She has given me permission to republish the complete post for your entertainment and hopefully a little enlightenment 🙂
…SPIN CLASS
Can someone please tell me *what* mother-loving, lactate-burning, Marquis de Sade bitch athlete (ahem, sorry, I don't know what came over me) devised this crazy idea. What–biking on a path isn't enough for you??
I have a friend who is a hard-core athlete. In her spare time she likes to teach fitness classes at a gym. She asked me to go to her spin class the other night. I said “sure”, never having gone to a spin class, but thinking it would be a good workout. Like I said, she is hard-core and very competitive. I should have known that she would teach a class that would not be for sissies.
It started out easy enough: just sit on the bike and pedal. Excellent. Then the music started and suddenly it was all:
Hmm, well ok, I guess I can do that.
Then after about ten seconds I heard it again:
Well hold on now, I thought I just did…say, is there a delayed echo in here?
But, we just…
Um, excuse me? Do what now??
At this point we were about 2.16 minutes (I'm guesstimating) into an hour-long class, and my legs had turned to Jell-O.
I was alternating between turning beet-red
and nauseated-green.
I felt like I was sweating yet I'm pretty sure the flames shooting out of my skin took care of any pesky *moisture* issues.
And then I heard:
Um, no thanks. I was afraid of what would come out of my mouth if I opened it at that moment. It would be either:
OPTION A:
A string of obscenities that would make me sound possessed.
OR
OPTION B:
My lunch.
Or possibly both (there's a visual for ya). So I kept my mouth closed and focused on breathing and staying upright on the seat.
Now, for the more astute readers, you may be saying to yourself: “But Julie (that's my real name, for those of you who don't know me in the real world), you were in a spin class, ergo, you were on a stationary bike,
ergo, staying upright on the seat, a.k.a. *balancing*, should be a non-issue.”
Well, you would be wrong. Or you just wouldn't know me very well.
You see, at well-choreographed points during the class, the teachers (did I mention there were two of them?) would ask us to sit back, take our hands off the handlebars, and…
Now, is it just me, or does everyone's badonk slink forward the second they sit upright on a bike, like yay?
So I was sliding down and hunching over like a turtle so I didn't lose saddle contact, and I was expected to put my arms behind my head.
Riiiight.
I did manage to survive the class *and* not slide off. And, when the teacher asked the class to praise ourselves for something we did well, I was able to come up with two things:
Number One: Not vomiting!
Yay!!
and, Numero Dos: Not Passing Out!
Cue applause.
Oh, and the studio was at the top of the stairs. Since my leg muscles were beyond muscle confusion (let's call it muscle *stupor*), I saw that “walking down the stairs” was not really an option.
Athletic stance to the rescue!! With a bit of a slant.
P.S. I have mad respect for these spinners.
So, do any of you normal people out there go to spin class?
This week I’m sharing two songs with you. The first is an older tune that I use every year to mark the end of summer. Well, not officially the end of summer, but the time when those of us that are teachers or have kids in school get back into the swing of things. It’s always a bittersweet time of year for me because I do enjoy having my summers off, but I also see this time of year as a new start, much like January first is to some people.
This is actually a cover of the very popular song by Don Henley, Boys of Summer. This version is by The Ataris and is a bit more ‘cycle friendly’ than the original. It lends itself very well to what I call ‘accelerations’. You may call them ‘sprints’ or ‘surges’. Here’s how I use it:
Seated flat road with accelerations on the chorus @ :45 (for 20 seconds); 1:45 (20 seconds) and 3:17 (20 seconds).
*Fun Fact: The Ataris version replaced the ‘Deadhead sticker’ reference with a ‘Black Flag’ sticker in honor of the 80’s punk band.
*You may also want to check out the DJ Sammy version, available on both Spotify and iTunes.
The second song I’m sharing with you in hopes that someone is able to use it in their club, gym or studio. I recently saw this one performed on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and fell in love with the sound, but because I teach at a YMCA, I’m not sure that the lyrics are entirely appropriate. Here’s hoping some of you can use it in your classes because it’s just a great tune! Leave a comment and let me know if or how you’ve used it!
Really. There's no changes that I can see that would be of any value to you, as a Fitness Instructor. The preferences section is exactly the same – OK, not exactly; they've removed the option for gap-less playback, but kept the cross-fade.
This brief post offers one possible reason you may have difficulty sticking with your food plan.
Let’s start here: Do you have food cravings? And are the cravings specifically for sugary foods and other junk?
Next: Do you give in to the cravings by eating some of the foods you crave, especially sugar?
If the answer is yes, it’s possible that your way of handling the cravings is actually creating more cravings.
It’s all too easy to blame premenstrual hormone fluctuations, for example, but eating sugar when you crave it is a virtual guarantee that you’ll crave it again – later in the day, the next morning or other times of the day, and possibly for two or more days after you’ve had it.
No, this isn’t the case for everyone. Some people really do have a take-it-or-leave-it reaction to sugary foods.
Still, food cravings are common. And it seems to be common “wisdom” that the way to deal with those cravings is to eat a little bit of whatever you crave.
I absolutely must question the wisdom of that perspective. Of course, eating what you crave will take away a craving temporarily – after all, you just ate what you craved.
But the cravings will return – often stronger than before. You may be setting yourself up for these future cravings, and almost guaranteeing that they become too strong to resist.
What To Do Instead
Admittedly, this approach takes self-discipline when you have a craving, but here it is.
For short-term craving relief, here’s a solution I’ve proposed before, but I stand by it.
– Reach for 1 teaspoon of liquid B-complex when you have a craving. (Please first check with your doctor to find out if this solution is appropriate for you.)
– Make sure you’re using B-complex, rather than any individual B vitamin.
– Give the B-complex a few minutes – really! – to do its work.
– Get on with your life, craving-free.
Now let’s say your doctor has told you not to use B-complex, or you don’t have any available when a craving strikes. What’s an alternative?
One way to go is to have a little high-fat food – even one that you might not consider particularly healthful. Examples might include nuts (yes, roasted and salted are fine), cheese, guacamole, or other high-fat fare.
Combining those fats with a small amount of starch (most people say “carbs”) is a good choice. If you feel it won’t be enough, add something hot and spicy. This is one reason guacamole will work well.
In any case, the combination will modify your brain chemistry so it resembles the neurochem you’d create by eating sugar – only you’ll simply bypass the addictive response you might have to sugar.
It’s a surprisingly good deal.
If I could do one and only one thing for my clients (and my non-clients), I would love to communicate the foolishness of eating what you crave – especially if the food is addictive.
A self-perpetuating cycle is characteristic of food addictions – and absolutely not worth the taste of sugar or the follow-up taste of more of the same.
If you’d like help eliminating cravings or even quitting sugar for good, that’s what I do. Just visit www.FoodAddictionSolutions.com/Coaching and grab your free Eating Empowerment Consult. Find out how easy it is to regain control, increase your energy, and feel fantastic.
Tom Scotto with Cycling Fusion provides this informative PRO Podcast / Audio PROfile Hybrid
Here is the link for ICI/PRO members to participate for free on Saturday Jan 15th (day one) of Cycling Fusion's 12 week Winter Training Simulcast. I have been told that PRO members will have access to the recording of Saturday's training for one week.
PROFILE DESCRIPTION
This profile is called Aerobic Base Building. It is a hybrid profile consisting of a sample of drills
that focus on aerobic development and aerobic endurance. Each focus can be a class in and of
itself, or both focuses can be combined to create a single class. Often times aerobic development
is introduced earlier to help riders prepare for longer endurance efforts.
Here's your Spotify PRO/Playlist! Deezer. We have made every attempt to replicate the original playlist. In some instances the tracks specified were unavailable in Spotify. When necessary we have substituted individual songs of similar length and tried to maintain the Instructor's intent.
Tom Scotto with Cycling Fusion provides this informative PRO Podcast / Audio PROfile Hybrid