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Health & Fitness

Spinning at Sea While Escaping Hurricane Irene Part II

Ever tried a spinning class? Ever tried it escaping a hurricane? I did AND lived to tell about it!

I've long heard people talking about taking spinning classes, but before I started biking again, I never really knew what it was about, or even why it is called spinning.  The second part I learned quickly - you are trying to keep spinning your wheels and your pedals.  Easy enough.

On my recent cruise, I was excited to find out that the spa was having spin classes on the sea days.  I immediately signed up (right after my brother in-law, who was #1 on the list).  That there was no cost for the class certainly didn't discourage me!

I arrived at the first spin class, only to find out that Samantha, the instructor, wasn't sure if she could hold the class.  This was while we were still escaping Hurricane Irene, and the ship was really rocking back and forth a lot.  The issue was they always hold the class with the spinning bikes (not a typical stationery bike) running the length of the ship.  Samantha was afraid everyone would get sick or possibly thrown off their bike.  My brother in-law Bruce suggested setting up the bikes along the width of the ship; that way it would almost be like going up and down hills.  Problem solved.

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Then my next problem occurred - keeping up!  This was really hard work!  Samantha kept having us dial up the tension to make it harder to spin.  Then she had us stand up and spin.  For fun she'd have us do push ups at the same time as standing up.  This went on for 45 minutes with up and down on the tension, standing and spinning, sitting and spinning, and so on.  Let's just say I had to take some breaks periodically.

The second spin class was on the sea day heading back to New York City.  This one had the advantage of calm seas.  Chris, the other spa trainer, ran this one.  Less push ups, but more tension throughout.  I couldn't do all of the standing parts, but I did stay on the bike the entire time.

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The first spin class was possibly the hardest thing I've ever done physically.  Definitely harder than running a half-marathon (I was in really good shape for that and really enjoyed it too).  The second spin class was only a little less hard.

As the days get shorter, it is going to be harder to bike outside; after all I do have a full time job.  I got a 2 month membership to the Powerhouse on Orchard Lake (through CBS Local Offers - great deal) which includes unlimited classes, including spinning.  I figure I'll activate it by mid October and spin maybe 3 days a week.  Other days I'll cross train or ride a stationery bike.

While it was incredibly physically demanding, I can see why people really enjoy it.  I'm hoping to get to the point where I can actually do everything I'm supposed to!

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