The best thing about my new gym membership is that it includes unlimited spinning classes.
For the uninitiated, "spinning" is a type of exercise involving a stationary bike with one wheel. In China, it also involves a darkened room, a disco ball, a stroke-inducing strobe light, and a spandex-clad muscle man instructor who will occasionally whoop with excitement.
It's basically the closest I've gotten to a dance club in China.
One important advantage of spinning is that it is a full-body workout. Your legs are obviously doing the bulk of the work, but the instructor takes care not to neglect your arms by throwing in frequent pumping motions, in time to the music of course. As Greenday and Pink blast in the background, we vigorously punch the air, wave our arms above our heads, even pretend to be shielding our eyes from the sun as we scan the distant horizon.
With these features, it's no wonder the class is such a hit with the regulars. Despite being offered twice each evening, the spinning class is so popular that you have to get there at least 15 minutes ahead of time to stake your claim to a bike. The preferred method of doing this is to drape a sweaty towel over the handlebars.
Does anyone know if what I've just described bears any resemblance to spinning classes in the U.S.?
2 comments:
I've been to a spinning class once and it was really similar- EXCEPT i definitely didn't have the disco ball and flashing lights. see you are light years ahead of us here- you can feel like you're going out dancing while also getting a full body workout!
there was this crazy guy in class yesterday who was totally rocking out on the bike. all i could think was "someone take this poor kid out dancing!" haha hey, whatever works. :)
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