BLOBBY'S BLOG

Spinning World

A while back someone on FB asked me what my motivation for exercise was. I responded, equal parts vanity and humiliation (if I failed). As I've mentioned here before, if I tell enough people I'm doing it - and then don't follow through, I kind of look like an ass (more than I already do! ha! I beat you to the punch, fuckers!!!!).

Mind you - Morty chimed in that stream and said 'and a healthy dose of OCD'.

Damn him for being right. But maybe in this case OCD can do something for me, instead of me being a slave to it.

My intent was never to have this be a blog on gyms and work-outs, but as they say, write what you know. ...and right now, this is it.

Yesterday I started spinning. Should that be upper cased? I just don't know.

It was never the plan. I bike. I like to bike, but Spin class just didn't seem like me. But on the weekends, I would see people file in and eventually out of the class and I'd think about it. Then, as only I can do, I started to dream about it. I even had my bike helmet on in the class - in my dream. Yeah - even in dreamland, I'm a dork.

So I went. Now, the weekend classes are packed. Maybe 30-40 people per class. So I was kind of expecting the same thing at 06:00 on a weekday morning. I was expecting to get lost in a sea of people where no one would notice me. Silly silly me.

Including the instructor, there were four people in the room. Much like part of my workout motivation, I was going to finish that 60 minute routine out of a sheer desire to not be humiliated. In the back of my mind I kept telling myself: you bike. you've seen people in this class 10 years older than you and 70 pounds heavier. YOU can do this.

Lord. I became Stuart Smalley.

But you know, I could do it. And I did do it. I won't say it was easy. And I'm not sure I have ever sweated that much in my life. The room was hot....or I was. Or both. I thought, if hot yoga was this hot, could I do it?

They tell you to bring your water bottle in there, but I don't know why. I don't know how you'd have a moment to grab it and drink. There's no time. Hell, I only wiped my head down twice - it's all I could do.

Getting my shirt off afterwards was a chore. It was adhered to my back. But Morty told me I was not to use natural fibers in classes like these. I knew this to be true, but there was part of me that wanted people to see me sopping wet and to know how hard I worked. How manly I was. g-d, I'm an ass. (btw......14 hrs later, the shorts and shirt were still way damp.)

Oh - and the only thing harder than a 06:00 Spin class is one led by a lesbian. I'm just sayin......
...and one who liked to use a lot of Coldplay in her song mix. I'm not a Coldplay fan, but some of their stuff worked for what we were doing - or I thought.

Friday, it will be run by a dentist named Virgil. I kid you not. The poor guy already has those two strikes against him. I'm 90% sure he's family. Morty even insinuated it and he has never been to my gym, nor does he even live in town. Maybe this is true of many Spin instructors.

Here is what I wasn't expecting - Yoga kind of plays into Spinning. How you stretch for the front of the bike or put your sit bones back on the seat, your breathing and how you place your shoulders all really ties in. My g-d, my workout life in a linear fashion. CRAZY!

As I told my email group about my morning adventure, Mort noticed I didn't say I enjoyed it. True that. I responded, 'I didn't not enjoy it'. It's work. I feel good afterwards, but it is work.

I'm going back, but I don't think I can do three classes per week. That would make me be at the gym seven days a week, and two of those days I'd be there twice a day.

That might be a bit much - even for my OCD.


Song by: Lori Carson