So lately I have been going to Soul-Cycle in Tribeca, this dedicated bike spin studio that opened up a few weeks ago. I am not really a big “spinner” but my right ankle has a touch of tendinitis so I haven’t been running. Plus they had free classes Tuesday and Wednesday morning, so I went to those, as well as a class during the snowstorm two weeks ago.
So anyway, previously I had only been to spinning at gyms like Crunch and NYSC. This is a different vibe, just like going to a yoga studio is different from going to a gym yoga class. They have several different bike rooms which are all lighted with candles. The classes I took this week were “intro to bands” — all the bikes have stretchy resistance bands dangling from the ceiling. While you are spinning you also use the bands to do bicep and tricep curls and ab work. HARD. Actually even without the bands the classes are hard. My first class the room was a little warm and I almost felt like I was going to faint at times. It didn’t help that I couldn’t always make out what the instructor was saying … her words would get muffled in the microphone and sometimes I’d be going fast when I was really supposed to be taking it easy.
I had no problems understanding the instructor from this week, Todd, who began things by telling us, “this is not going to be an easy class.” Yeah. I think of myself as a pretty fit guy, but at times I was wondering if I misunderstanding the instructions. There’s no way he meant two full turns of the dial, right? The dial controls the resistance to the flywheel … but I felt like if I literally followed his instructions I’d hardly be able to pedal. Still, I decided I was understanding him correctly but this was just a hard class full of veteran indoor cyclists (mostly women). And perhaps being fit in other ways doesn’t help you as much with spinning as one might think. In any case Todd at one point called me out to pick up the pace. He’s a great motivator.
So anyway, I guess what I’m saying is that I enjoyed the class. I don’t think I would say it was “the hardest workout you’ll ever get” like this dude from Esquire wrote (that would be probably be Crossfit), but it was definitely v. challenging. However — here’s the big catch — a single class is $32. (I’ve never paid that, though, as your first class is $20 and like I said the other two classes were freebies). Even if you buy a 30-class pack for $850, that works out to over $28 a class. And they don’t have any unlimited options. So for people who can afford that, good on you …
P.S. If you do want to check it out, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week SoulCycle’s Band classes are free for first time “band” students. Call 212-406-1300 to reserve a spot.
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