spynergysp

6 Tips to make spring spin classes more enjoyable!

1)  Schedule it.  90% is just showing up!  Remember, you can share your ride card with anyone in your family over 15 years old.

 

2) Regular cardio gives you great energy, burns calories and reduces your chances of sickness and disease..... Keep this in mind when you're making your commitment!

 

3)  Take breaks during class.  We carry tension in our back, neck and shoulders....in spinning and in life.  Take periodic breaks in the class to sit up, roll the shoulders, relax and gather yourself.

 

4) Enjoy the musicThis is a rare chance to enjoy a respite from your daily stress.  Embrace it.

 

5)  Have fun!   Seriously....the beauty of a great spin class is the magical combination of a great workout, great music and great fun.  Enjoy it

 

 6)  Eat right after class!   Something small, preferable with protein...it will  keep your appetite from viciously attacking you later in the day. 

 

What makes an indoor cycling class great

If you've been a Spynergy rider for a while, you know our basic philosophy:  Great cardio exercise and all the amazing health benefits that come with it  should be FUN.  Wow, that sounds simple, and darnit it is simple.  Only the most disciplined and dour among us can commit to regular workouts that are boring.  Maybe for a few weeks.....but for a lifetime?  I don't think so.

As a Spynergy rider, your experience should be guided by 3 things:  1) a teacher that motivates and energizes, 2) an environment that is pleasant and 3) a convenient, efficient experience when it comes to scheduling and paying.  If we can provide those 3 things, we are succeeding.  Did we mention we want it to be fun?

How we doin?  Would love to hear your comments.

Tips to make your spin® class great (and lose some weight!)

 1Cool visualization can help!  Imagine you are training for the Winter Olympics.....really imagine it.  It is 6 weeks before you meet your toughest rivals on the global stage.  Whoever trains harder and smarter wins.  GO FOR THE GOLD!  

2) Review the benefits of exercise in your mind (yes, looking good -- but there are some other amazing ones)  From Women's Health Magazine    

"Cardiovascular health is more important than any other single factor in preserving and improving learning and memory," says Thomas Crook, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and memory researcher. "You're working out your brain at the same time as your heart."

3) Don't forget calories in!  Here are 4 Easy Tips to help you control eating.  A) Slow down when you eat.  B) Don't eat while you open mail, read magazines or work on the computer  C) Don't eat when bored, D) Don't clean your plate.    

Keep an eye on the schedule for a new series of "Theme classes"  Monday nights in Wellesley.  This Monday Feb 22nd "Vintage Jams and Live Music" with Bill.....a 70 minute "trip".

Wow, exercise impacts colds....even cancer!

Amazing ariticle in the January 5th Wall Sreet Journal called "The Hidden Benefits of Exercise".  You should absolutely read the entire article, but hear are a few highlights that got our attention:

1)  ....a growing body of research is showing that regular exercise can boost the body's immune system increasing the circulation of natural cells that fight off viruses and bacteria.

2)  ....inactivity poses as great a health risk as smoking, contributing to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, depression, arhritis and osteoporosis

3)  ....studies are now suggestinghat exercise-induced changes in the body's immune system may protect against some forms of cancer.  Harvard Med School's consumer website notes a series of studies suggest women who exercise regularly can expect a 20% to 30% reduction in the chance of getting breast cancer.

Check the full text of this article, it's amazing.

100 Nutrition Tips for a Longer, Better life

We don't believe in diets, especially fad diets, but January is certainly a convenient time to look at the way you eat and to make some decisions about how your eating affects your fitness (and longevity!)There's a whole buncha tips here --- categorized even.  We went through and picked some of the more interesting ones, but if you have a moment read all 100, it's a good exercise:

• # 13  try dark chocolate.  Not ideal, but has antioxidants and much better than milk
• Fill up on the good foods first, when you are craving the junk
• Eat Half (or even 3/4) when out at restaurants.  They usually serve too much.  It adds up!
• Be careful on the beverages, lots have many calories
• Whole grain foods keep you fuller longer
• Eat foods with color in them in variety
• Shop the perimeter of the store, avoid the packaged, canned and frozen stuff in the middle
• Hair and skin look better when you eat proteing

Full List of 100 Tips Click Here

Spynergy Workshop: Weight loss and Nutrition...a practical approach

We want to help you lose weight (if you need to).......without a typical "diet".  Instead let's learn how different kinds of food impact our metabolism and therefore our weight.  Everyone knows what bad eating habits look like, but how many of us know the best combinations of foods?  Fad diets come and go, but learning solid principles around food and eating can change the way we eat and the way we look.....and most imporant, the way we feel.

 

The Spynergy Nutrition and Weight Loss Workshop is 5 Tuesdays starting January 12th at the Wellesley studio. Learn about your metabolism and losing weight from registered dietitian and nutritionist Lyn Schwartz, MS, RD.  
 
Lyn has an innovative, personalized approach to help you boost energy, control food cravings and rev up your metabolism.  She has taught classes at Newton Wellesley hospital and numerous other settings.  She will run workshops with us at Spynergy and will develop personalized eating plans.  Several Spynergy riders have taken her classes and she comes highly recommended!
 
Join Spynergy and learn a practical and effective way to complement your exercise with a healthy and thoughtful approach to eating right.
 
$149 for the course. Purchase by clicking "workshops" at  www.spynergywellesley.com

for more information email us at info@spynergywellesley.com

 

 

 

 

 

Mind and Body

5:00 am

Working out in general, and spinning in particular, bring tremendous benefits and you need to keep reminding yourself. The benefits are tremendous because they equally impact the strength of your mind and the strength of your body.

Does it sometimes feel there is a dark force encouraging us to stay sedentary, stay cynical, stay inactive? An active mind and an active body can and do overcome this force. It happens everytime you drag yourself to a workout. With a workout your mind and body open up, they blossom. When we stay inactive….the opposite happens. A closing down occurs.

Pay close attention to the mental and physical sensations after your next workout. Let them linger.

Exercise and Aging

From the website “Simple Fitness Solutions” a great article regarding exercise and aging. A few of the highlights:

– Exercise is the single most effective way to lengthen life
– Age-associated declines are more from lifestlye choices than aging
– Proper exercise can take years off your chronological age
Click here to read full article

 

Reminder: great reasons to spin

Lots of cool responses to the Spynergy Blog……one of our teachers, Jesse Page (manicspinner) provided a link we hadn’t seen before: 10 REASONS TO MOUNT A SPIN BIKE…..to read the full article with all details click here

1) Burn, Burn, Burn Calories
2) Cardiovascular Health
3) Progress at your own pace
4) Time Flies
5) Low Impact
6) Shapely legs
7) Lower your bodies breaking point
Build abs while you spin
9) Ride Together
10) Mental Strength

………..we’ll add number 11 ——- Cool Music!!!
click here for full article

What the heck makes exercise doable?

No one disputes the value of exercise. We live busy but sedentary lives that are peppered with stress — then we sprinkle questionable eating and drinking on top. Normal? Sure. Healthy? Probably not.

It is what it is……and we all know that exercise is a HUGE antidote. How can we keep at it ? After a lifetime of experimenting with exercise we have determined 2 eternal truths:

1) Regular exercise takes discipline
2) The less interesting the exercise, the more difficult the discipline.

Example: Hiking the Appalachian trail in autumn is good exercise and little discipline is required to stay at it. Running on a treadmill alone in your basement is good exercise, but it’s HUGE discipline to do it often.

Here’s the thing about spin: great exercise of course….but more important, there are things about it that make the discipline less intimidating. The music, the teacher, the group energy, the darkness, the class structure, the variety — these things conspire to make the exercise (dare I say it)….Fun. If something is fun, it doesn’t take as much discipline to do it.

Love to hear your thoughts comments or examples….