hope), and will try to do more HIIT outside, the way it should really be done. It makes a long run a whole lot less boring, trust me. For more information on HIIT, check out this link. HIIT is becoming more and more popular, but it has been around a long time.

www.fitfiend.com