As the January blues have struck and the inevitable Christmas weight has started to show I decided to jump on the fitness bandwagon and attend a spin class. I’d been told by a friend that it’s one of the most entertaining workouts out there, so I was pretty keen to find out why.
I booked myself into an evening class at BOOM Cycle which was conveniently just down the road from where I work in Holborn. It was pretty different to what I was expecting and to be honest, I didn’t think the class would be as enjoyable as it was!
As soon as I walked into the spin room I felt like I was in a nightclub. The room was very dark and all the bikes were lit by ceiling spotlights. I was then handed a glow stick by a member of staff (I haven’t even worn one of these since a high school disco) and the music suddenly came on full blast. Every other exercise class I have previously been to was held in a bright room at a gym, with lots of natural light, but this was the complete opposite.
I hopped on my bike, clipped myself in and sat staring at my phone for a few minutes to send the ‘this is going to be hilarious’ text to my friend. And as soon as I looked back up, the class was full and ready to get going! I can honestly say that I was laughing straight away. It was an 80’s themed spin class, so I knew I was in for a treat.
Rose, our instructor, loosened us up by getting us to pedal gently to an energetic beat. She talked (well, actually shouted) us through everything we had to do, giving us all the motivation we needed to take it up a notch. We then cranked the resistance of our bikes up, started to pedal faster and then began to stand up, then down, then up, then down. And within 15 minutes I was dripping with sweat. Luckily for me I was sitting in a good spot to catch all the air conditioning!
The next move we made was to lean our bodies in and stick our bottoms out. Before this spinning session I thought I could bust a move or two, but obviously I was wrong. The mirrored walls definitely helped me to recognise this. We worked out to various classic 80’s songs throughout the session. My favourite was definitely spinning to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, but I think I got a bit too in the moment of the song here. Our cool down music was to The Time of My Life (that Dirty Dancing classic), now that was pretty special.
There wasn’t one point throughout the whole session when we weren’t pedalling. And you could easily spot the more experienced spinners from the beginners. They were the ones who weren’t hopelessly starring at our instructor the whole time wondering what move was going to be next, arrived early to warm up and didn’t look like a plonka throughout!
The great thing about the class was being in control of your own resistance and knowing that you could go at your own pace if you wanted to. After the session my mind felt very relaxed- I hadn’t thought of anything but spinning for the past 40 minutes! My legs just kept wanting to stay pedalling as I walked out of the building and I felt really energised.
The spin class at BOOM Cycle was a great workout and I love the swanky nightclub concept of the class. It gave me all the buzz you get from going on a night out, as well as the great feeling you get from exercise.
Going alone wasn’t as intimidating as I had thought, a lot of people were by themselves but I’m definitely going to round up all the girls in the office next time!
Find out more about BOOM Cycle and how to book a class here.
