Spin It To Win It

For those of you that know me know that I never back down from a good challenge. I face it eye to eye and often times make the first move. My belief is that you never know if you can achieve if you don't at least try. It took a very young unconfident person within me to learn this. Once I learned this I started speaking my mind and walking the walk that accompanied the talk. Attempting things that I had no clue what the result would be. In the end, I won some and lost some but the fact remains that I tried it and did my best which is the only way that you can achieve success in anything.

I prefaced this blog that way because the new improved more confident Mike attempted something 3 weeks and 2 days ago that unconfident Mike evaded since joining the gym in July 0f 2011.
Meet Mean Colleen.

Mean Colleen is the instructor of the first Spin Class that confident Mike decided to participate in 3 weeks and 2 days ago. It was at the LA Fitness Midtown Atlanta location. I came to the gym that day to run 3 miles and lift weights for about 30 minutes. My schedule took a drastic turn that day. I was walking to the locker room to put my stuff in the locker and en route I have to pass by the cycling room. Normally I pass by without even looking into the room because its rather dark. This time was different. I looked into the room because I heard a song playing that I really like called Too Close by Alex Clare. As soon as I look in, I notice a lady in the front of the class pointing her finger at me with a serious face. I turn around to make sure she is pointing at me. When I notice no one even in my vicinity, I realize that she is definitely pointing at me. Then when she has my attention she uses that same finger to call me into the room. I then enter the room and she yells in a sweet voice and points at a bike in the front saying, "I saved a seat for you." I laugh and say "I'll be right back." I proceed to the locker room expeditiously so that I can hustle back because they are doing something really cool that I later learned is called jumps on the bike. Its a Movement from saddle(seat) straight up into the climb position(Standing upright) to the Booty Climb( Mean Colleen Term, Bent over handle bars while standing) and back to saddle. I digressed just that quick. There were a plethora of negative thoughts running through my head the short amount of time that I was in the locker room placing things in the locker. What if this class is really hard? Am I going to embarrass myself? Am I too heavy for the bike? Is it going to break when I get on? While walking in confident Mike surfaces and says, "Oh you will be fine. You got this." I hop on the bike, get adjusted and ride like I've done it before. By the end of class I was able to answer all of my questions with 100% Certainty.

What if this class is really hard? Yes it was extremely tough! Mean Colleen says every class "Yes this is hard but you didn't come here for easy."

Am I going to embarrass myself? No. I didn't do anything to embarrass myself in the class. I didn't pass gas really loud, fall off the bike or pass out. That's a good day for me.

Am I too heavy for the bike? Is it going to break when I get on? Duhhh Mike you lost 200 pounds. In August 2010 that would have been an excellent question to ask.

I felt a sense of accomplishment after finishing the class. Every ounce of sweat dripped out of me onto the floor and on my bike. I had not sweat like that since I was in the 200s and 300s pound group. It was amazing! I clocked 30 miles in 60 minutes and burned 1159 Calories. This was now my new thing to do. I was addicted instantly.  The next day I decided to attend 2 spin classes.

Meet Scary Mary.

Scary Mary was the second instructor that I took on that next day. I met her at the LA Fitness Atlantic Station Atlanta location. I participated in her Noon class after completing Mean Colleen's 9:15 class same location. Scary Mary has a different style from Mean Colleen but I love both styles. Mean Colleen's style is Interval style. Sprint 15 seconds rest 10 seconds. Sprint 30 seconds rest 10 seconds. Sprint 45 seconds rest 10 seconds. Sprint 60 seconds rest 10 seconds. Then down in the same intervals. Scary Mary's style is lots of high resistance while sprinting in the saddle which proves to be tough as well. She turns into a Drill Sergeant during instruction. She means business and it shows in her eyes. No smiling and no slacking. She has many quotes that I love to recite for fun in my head. My favorite quote that she said during class was "You all want to be over comers, but you don't want to do what it takes to overcome."   That stuck with me and actually motivated me to spin more often because she had a point. Success is a formula. Effort+Work+Discipline=Success. I know that in Scary Mary and Mean Colleen's class if you don't have those 3 factors, you might as well stay out of the class and sit on the stationary bikes with the Television on it while pretending you are on your couch. LMAO Love that!

The truth is Mean Colleen is not mean at all. She is a sweet heart but I nicknamed her this because we worked extra hard the second day that I attended because she ate ice cream the night before but we paid for it. LOL. Scary Mary is not very scary either. She does say things like "Get your head up or get your butt out!" I gave her this nickname because I can see the intensity in her eyes. Some may call it passion but I call it intensity because she is about business during that 1 hour class. I love that.

I dedicated this blog post to these 2 special people because over the past 3 weeks I was reminded that although motivation is within, sometimes it takes another special person to bring that motivation out of you and share it with others. Now I'm Spin It To Win It. My neighbor Katrina now spins, my Sister Dorothy who is here from Germany on vacation likes to spin with me now, my new friend Sylvia is now spinning at the YMCA and loves it. My new friend Sara, who likes to pick my brain, motivated me to write this blog so she gets a special shout out as well.

Please check out this link below to see a slight example of what a spin class looks like.
http://youtu.be/NJQkdHYkLIQ