Question: What’s a fitness seeker’s ultimate fantasy?

Answer: A workout that can be easily adapted to your needs, does not leave you feeling self-conscious, and focuses on your mind and your body.

This fantasy workout can now be found in health clubs worldwide. It’s a new kind of stationary cycling called “Spinning®.”

Spinning classes utilize specially designed stationary cycles which enable you to easily adjust the resistance to your own fitness level. Spinning naturally lends itself to an individualized workout that burns serious calories, tones the lower body, and creates aerobic improvement that can transfer over to other activities.

“The class flies by,” admits Spinning instructor Tracy Schultz. “The variety definitely makes it more interesting. You can take the class at your own pace – as opposed to something like a step class where everyone can see what you’re doing.”

Spinning was created by endurance cyclist Johnny Goldberg, a.k.a “Johnny G.” In looking for new ways to improve his training, Johnny took a stationary bike and customized it to have the same fit and feel as a road bike. He went on to teach classes and soon began to gain a following. Johnny G and his partner, John Baudhuin, formed Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc. and joined forces with cycle manufacturer Schwinn to offer a specialty workout that focused on both improving physical fitness and enhancing mental well-being.

Angela Miller, marketing manager for Schwinn Cycling and Fitness, speaks with enthusiasm about Spinning classes. “You can have a tri-athlete sitting next to an out-of-shape person and they can do the same movements, but no one will know what level [anyone else] is at.”

“The main thing that differentiates Spinning is that it breaks down the usual barriers we see in aerobics classes,” says Miller. “Everyone knows how to ride a bike. There’s a much smaller learning curve and less intimidation. This is an activity everyone understands how to do.”

In an aerobics class, coordination is essential and, in most classes, concentration on the mind/body connection is ignored. Because Spinning is stationary and precise, it gives you the chance to focus inward.

Spinning instructor Peggy Klecha is devoted to helping people improve their bodies and their minds. She plans her classes carefully by choosing a variety of music, using distinct lighting, offering inspiring quotes, and finding new and unique ways for her participants to, as she says, “get their minds into their muscles.”

“Spinning allows me to make a total impact on the mind, body, and spirit,” says Klecha, who has tried various workouts, marathons, and triathalons and is most pleased with Spinning. “I take advantage of the situation Spinning provides. There’s no other sport that I know of where that impact can be made. With many activities, you can’t talk to the participants because there’s too much noise and activity going on. In a Spinning class, I talk to people. I motivate them by telling them that they are strong and that they are improving.”

Although it takes the form of a group class, a Spinning workout is truly a personal thing. With nearly all of the usual fitness class anxieties taken away, you are free to use visualization exercises, to tune into the way your body is feeling, and to build up your own motivation.

Klecha admits that her experiences with Spinning and aerobics classes are like night and day. While aerobics classes can be equated to “follow the leader,” the essence of Spinning seems to leave more room for making the class a positive, personal experience. Each Spinning instructor has their own motivational techniques and their own way of building confidence within each participant and the class as a whole. A Spinning class seems to bring about a relaxed feeling that creates a vibrant energy within the group. Klecha says participants take this energy with them when they leave class.

With the intensity of a power workout, the options needed to make the workout your own, and chance to come away from the workout feeling better about yourself, Spinning is what many consider a fantasy workout.

Says Klecha, “The improvement is so obvious to so many people. That’s what makes it so addicting. Everything changes: blood pressure lowers, lung capacity improves, you feel stronger, you lose weight, and you tone up. It’s worked for me and it’s worked for many people. That’s why they continue to come back.”

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