Late last year I signed up for a 10 km road race in April but had to take a break from my training. Gasp! Actually, I’m sidelined from running because I pulled a muscle in my calf. I don’t want to mess up my leg more so I decided to take a break from runnings. Rather do nothing and be a lazy person on the couch, I wanted to still workout but not put any pressure on my calf. This is where Flywheel comes in!

What is Flywheel you ask?

For my birthday, one of my friends gifted me with a gift certificate to FlyWheel. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a spinning or indoor cycling studio. Spinning is all the rage in big cities like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. There are other studios in LA but I have not tried them yet. Flywheel is the closest spin studio from where I am living.

Flywheel has two studios in LA and the one I went to is in Larchmont, a neighbourhood just east of Hollywood. I signed up and got my first class free. When I got into the studio, the friendly receptionist looked up my account since I didn’t sign up for a seat. You can pick out your bike from a map and reserve it. I didn’t know which was best so I decided to wait till I got there.

She helped me pick out a seat, gave me cycling shoes (you don’t need your own), and showed me around. There’s a bin for towels which are very much-needed since you get really sweaty during the class. A free locker is included as well.

When I got into the class, I noticed it was stadium seating and the instructor was at the front with a headset on. I could actually see my instructor unlike spinning classes of the past. He came over to help me set up my bike. It’s been a while since my last class and the bikes here are different. He showed me what the fancy electronic gizmo to the side of the bike was. It shows you your torque (resistance), RPMs (revolutions per minute), and current (which is your output).

FlyWheel makes it a competition if that’s your thing. There’s a board where you can compete against other cyclists in the room. Since I injured my leg, I wasn’t interested in competing but I was definitely going to work as hard as I could. At the end of the class, the instructor said I did really well for my first class.

Overall I liked Flywheel. I love spinning, the dark classes, and super loud music. What I really love is sweating my ass off! In case you’re wondering, the two blue circles to the left and right of the bike’s center are weights. They are shaped like batons and there’s a section in the class where you do arm exercises with the weights. It’s hard to cycle and do triceps extensions and bicep curls at the same time!

Do you like spinning?!