As a person who has always been pretty active, I’ve found it hard to find the time to workout over the past month of being here. I’m always making excuses about why I can’t workout. It’s either I have too much work and need to be in the library or because I don’t have work I should take a nap. These thoughts have led to me not going to the gym as often as I had planned. Working out is important to me because I like to be active and move my body. I grew up playing sports and played sports in high school so not moving my body was just another different thing that I was experiencing while being in a new environment.
So, last week I decided to try something new, a spin class. I figured if I signed up for a class then I would be forced to make time to workout. The class was also only 45 minutes so I felt like that was a small enough amount of time for me to take out of my day. I’ve never done a workout class before, let alone a spin class, so I was very nervous leading up to the class. I didn’t know exactly what to expect. The class was definitely one of the hardest things I have put my body through.
The majority of the class I did was spent off of the seat, standing up. We would stand for the whole song then as it ended we would sit for a few seconds to drink water and then went right back up again. We did a pushup-like thing where we would bend our arms in and out while we were pedaling which was very difficult. Something I really enjoyed though was that a lot of the movements we did went with the rhythm of the music. I liked that because I felt like I could really get lost in the music which distracted me from what I was doing. The music was also very upbeat and encouraged me to keep going even when I wanted to stop. I definitely wanted to stop a few times but when I looked around at the other girls in the class I knew I could do it. I felt like we were all suffering in it together so I wasn’t going to quit. Another thing I liked about the class is that it felt very much like everyone was in it all together. Everyone was on their own bike of course, focused on themselves but it still felt like a community of people who were all doing the same difficult thing.
Walking out of the class, I could barely feel my legs and wobbled a little bit but I felt proud of myself for doing something that was so hard. There were a lot of times during the workout where I wanted to quit because I felt like I couldn’t continue but I felt like I achieved something when I finished. During the workout I told myself that I would not be doing another class because it was so difficult but after the class I found myself looking at the classes for the next week. Overall, I would definitely recommend taking one of the free spin classes that is offered here. While the classes are very hard, I think they are a great workout that will make you feel accomplished after you finish it. The class is also only 45 minutes so you don’t need to dedicate a lot of time in your day to it. Be prepared to be sore for the next few days following the class!