April 14, 2014
What a Fun Idea!
I was so excited to be invited the the 2nd annual Revolve DC Blogger Ride!
I have been to Revolve DC a couple of times before and really enjoyed their ride. This seemed like a great opportunity to meet some other DC Bloggers that I chit chat with on twitter and have an amazing workout at the same time.
Described on their website http://www.revolvefitness.com/
The Extended Body Ride: Cardio…Strength…Flexibility…Everything you need in one complete class. This all-encompassing workout allows you to maximize the time you have to work-out in one place. Start out strong. The ride is cardio-intense and gets the heart rate up and keeps it there. Stay moving while you strengthen and tone the upper body on the bike. Polish it all off with a cool down stretch both on and off the bike. You get it all. You get the complete body!
Arriving at the studio, we were greeted by the very friendly staff and led into the cycle studio. There were many indoor cycle newbies and the staff was more than willing to set up everyone on their bikes. The studio has a real club feel with very dim lights and loud techno music. I was ready to rock n roll.
Our instructor Alex, whose infectious enthusiasm and ridiculously fit body, really got me in the mood to start working hard. Having taught spin classes myself, I have very high expectations and they were certainly met today. Revolve DC’s classes are formatted differently than your typical gym cycle class as they incorporate short upper body resistance exercises into the mix for a truly interval workout experience.
The Club atmosphere almost makes you forget you are working out. That is until your heart is beating so fast and your legs are screaming at you as you power through hills and sprints and very high resistance levels. The very loud techno music was at first distracting but then I found myself pedaling to the beat and enjoying it quite a bit.
The music was more what you would hear a DJ playing at a club with unusual remixes. Here is some of the playlist used today:
“Milk Shake”-Smookie Illson Twerk Remix
“You give love a bad name” Elctro Urban Remix
“I will wait” AG Edit (Bloombox & Sam Feldt Remix)
“Drinking from the bottle” AG Edit2 ext. mix
“Scream” (Oliver Remix)
“No light, No light” Florence + The Machine
“Pumpin Blood” NoNoNo
“Frozen” (Krewella + Jacob Liedholm)
“Beautiful People” (Treasure Fingers Remix)
These can be found at https://soundcloud.com/
The 60 minute class had two, 6 minute resistance segments where we braked from cycling to do upper body exercises with either 3 or 5 pound weights. These were really tough even though I do weights regularly. Your heart rate is really elevated, sweat is pouring out and then you start bicep & tricep curls with little “pulses”. Killer! I personally love the feeling that you just can’t possibly do another rep and then somehow band out another one. I have a hard time pushing myself to this point and Alex was an amazing motivator. She hopped off of her bike a number of times to “hype up the crowd” and throw out some motivational mantras such as “Hold yourself accountable for what you can do today” . I can easily bail on a workout if I am not pushed. Let’s face it, there is only so much you can do on an indoor bike and this 60 min class held my attention the whole time and really got my heart rate up. Probably one of the best cycle classes I have ever taken.
Cycle classes are unique in that no one knows how hard you are working or how much resistance you have on the fly wheel. It is up to you to find the workout you want and push yourself to stay there. I was really able to do that today and the feeling is Amazing!
After class I had the opportunity to meet some of my twitter friends:
We were treated to some samples from The South Block Juice Co. http://southblockjuice.com/
They brought along 6 flavors of their juices for us to try. I am now intrigued to test those out more extensively. More on that to come in another blog.
So glad that I had the opportunity to attend, meet some new friends and have a killer workout! I will most certainly be back!
Have you been to Revolve DC or another boutique type cycle class? Do you like the strength training sessions within a cycle class?
I REALLY wanted to go but I was out of town for a race! Looks like a great time – sorry I missed it!
Ah sorry you missed it Cynthia! It was a blast and pretty challenging. I would definitely go back. Hope your race went well. Thanks for stopping by.
How did you get an invite?!! I didn’t get one….although I couldn’t have gone yesterday anyway 🙂 Looks like fun!
I’ve been there before maybe that’s how? It was really fun the teacher was amazing. I knew you were running yesterday that’s why I didn’t mention it.
It was so so fun! I’m so glad we got to meet — I had a blast. Love your recap — my butt is still hurting from that seat and I LOVED the juices we tried. 🙂
I’m glad we got to meet too! Looking forward to reading your recap as well. My arms are little sore-ina good way. Not used to doing weights while riding. Hope to see you soon!
So glad I got to meet you yesterday! Alex is a great instructor, and I like the others at Revolve too. They have different personalities and tend to have different styles of playlists and rides, but that’s what keeps it interesting. I actually like the club music, since spinning is the closest I’ll get to a club these days. 😉
yes glad we got to meet too! I liked Alex a lot more than some of the male instructors I had before. I’m not frequenting too many clubs these days either!! Hope to see at some MRTT events too!
It’s so awesome when the people we meet in cyberspace come to “life”! I didn’t realize you live so close! Maybe I’ll catch you at a Baltimore race 🙂
Great bloggers event! It’s super when companies get us involved and join the community!
We are close! Hope to meet you at a race or event one day. I’ll be at Zooma are you?
That sounds like so much fun to work out with fellow bloggers!
I do love spin class. I went to a gym in Washington State while visiting that had a karaoke spin class! I was bummed it was going to be after I left.
ok Karaoke spin class sounds like a blast!
What a fun meet-up and what an awesome class! I love spin/strength classes but I’ve never dune it during the cycle portion, how cool!
It was a great time! Using weights during class is different and very challenging. Thanks for stopping by!