SPINsanity

Zoe Carr
Oct 13, 2017
3 min read

One of the biggest stress reliefs I have found in the past couple of months in spinning. To be completely honest, I hate exercise in every form and would prefer to not do it at all. After running my first and only 5K in May, I decided to hang up my sneakers and decided that the only way I would be running is if someone was chasing me. So naturally, when the lady I babysit for mentioned that I should try spinning at the new place she was going to be an instructor at a new place opening, I rolled my eyes so hard I thought they got stuck. HOWEVER, I decided to be more "positive" and figured that it couldn't hurt to try new things...especially during the two week period that they were offering free classes. So I grabbed my best friend and made the drive (at the 6 AM mind you) to the studio for our first class.

Walking in, I was completely blown away. There were so many people there and they were all happy, AT 6 IN THE MORNING !!! Everyone was nice and smiling and this place offered complimentary fruit and water bottles...I thought it was too good to be true. After slipping into my shoes, I remembered that I had absolutely no idea what spinning was and what I was going to be doing. Quickly Googling a definition, I decided I would survive...maybe.

The first thing I noticed was how extremely clean the auditorium was and then how many bikes were in there, signaling me that there was going to be quite a few people there for our 7:00 class. Getting started I was so nervous: I couldn't figure my shoes out and was my handle bar to far away and maybe I wouldn't be able to keep up with the instructor and look like a loser, but turns out that wasn't true.

By the end of the 50 minute class, I sweating and literally cramping in my butt, but it was one of the most fun things I had ever done. I am a huge music person and that's what cycling is really based around. Each playlist is customer for each class, and the songs have to reach a certain BPM to be included. The music and the adrenaline mixed together created one of the most fun experiences of my life and by the time I walked out of the studio, I had found my new favorite exercise.

That was the beginning of August and as I sit here in October, I can confirm that I have continued to go to classes. What's really great is not only do I have the opportunity to go to the studio by my house, but my school gym offers multiple classes during the week as well. My friends and I have continued to take classes since the semester started and have definitely found our favorite instructor who provides the best music.

I write this post because I have found spinning to be one of my best and favorite ways to relieve stress. For 50 minutes I can take time to myself to forget the stress of the day or whatever I have coming up that needs to be done. Exercise, not just spinning, has been linked to being good to relieve stress and I could not agree more. I am so happy finding this because it is honestly one of my favorite things to do!