FlyWheel Chicago

On Friday, I went to FlyWheel Chicago and tried spinning. 

Like with many forms of exercise, I had never been to spinning before.  It was my understanding that I would get on a stationary bike and then ride that bike near many other people who were also riding stationary bikes. For the most part I was correct, but I did not anticipate the overall atmosphere of this location and the class itself.

I walked into the facility, which had peaceful blue paint and dark wood accents at the front. They also had large chalkboards with colorful chalk. Really it looked like a spa. A spa filled with people wearing spandex. I went up to the front desk and signed in (everybody needs to sign in) and they gave me some shoes.

The Shoes

You have to wear their shoes. I felt like I was bowling, but bowling in crazy shoes. So you give them your street shoe size and they hand over a pair of funny space shoes with Velcro straps. I hadn’t used Velcro on my shoes since I was about 6 years old and what a mistake! Velcro is awesome. Seriously, more shoes should be fastened with Velcro. I know that we are all very proud that we can tie shoes but Velcro is effective and efficient.

The shoes have some serious magnets in the bottoms of them. The magnets then click into the bikes. So, you are attached to the bike pedals. This is great because you don’t have to worry about having your feet slip off, but also super weird because well… because I have never been attached to a piece of workout equipment in quite this way before. 

The Bikes

These puppies run away with you. I hopped on and pumped my legs a bit. Other people seemed to be doing this, so I gave it a go. The stationary bike was unlike any other stationary bike I have ever been on. It seemed to get momentum, but unlike a normal bike, you can’t just stop using your legs and glide. Nope. The bike pedals keep spinning around and since you are magnetically connected to the bike, your feet and legs keep spinning for a little while, whether or not you had that in mind.

Also, little note here: the bike seats are not super comfy.  During the class the instructors yells out instructions like: stand up! lean over! sit down! After about ½ a class it became clear that “stand up” was just not going to happen anymore. My thigh muscles burned. But sitting on the seat is really uncomfortable after a while. I wanted to stand up just to give my bum a break from the tiny banana-like rock seat I was precariously perched on. That seat is motivating. Keeps you on your toes.

The Room

The room that the classes take place in is set up in a semi-circle and each row of bikes is a little higher than the one in front of it, stadium style biking if you will. The instructor then has her own bike on a podium front and center. The room is kept very dark, which I really liked. The darkness took the pressure to perform off, because you can’t really tell what your neighbors are doing. It makes it a very anonymous experience. Even though there are about 40-ish people in the room, you can’t see their faces or identifying features. It's a sort of strange experience. The class becomes rows of people who lack identifying features in a room, moving in unison to loud music.  It’s very futuristic and strange.

The music is really fun loud but here’s a tip: if you move your feet to the music, you will end up going the goal speed. The people who work here clearly put a lot of time and effort into matching music with the pacing and the loud music helped keep me motivated. Maybe it was my marching band past, but once I realized that the music matched the pace, the class got a lot easier (well…. It was easier to understand what I should be doing, even if my muscles were just not quite able to keep up) In the end, the music added a ton to the class.

So, at the end of my workout, I toweled off with one of the free towels and I snatched a free water. I have been carrying around this water bottle like a badge. I survived this class. It was intense, but I did it.

The next day, my bum hurt. Those little seats made sitting a delicate process for a day or two.  But two weeks later I went back.

My foray into spinning was just as intense as I thought it would be, but the facility and the people (instructors and fellow spinners) were really nice so I tried it again. I would have to say, if you haven’t worked out in a few months, maybe work up to this one. No one will care at all how you perform, but you will be hurting if this is your way of easing back into shape. But if you have been exercising here and there, give it a go. It was pretty cool.

Oh! And of course, the free part:

First Class is FREE!

Also, they have a free class every Friday at 12:30pm. Just get there a little early to get a bike and set it up to fit your body. This is the one that I went to. The class ended up filling up, but I got there about 15-20 minutes early and there were still plenty of slots. 

http://chicago.flywheelsports.com/

I love my yoga place and I don’t want to go anywhere else.

I love my yoga place and I don’t want to go anywhere else.

Thanks to TruHarmony, I’ve lost like 8 pounds. That is pretty crazy for one month. So obviously I am a huge fan of the hot yoga thing.

That said, it does cost money now to go to class. So, once again, I have found a wonderful, effective, super great, awesome workout… But, I will have to pay for it.

Also, honestly, I am a little scared of trying workouts that are traditionally viewed as “hard.” Spinning, boxing, crossfit for example are considered brutal and I generally try to avoid brutality in my day-to-day life. So while I have many free classes left on my list, I don’t want to try them. I am a workout wuss. Also, after about of month of doing the hot yoga at Truharmony, I’ve gotten a lot better. I’m not the newbie in class anymore and being the worst is class is not my favorite.

But, I recognize that me being bad at a workout makes for a more amusing post. So, my plan is to try a new “brutal” workout this week. This should be interesting. I’ll report my findings.

Nope, No Thank You, Never again.

So, on this week of free classes at TruHarmony, I tried one more time to schedule my favorite, peaceful wonderful hot yoga class. That one was full. No Vinyasa Flow for me. But hey, there were other options. 

For instance there was this “Yoga Sculpt Boot Camp” and only 8 people had signed up for that one.

These are the things that should have tipped me off:

-       Sculpt

-       “Boot camp”

-       The fact that only 8 people had signed up for this class even though this yoga studio is extremely popular and I live in a major city.  (later more people ended up coming, so it was a full class, but a mere 16 hours before the class only 8 people thought it was a good idea- so really I think the majority of the class was filled with people who had not though it out thoroughly. I relate, I clearly did not think about it.)

But nooooooooo. 

I figured the hot serene environment would make everything ok. I figured that anything that happened in that happy hot tropical oasis would be wonderful and soothing.

For three minutes I was right.

I lay back on my mat. I breathed in the hot air. I thought about aligning my body and what Zen means.

Then the lights flipped on. The top 40 club music started blasting and the instructor started yelling instructions.

Suddenly, we were jumping. Literally jumping. 

And there was yelling… I think it was supposed to motivate me. It reminded me of law school. Absolutely every person in that room looked miserable and worse, I could see them because instead of gazing out over the city scape, we were looking at our sorry sweaty selves in a full length mirror. 

I knew it was really bad when the MMA fighter had to take a break. I’m sorry, but if a guy can work out 6 hours a day and take kicks to the face and this makes him miserable, I am willing to just chalk this up to a terrible terrible mistake.

This class seemed like a horrible combo between:

-       Ballet- the whole workout happens while staring at yourself in the mirror

-       High School Gym Class- seriously, the jumping and high knee running in place. No thanks.

-       Bikram Yoga- in my opinion the unpleasant version of hot yoga.

-       Running- just because that also makes my body hurt. 

-       Beach Body Bootcamp- a misguided attempt to get fit. I took this class in college and decided to drop it. I had to go talk to my adviser because dropping this class was like dropping a real class.

No joke, halfway through the class, I literally thought “what fresh hell is this?”

Conclusion:

I will never ever ever take this class again.

Relecting on Hot Yoga

I angered the workout gods yesterday by saying that I didn’t feel like I had worked out.

This morning all of my muscles were deeply sore.  However, in my post work-out euphoria yesterday I had reserved a spot for yoga today a mere 28 hours after my initial class. Once you commit to one of their classes online, you have to go or cancel 12 hours before the class, otherwise there are penalties or something… Of course, 12 hours before tonight would have been really early this morning and I was still asleep. I had not yet realized the full extent of the soreness.

So I hauled myself to class.

Class was busy tonight. I think that some people showed up without having reserved a class and they were not allowed to come in. Also, it was hotter this evening.  The heaters were cranked up and with all the bodies in the room it was toasty.  By the end of class I looked like I had taken a shower in my clothes.

Once again, I am in post-workout euphoria. I am again planning another trip. So, what I have realized is this particular type of yoga is very much like a drug. If you go awhile without doing it, you experience physical pain.  But, that pain goes away when you do it again.  Tricky Tricky TruHarmony.

Hot Yoga at TruHarmony

This workout was amazing.

I am not a soul who “loves to work out” or gets “that runner’s high” or any of that.  However, this hot yoga is clearly going to be addictive. So be warned, they offer a week of free yoga to new people, but like drug pushers, they know that they just have to get you hooked and then you’ll be coming back.

The studio is pretty neat. 
The entry to the building was a bit bizarre but once you got into the studio it was really cool.  It is very industrial with cement ceiling and exposed pipes, but the pieces they added, like flowing curtains, make the studio very welcoming. The room itself is tropical warm with high humidity.  Almost immediately I was sweating a bit. But honestly it was more like being on vacation in a tropical place than an oppressive heat. Most of the time in yoga, I find myself itching to get off my mat at the end, but the environment was soooo pleasant and relaxing here, I could have stayed there all day and taken a nap.

If you have tried Bikram yoga, this is much better.   
The room is not quite so hot (although it does heat up as you go along).  Also, the yoga itself was a lot more fun. I tried Bikram and I considered it torture that I only participated in to humor my mother. The people in the class were very focused here, but not as intense as in Bikram.

The instructor, Rebecca, was amazing too. She came around and gently adjusted everyone into better poses.  I really appreciated that because I have not been adjusted before and I didn’t realize that my poses were a bit off.  She was also really friendly and didn’t expect us to be experts. 

Tips:

- Bring a towel. seriously.

-  Wear a tank top. it's hot.

- Make you feet kind of pretty. (again yoga, they are visible.)

- Wear your hair out of your face. I wore a ponytail and ended up having to stop to pull it into a bun halfway through because my hair was everywhere.
- Don't plan to go anywhere without a shower. 

I don’t know if I feel like I worked out per se, but I do feel like I had a mini tropical vacation on an otherwise cold March day in Chicago.

So, one week free. Do it. Here's the link:

http://truharmonyyoga.com/classes-2/pricing.html

If you scroll down, you can see the part where they offer one week free for new people in Chicago.

Joffrey Ballet Class (Free This Friday!)

School has started back up for the semester, but that doesn't mean that I am not going to keep this up.
This Monday I went to a Keep Fit Ballet class at the Joffrey Ballet here in Chicago. They offer adult ballet classes for anyone who wants to drop in and they have a variety of different levels. The Keep Fit class is extremely effective at making me sore. No word on whether it is effective at getting someone in great shape because I have never taken it regularly. But, that said, the level of soreness indicates that I worked some muscles.

Now, in the effort of full disclosure, the classes normally do cost money. But, this Friday, January 27th they are offering free classes! That is why I am posting about it even though I paid for the class on Monday (well not really but that’s because I had a gift certificate). The normal cost is $15 for adults, $12 for students and $10 for professionals.

So, free class on Friday!!!
I will of course be going to one of the free classes.

Observations about Keep Fit Ballet:

- Leotards are not flattering
To be fair, they make clothes look great. When I wear a leotard under my clothes on the way to class, I feel pretty rockin’. They are like full body shape-wear. Spanx ain’t got nothing on a leotard. I also wear full body tights. I recommend them soooo much for anyone who is not a professional ballerina with a professional dancer’s body. They prevent the horrible tights-muffin-top-thing and make everything look smoother.
All that said, leotards are meant to be clothes, not full coverage undergarments and leotards just on their own, man oh man. Not my favorite look. It is almost enough to deter me from going to class altogether- which is counter intuitive. The only way I will look good in my leotard is if I work out, so not going to class isn’t going to help anything. To make the leotard situation even more noticeable, ballet studios are covered in mirrors. There is no escaping them. Other people in the class wear additional clothing like capri pants or tank tops and I might explore that idea.

- Pointing your toe = Workout?
The majority of Keep Fit Ballet is a variety of toe pointing exercises. I don’t speak French, so I will not be writing any of the special terms down, but mostly they are all toe pointing: toe pointing to the front, to the back, to the side, a little off the ground, bouncing off the ground, circling pointed toe on the floor. Lots of toe pointing.
After the toe pointing, then there is some kicking. Then a little jumping. Nothing is very hard to do; however, at the end of the class I feel it!
I have tried artistically pointing my toe in my apartment and it does not have the same effect. Somehow, toe pointing in the ballet studio is a workout. Go figure.

- The studio has the most amazing view.
Seriously, there are giant picture windows that look out over State Street. Gorgeous. If you ever wanted to feel like a professional ballerina but say, you didn’t start when you were 4 and you aren’t Russian, I think this is the best you can get.

Additional benefit, people think you are really cool when you say you are going to a ballet class at the Joffrey. I had people ask me: “Oh wow, are you, like, a ballerina?” Hahaha… no. But, people seem to impart all sorts of specialness to a ballet class that just doesn’t exist when you tell someone that you are going to a Pilates class.

I’ll write about the free class once I go, but again, I wanted to let people know about the Free Classes this Friday!
Check out the link a class schedule and more information about the free classes.

http://www.joffrey.org/academy/programs/adult

First Free Class: Yoga at Lululemon

So, went to a free yoga class today at the Lululemon store on Michigan Avenue.

I think yoga means stretching for a long time and looking really relaxed in public.

I kept waiting for the torture part to happen and it just didn’t happen.  I like stretching so I think I will keep going to this class.

Observations about yoga in general since I am a newcomer:

- Some people have learned to breath like Darth Vader. 

Seriously, I have never had a group of polite polished looking people breath so loudly around me.  But more specifically, the breathing really really sounded like Darth Vader. It also seemed that the yoga people breathed more like Darth Vader as the stretching and bending got more intense.  As if they were summoning the dark side to help them get their noses closer to their knees.

- One must have well groomed, soft-looking feet.

It’s winter.  I have not had bare feet in ages.  In the shower, I wash my feet, but nothing special.  Soap, water, rinse.  In the future, I think I will add lotion and pumice stone to that routine because my feet were looking a little… rough.  A large portion of the class was spent getting my face as close to my feet as possible, so I was able to observe my feet up close. 

- I feel really relaxed.

All the stretching prepared me perfectly for a nap or a bath or other relaxing activities.  Normally, I find working out stressful (generally because I lack athletic talent).  But I am flexible, so yoga was soothing. 

- Everyone owned some Lululemon clothing. 

The class is held in the store, so often while working on a pose, I found myself concentrating very hard on the garments hanging just a few feet from my head. The store was really pretty and there was plenty of room, but it’s a store so there is merchandise everywhere.  After glancing around at the other people in the class, I noticed that every single person in the class was wearing at least one article of Lululemon clothing.  I don’t blame them.  The clothes look great.  But man, they are on the pricey side. 

- Don’t come late. They lock the door.

Conclusion:

This class was great.  It’s free. It happens every week. I will be doing this again.
 http://www.lululemon.com/chicago/michiganavenue/events/