Was she at your class?

by | Dec 27, 2022 | Engage Your Students, Instructor Training | 4 comments

This is something I would say...

What do your students think about your class?

Do you really know what they are thinking after they leave for home?

I found this post from Julie Erdmann at her Tri-ing to be Athletic blog.

Julie's posts are a series of funny drawings that tell her story of her very first Spinning class.

http://tri-ingtobeathletic.blogspot.com/2011/01/we-interrupt-current-training-flashback.html

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?

If you enjoyed this head over to Julie's blog and leave her a comment http://tri-ingtobeathletic.blogspot.com/2011/01/we-interrupt-current-training-flashback.html

Originally posted 2011-02-07 15:53:24.

John
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4 Comments

  1. Dane Boyle
    Dane Boyle on February 8, 2011 at 9:10 am

    Awesome!! We forget this is often how our students feel. Julie captured it spot on. I will be sharing this post with others.

  2. Moritz
    Moritz on February 11, 2011 at 3:18 am

    Funny 🙂
    No, she was not in one of my classes 😉 but it reminds me on one or the other first classes I participated and how I felt there …

  3. K E Ehrlich-Scheffer
    K E Ehrlich-Scheffer on February 13, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    I always tell my newbies about my first spin class ever. I fell off the bike 15 minutes in. As in on the floor, totally exhausted and panting, not able to move. I just flopped over to the side, falling off the bike in the process. I was obese at the time, and the sadistic instructor neglected to inform me about modifications or taking it at my own pace. For someone in the shape I was in at the time, the intensity was downright dangerous and very inappropriate. It was 5 years before I ventured back into a spin class, thankfully with an instructor who was well educated in sound training principles- but it took a lot of courage for me to even enter the room. I’ve never lost sight of that horrible first spinning experience, and conjure it up anytime a newbie comes to my class. I am sure to encourage them (and to tell them about modifications) and tell them that if I could go from obese and on the floor to up in front and teaching, anything, really, is possible! I am living proof- there is great possibility within each and every person that walks into our classes. A little understanding and encouragement go a long way.

  4. Manuel
    Manuel on February 14, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    Julie captured it perfectly – great graphics. I printed the sketches out and will use them to let new spinners what NOT to expect in my class. Thank you!

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