12/7/2006 Core Class & Spinning

Core Zone/Abs Blast

30 minutes of core strengthening/ab blasting goodness. This may be one of my favorite classes this fall so far. A little over a year after starting at the healthplex I can feel and see a massive difference in my fitness level and in my core fitness. I used to dread going to this class because I knew it was going to be extremely painful and difficult, but so far this year it's been....hard, but manageable in a sense that I have an easier time breathing while doing the workouts and my back doesn't hurt nearly as much.

Spinning - Intervals

A 60 minute interval spinning class with some interesting "motivators". I'm not sure how I feel about this class right now. It's definitely a lot different than the classes that Lisa taught, and I'm not going to jump to the conclusion that it's a bad thing, but if Thursday's night class is any indication of how she chooses to "motivate" the class I'm not sure if it's for me. That could be a huge disappointment because Thursday evenings are by far the best evening to do spinning for me.

How is it different? Well let's see, first she concentrates a lot on cadence. That's a little different than other spinning classes in that they would concentrate on heart rate and reaching certain heart rate goals. I know heart rate isn't always the most certain way to measure output. You're heart rate can be effected by a number of different things, but is cadence any better? So you reach a certain cadence, but then you have to use a perceived exertion. I would think that using cadence and heart rate would be better. I don't know if this was just one way of running the class, and she has more tricks in her bag...of tricks. Time will tell.

The other thing that was a little weird was how she chose to "motivate" the class. She would ask you to think about a time in your life when you felt like giving up, but pushed through and didn't quit. This is all fine and well, but she kept harping on it. Think of a situation in your life like medical problem, death in the family, etc. I don't know, you don't really know what people have gone through is spinning class really the place to be digging up your deepest darkest moments of your past? Maybe not so much in my opinion. I just have to see if it continues like that, and if it's for me.