Spinning for Hurricane Relief

The past few months I have been feeling stuck in a rut. The excitement of summer has long since passed and I have started to feel like the hamster running on the wheel and doing the same things over and over again... sleep.. work.. make dinner.. sleep .. rinse repeat. Yes, maybe that's an exaggeration which is really punctuated by a few dinners out with friends and nights out with Joe, but all of this is really just the same old. For awhile I have been in search of a new hobby; something I could really enjoy, pour my heart into, and also use as a way to break up the long work week and stay active. I have been trying to go to the gym; but I ultimately find the routine of treadmill and weights fairly boring as well. It also annoys me that the gym is sort of solitary and after spending a day alone in a cubicle it would be nice to find something that involves interacting with other people instead of being alone with your thoughts and the songs blaring on your ipod. So while I was perusing Facebook last week, (my ultimate hobby) and came across an event that I thought would be fun to try. The Wall Indoor Cycling Studio on Main St., here in Manayunk, was offering free spin classes if you came with donations for hurricane victims of Island Park, NY on Long Island. I thought this benefit was a great cause and would be a perfect excuse to try spinning for the first time. I convinced my friend Allie to come with me, as she had never did a spinning class before either. Saturday morning at 8:45 am, with donations in hand, we headed off to give it a try.

When we got there I was pleasantly surprised that most of the people taking the class appeared to be women around our age. We were the only people who were new to spinning but the instructor was really nice and helped us set up our bikes. The first few songs, I was feeling pretty great.. and then she said that "warm up was over"..wait this was only warm up??! The class was about 45 minutes long and the speed, resistance and your position on the bike depended on the beat of the particular song that was playing at the time. For example, during a fast song you may pedal really fast at a low resistance whereas during a slow song you could be pedaling at a high resistance very slowly. It also varied between sitting on the seat and standing. It was one of the hardest cardio work outs I have ever done. At the end I felt energized like I was going to die!! My rear end is killing me from the bike seat and my calves are burning something fierce. It is 36 hrs later and it still kills to walk. 

My overall review is that I think spinning has potential to be fun and a nice way to meet people once you get used to the work out and build up the leg strength for it. I read online that the bike seat hurting your behind goes away in time. I don't think I could do spinning as my only form of working out, but I think it would be really nice to do once a week on a Saturday morning like we did this Saturday. Lets be honest - once a week is probably all my calves are going to be able to take. 

I still don't think that this is something I 'love' as a hobby but I might sign up for a few more classes because it was a great work out. At any rate,  so I am still in search of something that peaks my interest and is actually enjoyable. While I was at Wegmans today, I bought a yoga mat and am thinking of attending a Pilate's class next.... I will let you know how it goes! 

If anyone has any interesting hobbies they would recommend.. feel free to comment! Have you ever done spinning? Did you like it?