Mixing it up

Up until this week, my training has pretty much consisted of going to the gym in the week and big cycling at the weekends. Although I am only in week 3, that has started to get pretty boring so I decided to try a few new things to keep it interesting.

Zumba.
For those of you that don't know, Zumba is " an exhilarating, effective, easy-to-follow, Latin-inspired, calorie-burning dance fitness-party" (according to google anyway). I would say it's a bit like aerobics and salsa combined. I went along to the session with a few ladies from work on Tuesday night. It was definitely interesting! I was worried initially that the fact that I have absolutely no rhythm or coordination might hinder me but was told that this wouldn't be a problem. And it wasn't, to an extent, in that no one laughed at me getting the steps wrong, moving the wrong way (and several beats out of time) or flailing my arms around wildy. However, I think it created overall problems in what I was able to get from the workout. I spent a lot of time concentrating on trying to get the steps right and so subsequently did not end up working as hard as everyone else. At the end of the workout I didn't feel like I had done much at all so thing that perhaps Zumba is not for me.

Spinning
Spinning is "a type of aerobic exercise, done by cycling indoors on a stationary "spinning" bicycle". It differs from using the normal bikes in the gym because it is a much more intense workout. I know quite a lot of people who swear by spinning so have been meaning to check it out. Again, I was nervous about how hard it would be, would I be slower/less fit than everyone else there. Everything I knew about spinning prior to attending the class was learned from American TV programmes (which, I think you'll agree, is usually an accurate description of real life) so I was expecting a class of stick thin middle aged women. There was a mix of ages, gender, fitness levels in the class so I was happy. I was also happy that it was really really hard! Which may sound a bit sadistic but I definitely like know that something's working properly. I usually gauge how hard I've worked by how sore I am the next day and I think it's pretty safe to say I worked incredibly hard! So, time permitting, I am planning to sub spinning in as one of my weekly sessions.