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/