Sunday, May 16, 2010

Weekend wrap-up

Saturday~ What a great day!! I made it to Power Spin in the early morning. 60 minute class of powerful strength intervals. I will be borrowing this idea for one of my classes this week. Fun stuff!!
After that, my friends and I headed outside in the beautiful weather for a nice and easy 6 miler. I would post a link, but it's taking too long to load for some reason. I know...how sad. haha!
I was pretty much tired after all this! It was fun though. The good weather always rejuvenates me.

Sunday~ Road cycling!!! First time out on my borrowed bike. It's a nice bike too! It's a touch too long, but I can't complain! My friend and I made it 22 + miles in under 1.5 hours which is about 15/mph. Not speed lightening at all, but I will get there!! It was a great day for a ride. This Michigan weather is finally shaping up!
Today is my birthday-woohoo!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey there....do you think you could share what a POWER SPIN class consists of with me. The instructors at my gym are really do some foolish spin classes and people are going to get hurt. We had a sub the other day and she did "traditional" spin...it kicked my butt!! AND...it was done the right way. None of the crazy acrobatics the other instructors have us do!!

MarciaG said...

My pleasure!!

Well.....My YMCA Power Spin is 60 minutes long.
It is an advancecd class etc.

The warmup is about 8-10minutes long letting the rider gradualy get their heart rates up.....
The actual "ride" is about 45 minutes or so...cool down at least 5 minutes and then stretching....
The instructor usually has a plan in mind ( USUALLY! haha!)

The good instructors let you know to make the class your own, ,but still challenge yourself...back off when necessary etc.

There could be segments of long powerful climbs ( or short ones) but most classes should also have a period of recovery. Sprints with recoveries, endurance portions and jumps etc.
THere are a lot of people (instructors and participants) that think SPinning is sooo hardcore-its only as hard core as you want to make it. You dont have to have tons of resistence on and pedal fast and furious the whole darn class!
The only time I don't give intentional recoveries is when I am conducting a Race Day class....but the beauty of spin class is that you can do what you want to do ( as long as you do it right-saffety first!!)
I feel I am rambling but I tend to get all fired up when it comes to crappy spin instructors!
There are no push ups, hovers, pedaling backwards, not using hands while pedaling while standing up,no spinning out of control w/ no resistence etc. The list of NO-No's goes on and on....
I don't think I am the best spin instructor in the world at all. I just teach my classes how I would want to be taught to. I also follow the rules of my specific certification and try to make every spin journey a success.

Please let me know if I even came close to answering your question. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Yes, you TOTALLY answered it! Thankyou. Oh, and this: " no push ups, hovers, pedaling backwards, not using hands while pedaling while standing up,no spinning out of control w/ no resistence etc " is EXACTLY a few of the things they do....they also do more...even WORSE things! It's insane. We have one instructor who will tell people to "make it your own, but in order to get results you must push yourself"...the other instructors will get "pissed", stop the music, restart the song and keep doing it until EVERYONE in the class is doing a particular "move" the way she wants it!!! Do you believe that?!?! Ridiculous! Thanks MARCIA!

MarciaG said...

How could I forget hovers?? Those are the worst-- What a Thigh Burner!!!
Do some squats instead people!!