Getting Crushed

Well I've had two more workouts since I last blogged.  They definitely haven't gotten any easier.  The one yesterday was a little different.  I had a different person leading the class than before.  We did a lot more seated intervals.  Tonight I was back with one of my assistant coaches and we did the same workout as Monday.

I guess there are those people who say working out gives them more energy for the rest of the day.  I don't really buy it.  This is some of the most intense stuff I've ever done.  Yesterday when I did it I was in a class with my school's basketball coach.  He was like the most positive guy in the world the whole time.  I don't know how he does it.  As far as I'm concerned any exercise you do should pretty much crush you, especially the spinning.  I'm going every day and it's only 45 minutes but is there such thing as a rest day when you do this kind of thing?  I get done and I'm exhausted but I mean I'm used to 2 hour swim practices and sometimes we do those twice a day.  So I'm not sure a rest day really exists now.

The actual workouts I'm starting to get the hang of more now.  I didn't go crazy on the warmup this time so I definitely felt stronger going in to the first set of climbs.  Some of the people in my class were debating about seated vs standing climbs.  I definitely think seated ones are much harder.  Tonight I didn't do a lot but yesterday that was like her favorite thing to make us do.  It's just easier to get a rhythm on the standing ones because you can kinda use your body weight more.  Favorite thing to do is definitely the sprints though.  Going as fast as you can is awesome.  Tonight there was a guy next to me and he was like "I can't sit next to you anymore cause I feel like I have to keep up and I'm almost 30 years older than you."  I just kind of laughed.  I thought he was doing good.  Haha he was really rocking out to the music actually.  I went at 6pm again and it's dark outside during this time of year of course and the room we are in has a big window that shows the reflection of everyone.  Generally I'm looking at myself because I think it's funny to see the painful expressions on my face, but during some of the songs the guy was like doing a crazy air guitar thing and drums and all kinds of crazy stuff.  It's kind of a wonder how he didn't fall off the bike.

I'm so pumped for tomorrow's workout though!  I'm going at 730pm and my girlfriend is doing it with me.  I'm excited to see how she likes it since I've been talking about how much I love it now all week.  I'm trying to do some research in to the more detailed aspects of everything but I've had a bunch of school work so far this week so haven't done a lot.  I'd like to talk about whatever thoughts I have on it then though.  Until then, GET PUMPED

First Day of Training!!!!

So today I started what I hope to be a successful adventure in to the world of x-biking.  I go to school at Albright College in Reading, PA and just recently finished my last swim season.  Naturally, I needed to find a new exercise to stay in shape since I'm out of the pool.  My coach had us spin once or twice throughout the season and I knew then that this is something that I could do once my swimming career was over.  There is no pounding on the legs, just like in the pool, and its a great cardio workout.  Basically, its an easy transition for me since I have pretty good lung strength and I'm in the best shape I've ever been coming out of my best swim season.

My assistant coach was actually the instructor for the class tonight.  I went at 6pm right after dinner.  Maybe a bad choice haha.  My stomach was killing me the entire 45 minutes, especially during the hill climbs.  I haven't really mastered them yet.  Again, I'm in the best shape I've ever been and I'm a 21 year old guy.  I pretty much felt great the first 10 minutes and wanted to go crazy right from the get go.  Not a good plan!  Definitely need to pace myself in the future if I want to not die at the end like tonight.

For those of you that don't know much about spinning I'm here to learn with you.  For those of you who have been doing it for awhile please feel free to offer your feedback on any questions.  My first question that I need to figure out for myself is how does the music determine the pace?  Everyone was like "Oh crazy new playlist!"  I guess that meant the class had something to do with songs.  You're supposed to pace yourself to the music.  Sounds easy!  But I find myself just kinda riding and getting lost.  It's not so much the legs as the arms.  The bike has the handlebars that go side to side and I try to get a natural feel going but I don't know which side needs to be up with which leg.  Second, the whole thing is about pushing yourself.  No one knows how much resistance you are using at any given period of time.  What guidelines are there for what percentage of your ability you're supposed to be using at different points in time of the workout?  Should I start at 100% right off the bat?  I know there is a warmup period and everything but I'm still not sure.

These are some questions I think I'll ask tomorrow when I go.  I am planning to go at 630am.  Yay for me!  So hopefully I get in to a rhythm of 6pm on Monday, Wednesday and 630am on Tuesday, Thursday.  Friday is still wide open right now so I'm not sure.  I think I'll just see how the first few days feel.  Right now I feel great!  After all it was only 1 class.  More to come tomorrow!

The X-BIke And Why Its AWESOME