Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Spin-tacular



Every now and again when I'm building spin playlists...

Wait, let me pause for a moment and address something: The other day my trainer warned me that when I teach my programs, I can't call them "spin" classes because apparently it's a trademarked name and I can be sued. So, I am attempting to transition into calling what I do "cycling" or some variation.

Anyway - as I was saying...

When I google playlists for *ahem* cycling, I am always nothing short of appalled at the song choices that people have.  I have cycled to some wild stuff, trust me, but for the most part I know people need a seriously awesome cadence to keep them in the game - especially toward the end of a 60-minute class when the carbs have burned out of their bodies and their quads and hamstrings are functioning through sheer will power alone.

I find most of the songs that others choose to be without emotion or emphasis behind the cadence - I believe in using songs that evoke a mental image for a lot of people - or at least have the potential to.  And maybe not everyone's workout has as big of a mental  component as mine, but hell, maybe they've never had someone conjure those emotions through the power of loud music and a piece of equipment with two wheels.  And that's what I aim to do when I build cycling programs...

Encourage you to leave it *all* on the floor - sweat, tears, pain, anger, frustration.  Nothing left but pure power.

Beach Boys - Help Me Rhonda (warm up and stretch)

Michael Jackson - They Don't Really Care About Us (hover hill climb)

Glee Cast - Burning Up  (seated to hover hill jumps)

Eminem - No Love (seated climb to push backs)

Black Eyed Peas - Pump It (jump sprints)

Bruno Mars - Grenade (hover hill climb)

Matt and Kim - Daylight De La Soul Remix (jogs/isolations)

Devedas - Dola Re Dola (4 count / 4 positions jumps with variations)

Ting Tings - That's Not My Name (fast hover hill climb)

Basement Jaxx - Raindrops (8 count / 4 position jumps)

The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up (push back jumps)

Phil Collins - I Don't Care Anymore (seated hill climb to cool down)

Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye (cool down and stretch)

2 comments:

Breeze said...

I was looking for "spinning" images for my blog and came upon your blog. I have just gotten into spinning in a big way (for a 60 year old) Whew! Way back in the early 90's I could cycle a century ride. Did the STP several times (Seattle to Portland). I might try to use your image on my site. Maybe I will follow you (loosely)

Unknown said...

Jeff Buckley to cool down? Love it! I'm not one for classes but I might be tempted into them if them music were a little better. I hope this isn't the wrong place to comment but I wanted to congratulate you on your attempt to take on Fat Acceptance. I used to be a proponent of FA until it found itself in bed with feederism and the notion that one can never be too fat. They lost me completely when I was diagnosed with an illness directly related to my size and found that not only could I easily lose weight, but that keeping it off was not as difficult as is often said. At that point I was taunted with either "You'll put it all back on with interest" or "Dieting only makes people ill". Lovely, don't you think?

FA is all about making sure other people are overweight and unhealthy so that you don't stand out. It's also a very cowardly movement as evidenced by Fat Waitress' unwillingness to discuss the issue face to face in your office while inviting you to be picked apart by her friends at a venue of her choosing. I suppose this is a debate won with numbers rather than evidence.

Congratulations on your weight loss and best of luck with your health. I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say there's no better feeling than knowing that you're doing the best you can for your body.