The facility, Trio Life Fitness, is located about 25 minutes from my house, so I left a little before 8:15am so that I could make a quick Subway stop before hitting the road. I arrived at the facility around 8:45am, and when I saw other people in the lobby with the same spin instructor manual I had, I knew I was in the right place.
We got started right about 9:00am, but we started off with introduction. Our instructor, or coach, Kerrie, was just wonderful. She has such passion for spinning, and that really shone through for the entire orientation. She was very knowledgeable, encouraging, and had a lot of energy! I was by far the youngest participant, though I was not the only participant who had no previous experience as a fitness instructor, which made me feel much more comfortable. Though I can't say that the older woman who continually made digs about 20-year-olds was one of my favorite fellow trainees.
After introductions, it was time to get started. We started with bike setup, which is a very important aspect. Obviously, comfort is of major concern, but so is making sure the elbow, knee, and ball of the foot are all aligned, as to allow for generating more power and strength, and to make sure no injuries happen. After setting one another up, we got on our own bikes to go over the five fundamental movements - seated flat, standing flat, jumps, seated climb, and standing climb. Since I am a fairly seasoned spinner, I was already familiar with all of these movements, but it was also helpful to go over the corresponding hand positions. We ended with an hour-long ride that featured all five fundamental movements, and all three hand positions.
We broke for lunch around 12:30pm, and if I had known we would be given an hour for lunch, I probably would not have made a Subway stop this morning, as there is a Whole Foods just around the corner from the gym. However, I probably saved myself a significant amount of money by not going to Whole Foods, and I love Subway, so I was perfectly content with my chicken breast sandwich.
After lunch, we gathered in one of the other rooms for about three hours to talk about putting together a class, music, and how to be coach instead of a participant. This statement really resonated with me, because it's so easy to use this time as your own personal workout, but really, we are in it to inspire and challenge the people taking our class. After all, is a swim coach swimming during swim practice? Is a track coach running during track practice? No, they're busy timing, and paying attention to form. That's what we're here to do, because like teachers, we truly have the power to change lives. Cheesy, but I loved looking at it that way. Exercise is a huge passion of mine, and I love inspiring others in that way.
I am not going to lie and say that I didn't start getting distracted about halfway through this session, probably because we were sitting there listening to the instructor talk at us. She was very enthusiastic and engaging, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was in a classroom (and that is probably because I was taking notes throughout the entire day). We headed back into the spin room around 4:45pm and hopped back on the bikes to finish out the day. We had just spent quite a bit of time talking about the different kinds of rides - recovery, endurance, interval, strength, and race day - so we spent a little bit of time on each of those things. Interval classes are by far the most frequent (and my favorite) types of spin classes, but all of them are unique and important. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it, but it was very beneficial, and I already can't wait to start putting together my first class, whenever that may be. I am not officially "certified" until I take the assessment, but I am still allowed to teach classes, so the next item on my list is looking into a place to sub for a class or two this summer. I fell in love with spinning in high school, and I would love the opportunity to help others do the same.
I headed straight home after orientation was over, showered, and heated up a quick dinner of leftover black beans, corn, and pork loin. I then ate probably a few too many gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate cookie bars, but I really have no regrets about it. I now plan on spending the rest of the night on the couch watching Remember the Titans with two of my roommates. Good night!
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