Running has always been a favorite activity of mine. I’ve been running for years and until recently, my body felt great. A few months ago however, I injured my knee during a run. I decided to do a little research on my injury and I found it was commonly caused by overuse. In other words, I was running too much and my body was trying to tell me to ease up.
As recommended, I spent one week resting and icing my knee. During that time, I decided that I would need to change a few things to make sure I didn’t reinjure myself. If I didn’t want to reduce the distance of my runs, I would have to reduce the number of days I ran. This meant I needed to find another activity to fill in those extra days. That’s when I decided to go to a class at the gym that I had never tried before – spinning.
Have you heard of it? Created by Jonny Goldberg (a.k.a “Jonny G”) as a way for outdoor bikers to train for races, spinning is a great aerobic exercise anyone can try. Some gyms call it “group cycling”, but it’s roughly the same idea: an instructor leads an aerobic workout on a stationary bike. These bikes have resistance knobs that allow you to control how strenuous your work-out is.
All spinning classes feature music geared to motivate and energize participants. I thought it sounded fun and perfect for cross training. Spinning is aerobic, but it doesn’t have much impact on my joints. (Something my knee would thank me for!)
When I arrived at class, I asked the instructor for some help setting up. She moved the seat up to an appropriate height for me and showed me how to control the resistence knobs. I hopped on that bike, naïve and a little smug. After all, I have been running for years. This was going to be a breeze.
Was I ever wrong!
By the second song I was dripping sweat and my legs were burning – but I loved it. My legs pedaled in sync with the music and I tuned out all other distractions. When the instructor told us we were headed for a hill, I cranked the resistance to the right and chugged right along. Before I knew it, the 40 minute class flew by and it was time to cool down. I was hooked!
Now, I’m alternating between running and spinning for my aerobic exercise. By switching up my aerobic routine, I feel even stronger when I run. And much to my delight, my legs don’t get tired as much anymore.
Have you tried spinning? What do you do to switch up your fitness routine and keep your muscles feeling fresh?
Related Posts:
Subscribe to Groupie Blog to receive the latest health and wellness posts in your feed reader or e-mail!
0