A great ride for the baby-boom generation
Spinning, or indoor cycling, offers a suitable form of exercise, even when the weather outside is frightful
Jeff Feldman says he doesn’t feel like he’s 55, and that his love for fitness has steered him toward a new way of exercising: indoor cycling.
“My passion is running,” he said, “and spinning was introduced to me by a friend on a bad wintry day. Running on the treadmill didn’t appeal to me and outside it was nasty, so someone had suggested that I look into spinning.
“I started doing it and it was a lot of fun. I’m still running, but I’m going (to spinning) three or four times a week. It’s a low-impact exercise and now I have friends of mine who are able to do it with me. The level of endurance is at a level where we’re really pressing ourselves — we’re not just going through the motions, but testing our endurance. It’s a very different and positive experience.”
Many exercise enthusiasts have latched onto the sport of indoor cycling because of its cardiovascular benefits, caloric burn, and low impact, meaning it’s less intense and hard on muscles or joints, resulting in less injury.
While a lot of the gyms in the area are offering spinning classes (among other activities), studios such as VéloVite are honing the craft of indoor cycling by offering a wide range of skill-specific classes, hiring expert instructors and outfitting their studio with stadium seating, atmospheric lighting, fantastic sound systems, and tech-savvy bikes that can do everything from track heart rate to caloric burn.
Songs are timed just right to the instructor as well as the workout intervals (where spinners increase and decrease their momentum), which means a routine workout becomes an all-encompassing experience. And many studios offer the flexibility of paying by the ride, rather than being stuck with membership dues.
“New clubs like VéloVite have raised the bar — the equipment, atmosphere, and teachers are all excellent,” Feldman said.
Co-founder and co-owner Angelica Webb said she and her partner, Sheryl Goldstein, had noticed Montreal lacked this type of exercise studio. “We wanted to give consistent quality, meaning a good workout in a great atmosphere,” Webb said. “We wanted people to know, coming into the studio, that they’re getting quality instructors, quality bikes, and an overall quality workout.
“I also think people are starting to think about their workouts and they don’t want everything to just be mediocre,” she said, noting that in many places people get specific workouts at their respective studios — they go to one studio to do spinning, another for Pilates, and so on.
Given their specialization, VéloVite’s studio has an intimate, more personal feel, with rooms designed specifically for the indoor cycling and core training classes that they offer. This is a major selling point to baby boomers who are looking to get physically fit but don’t know where to begin.
“Many people have been inactive for a while and they are intimidated to walk into a gym, so they feel like they can come here and do their own thing,” Goldstein said.
With full-body benefits that are both physical and psychological, spinning has become a popular workout for baby boomers. Also, given its low-impact nature, the risk of overexerting or injuring oneself is low. Because of this, specialized studios are on the rise, offering those who consider themselves spinners a great ride every time.