Photo by Katrina Samuelson
Drip, drip, drip, splash! Angellica De Losada grabs her towel to remove the sweat from her glistening forehead. She then grabs her water bottle to quench her thirst, after another intense one-hour workout.
Angellica owes all her sweat and hard work to her favorite exercise — cycling.
According to Michelle Bell, co-owner of Pedal Spin studio, Indoor Cycling or “spinning” classes have been around since the 1980s but have become more popular, or well-known in the past decade.
“Cycling is such a great exercise because it is accessible for all types of people,” Bell said. “We have a wide variety of clients; it ranges from pregnant women, people training for a marathon and athletes recovering from injuries.”
An example of an athlete using cycling to recover from an injury is De Losada, who is a senior psychology major.
De Losada tore her meniscus this past fall playing intramural flag football. She, unfortunately, had to sit out the rest of the season and had to use a wheelchair for almost one month.
One of the ways her doctor told her to recover was through low-impact exercises, such as cycling.
“I love cycling. You can burn 400 to 1,000 calories during the hour,” De Losada said. “It is also nice that it is indoors, so weather does not play a factor in whether you get to work out that day.”
Cycling is also a great exercise for improving overall cardiovascular health and can be used as a primary or secondary exercise.
“Cycling is great as a primary exercise because it is intense as well as low-impact and can help with either weight-loss or maintaining weight,” Bell said.
However, Bell also stated that it is important to mix in some upper-body workouts, because cycling targets legs and glutes.
Although De Losada is still recovering from her injury, with the help of cycling, she has hopes to continue with this exercise in the future.
“You cannot beat the feeling that you get after cycling,” De Losada said. “I never really believed in endorphins before I started cycling, but I leave every session happier than before.”
Interested yet? Check out CBU’s recreation center schedule for spinning classes in the near future.
Overall, whether trying a new way to work out, or looking for an exciting, fun way to try to stay in shape, cycling may be the new favorite exercise. Try a class today.
