Completed my first spin class, and....

As a spin instructor, I can say that my classes have done wonders for my bike fitness. I only ride outside on the weekends and all of my weekly bike time is in class. Of course I teach anywhere from 4-8 classes but if you do it right and have a good instructor, it can increase your bike fitness tremendously! Any instructor that does "isolations", crazy rpm over 110 with no resistance, popcorn jumps or any other contraindicated movement isn't going to help your fitness and could actually hurt you. Look for ones that are cyclists/triathletes themselves or have a sound knowledge of physiology and biomechanics !

Just a side...depending on what type of bike you use, the milage on the computers is "fake" milage and only takes into consideration the rpm and what gear it is in. For a certain number of turns = x amount of distance. And each bike measures things just a bit different.

I love teaching and have been doing it for over 9 years! Glad you enjoyed the class!!!

My neighbor, who inspired me to tackle my weightloss journey with real gusto was a spin instructor. I watched him lose more weight than I, and do so with joy. He just passed recently. A bit of a fluke thing, not related to his previous health problems that he'd mostly overcome.

Those spin classes get to be cult like. I'd always said I needed to attend one of his classes as I switched to the gym where he lead classes. I just was never able to get there when he was running classes. 5:30 AM, brutal. 4:00 PM....still at work. I was in the spin room classes quite a bit using the bikes when classes were going on. Finally got around to taking my first one with a different instructor on the day he passed.

Weather wasn't going to permit me to ride 50+, so I figured I'd do an hour or so of light riding and then just go with the flow and do the spin class when it fired up. My hamstrings burned (that pleasant burn, though) for two days after that. First time I've felt that kind of 'burn' in probably a year.

He was, by all accounts (not just mine) a hugely motivating personality. There's plenty of people who lead (or led) inspiration lives from all different walks. Anne Frank, Mother Theresa, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ghandi....musicians, artists, doctors, religious, non-religious. But how many of them directly inspire people? Hard to say. But this guy directly inspired me, and all those who took his class.

I've been spinning for a couple of years now, twice a week if I got chance. Then the Wednesday teacher moved on, which was a shame as his class was aimed more at cyclists.
Doing two classes back to back on Monday with a stand in for the usual instructor so not sure how I'll feel. Guess 'in pain' is the best guess.