Jane Fonda vs. Lance Armstrong

I've been spinning at the gym lately. It's a great workout, I like being on a bike and it's great positive peer pressure. You have to keep going. Kind of hard to get up and walk out during the middle of a spinning class.

But like most group classes, the instructor is KEY. From my experience spinning instructors fall into one of two categories: Jane Fonda or Lance Armstrong.

I shall expound...

When I was in college I went to a spinning class twice a week taught by my bff's mother. It was pretty much a rockin aerobics class with awesome music on a bike. There was a lot of up and down and right leg vs left leg, fast, slow, and short breaks after every song to catch your breath. Throw in some leg warmers and it would have been Jane Fonda's workout on a bike. I miss those classes.

Here in the city, there are a lot of spinning teachers who are hard core cyclists. I like to put these folks (mostly men) into the Lance Armstrong category. They like to channel their chi and pretend that they are in the South of France. 'Visualize yourself on a flat road, now we're going to start going up a hill, can you feel the tension of the hill?' I can't do it. Furthermore, it drives me nuts. Perhaps I just have poor visualization skills, but I have a very hard time imagining that I am anywhere other than the spinning room at the gym. AND, generally the music is more on the meditative side - not helpful. I really need AC/DC or Katy Perry or something with a beat and some rhythm.

There is a spinning class at my gym on Saturday mornings, but I can't go because the teacher is a guy (nice man) who literally talks the entire ride, has no rhythm and has horrible taste in music. PLUS, I CANNOT sit for 45 minutes straight and pretend I am riding down the California coast.

So there is my little rant. I think I have decided on a bike for my outdoor endeavors. I don't need a ride on the Capitol Crescent Trail to be like an aerobics class. I just think you should be intellectually honest. If you are at the gym, you are at the gym.... it's not the Tour de France folks.