Shape Up NYC

For those of you who know me, I tend to become obsessed with things I love quickly. SoulCycle happens to be one of those things (and if you follow me on twitter you already know this, you are ahead of the game). I have always been a huge fan of biking and spinning. I first got into biking with my Dad, it was a way we could hang out together without any distractions (it is quite hard to send a text or take a phone call while riding along the coast of California, believe me I tried it did not end well). When I moved to New York, I was quite hesitant to ride outside because New York is a hard city to ride in so I looked to spinning classes.

When I belonged to Equinox, I was a religious rider and loved taking their High Gear class. When I gave up my membership I stopped spinning. A couple of months later while I was in a Refine class I heard someone go “This class was insane, we were waving towels over our head! I will be going back to SoulCycle all the time now!”. After hearing that I knew I had to take a class. I signed up for a 2:00pm class in Union Square which I would take after my 12:00pm Refined class. I thought how hard could this be in it just spinning.

I got to class 30 minutes early, the studio was beautiful. They offered me free shoes since it was my first class (luckily I own them, but it is a $3 rental if you do not have them). I went downstairs put my stuff in my locker and went back upstairs. Just as I was finishing putting on my shoes the class before mine walked out. They were drenched.

Small warning bells started going off in my head, what had I gotten myself into, I thought this was just spin, but these people clearly were on a whole other level. They cleaned the room and let us in, it was dark and lit by candles and smelled like grapefruit (let me tell you how thankful I was for this, I was slightly nervous about what it would smell like based on what the people looked like from the class before). I got on my bike and immediately noticed how close all the bikes were and the giant speakers above my head. Warning bell number 2, this was not like any other spin class I have ever taken. A cute girl named Madison came walking in, in converse high tops (I should mention I now want to own converse high tops) and started the music. It was fast and had a great beat, I almost felt like I was in a club and then it happened… The entire class went from just spinning to dipping down on the bike in unison. I was amazed! It dancing while spinning.

SoulCycle is a 45 minute class that consists of dips, push-ups, jumping, tap backs, and other rhythm movements.  It also has an arm section that can last anywhere from 4-7 minutes (yes, you are lifting weights while spinning I promise you won’t fall off the bike). Everyone in class is required to wear clip in shoes ($3 rental) and I highly recommend water  ($2 if you forget your own). The class itself costs $32, yes I realize this is crazy expensive and so do the instructors. The first class I took with Madison she said “I know you just paid $32 for this class so I am going to give you the workout you deserve!” And she did I came out feeling like a new person that looked like they just went swimming in a pool.

Yes SoulCycle does have its drawbacks: it is super expensive, they do not offer any discounts or membership prices, they only have showers at two locations, and their lobbies tend to be small. But even with all these drawbacks they still get me to come twice a week (putting me farther and farther into debt ). The reasons why SoulCycle is so addicting and people pay the money they do is for the following reasons:

1. The instructors, the passion they have for what they do and their students is amazing. They make you want to come back to their class every week. They make it a point to know your name and make you feel like you are a part of something. I have a couple of instructors that I would never miss a class with!
2. The music, great music will make any class fly by and makes me feel like I am in a dance club every time
3. The Soul Community, I have made some amazing friends at Soul Cycle who all have the same passion as me. It is great to have that kind of support, they motivate me to make better choices and push me harder in class. I even have friends in WEHO (West Hollywood) who I have yet to meet! – Noa I am coming for you

I just started taking classes in February so I have yet to try all the instructors (I will give you an update when I do) but in the meantime below are some rockstars that you have to check out if you go to SoulCycle.

If you ever want to take class, email me! I am always up to go to SoulCycle.

Filed under: Gyms, Workouts | Tagged: Cycle, Fitness classes, Indoor cycling, New York Spinning, Soul, Soul Cycle, Spinning, UES, UnSq, UWS, WEHO | 1 Comment »