I just love doing them! Not only is the workout amazingly challenging, but cycling to music is so great. You can really get into imagery too. I love to imagine I'm in Napa Valley or somewhere equally beautiful, cycling in the most fabulous settings. It's a great way to grind away the stress from the day. Plus, it's really helping with weightloss. I can tell my hips are getting smaller and my clothes are fitting looser. Yeah!!!

And I have injuries which prevents me from doing a lot of types of exercise but I can do this kick-butt exercise!!!!!

I'd love to hear from other spinners and your experiences if you are out there!!!!

I'm glad you put (cycling) in the title of your post. All this time I thought that spinning classes were based on spinning around in circles or something! LOL I had no clue.

Funny! But I can tell you that you do spin your legs very fast on the pedals and never get anywhere! I call it "going nowhere fast"!

Spinning sounds alot more exotic, doesn't it?

I haven't tried it or seen it, but I want to learn more about it! I know stationary biking at home works for me, but I need to get my heart rate up more & break a sweat. I haven't been comfortable going to a gym. I'm sure it wouldn't be as good, but I wonder how it would work to do spinning at home, with a tape.

As long as you have something motivating you to keep going, it should work. What I like about the class is that I get pushed to do more than I would ever do on my own. And when you see other people keeping up, it inspires you to work through the "burn" and get more out of it.

I don't sweat a lot when I work out but you should see me after that class. I am positively drenched!

Drenched in sweat would be good for me! When I used to do Jazzercise classes I got that way. When I sweat I have alot more energy and well-being all through the day. Not to mention the increased metabolism it brings to burn calories. If it was a drug I think almost everyone would want it. Wow! And we can have for free!

But unlike exerciseangel, I'm not real inclined to push myself when I exercise by myself. It helps to play a tape. Lots of times I'm not doing what's on the exercise tape, but if I play it I push myself more. Having other people exercising, the leader pushing people on, & the peppy music really helps me keep up the pace.

So what does the spinning class consist of? How much can you change the resistance of the cycles? Have you ever seen a recumbent spinning cycle? (I have a bad lower back & recumbent works best for me.)

Hey, Mindy, when you go to Napa you could have some wonderful cycling!

I have herniated disks in my neck and herniated disks in my lower back and believe it or not, spin-cycling classes are the ONLY aerobic activity I am able to do without repercussion, so you might want to try the classes and see how you do. I swear these classes saved my life.

For the past year, I really struggled with exercise through these injuries. I've been an exerciser and very active my whole life and my collective injuries are really catching up with me now that I'm in my mid-forties. I tore a calf muscle skiing a few years back and broke the ball of my foot 2 years ago (dropped a hurricane shutter on it prepping for a storm -ouch!) and those injuries remind me of themselves every time I work out. THen add the disk problems to this mix and man alive, not step bench, the elliptical, jogging, impact aerobics or even the stair climber are doable without feeling a lot of pain afterwards.

Since my body has been so used to being pushed for years, it has been awful not being able to flush out my system with good exercise. Then I remembered that I used to do spin classes and my current gym has them so I tried it again and it's been fabulous for me!

Just the ability to break a good sweat again is amazing to me, so I'm thrilled.

The instructors tell you when to add and/or take away resistance on the bikes. They guide you through a journey and we usually "spin" to the beat of what ever music has been chosen. Classes go something like this:

First you warm up by cycling with no resistance on and you do upper body stretches while on the bike. Then we usually do some standing spinning. This is very difficult because your legs have to support your body weight while spinning the peddles. It takes a while to build strength to hold your self up for a time. Then you usually progress to jumps - which are a combination of standing spinning then sitting spinning, in interval fashion. All this is done with a variety of tension settings. Then we usually do a hard climb. you pretend you are going up a steep hill and crank the resistance way down to a very hard leve where you can barely pedal. You usually stand while you are pedaling because you need your body weight to push down on the pedals.

The fast spin segments get fast music and the slower climbs get slower music. I usually close my eyes and imagine I'm in a beautiful location. It's really cool, almost transcendental or hypnotic.

Another thing the instructors do at some point is come around and challenge you one-on-one. This is where you pedal as fast as you possibly can for about 1 solid minute (feels like forever) with the class cheering you on.

I tell you by the time you are done with this class, you have accomplished something. We always feel good about ourselves at the end. Also, while the instructors tell you when to add or take away resistance, you only do what you can handle, though you do try to keep it as challenging as you can handle.

I was in an exercise class and we did a little of everything, and one day we tried spinning, OMG my botton killed me, and I had one of those jell seats. I did watch a class once and it looked like so much fun.

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Yeah the buttbone/pelvic bone thing can be a real problem. The first time I did the class I was sooooo sore. And of course, I come home from the gym and my dh gets bedroom eyes and I just had to laugh!!! There was no way that was happening!!!!!:Bang:

Yeah, it sounds REALLY fun, & like a great workout! I LOVE to feel good about myself at the end of exercise. Mindy, it must feel like a lifesaver that you found something fun you can keep up.

I want to also be able to have a good workout at home to make more sure I get it done. I need to keep learning about things that work good for home. Does anyone else have ideas for a good at-home-exercise routine? (i.e. equipment or tapes)