The Other Man in My Life

is Les Mills.

My gym currently offers five of his classes: RPM, Body Pump, Body Attack, Body Vive, and Body Flow, with Body Combat and Body Jam on the menu for spring. I'm a patron of only the first three. The other two are a little too slow for me. Body Flow is a combination of yoga, Tai Chi and Pilates. Fantastic for strength and flexibility but bores me out of my gourd (though my mom, who is 63, takes it and enjoys it). Body Vive is specifically desinged for 50+. I look forward to trying Body Combat when our Y hosts Les Mills master trainers next month, and hope it will be a good fit and spice up my routine when it's added later this year.

Over the next couple days I'd like to review the classes I currently take. I'll start with RPM, which is the latest addition to my repertoire and probably will get the most mixed review, which in truth is less a reflection on the Mills group and more a personal preference.

RPM is essentially spinning. Spinning has long seemed like something I *should* try, but always avoided. High-ish calorie burn (by my calculations about 500 for 50 minutes, fewer than my other classes, but not bad for less than an hour's work). Good lower body work out. However, hearing it called "spinning" presented a mental block; the name itself almost implies an exercise in frustration. The biggest drawback for me, though, was my complete and utter disdain for bicycle seats. I don't mind achy muscles. A day with no aches is a day where nothing has been acheived. A bruised tush that leaves me walking like a cowboy for three days is a different story entirely. We ride trails as a family for leisure in warmer weather, but I have outfitted my mountain bike with an enormous gel seat because I'm a class-A wuss when it comes to the derriere.

So up until two weeks ago we enjoyed the spoils of climate change, which will surely be the end of us all but who cares when you're out in shorts and tee shirts in January. Priorities.

Anyway, the unfolding cataclysmic global catastrophe afforded me, Mrs. Heat Miser, Mrs. 101, the opportunity to continue outdoor training well past the norm, but alas, winter is upon us once again, and with highs not acheiving 20 degrees now, running is a no-go. (I'm a bigger wuss about cold weather than I am about my tuchus. And that's saying something.)

So I surveyed my options, and found that if I gave up my day off, I could get in a fairly decent cardio workout on Friday mornings before work. I took my first class Friday a week ago, and it was actually okay. The program keeps things moving, changing up, each track provides a different approach to the ride...climbs, racing, mixed intervals, you're up, you're down, high resistance, low resistence, etc. The time goes quickly, and the crowd is friendly (there is a subset of pre-dawn regulars at the Y, I have several classes in common with many of them, so that makes it more fun). The music is probably my favorite of all three classes, with a little more emphasis on rock than techno. My heart rate does get up there (probably not to the degree it would running or with Body Attack, but I definitely get a burn). My legs are like rocks while I'm on the bike, so I know those muscles are engaged and are burning calories. My hiney is not 100% in love with the situation, but all things considered, it's not as bad as I anticipated and the discomfort ends with class, so I'm not left John-Wayne-ing it all weekend (though my inner wimp is trying to convince me to go out and get some padded bike shorts, and I have to admit, she presents a good case).

Conclusion: I'm not super-enthusiastic, and for me, its easy fit into my schedule is the biggest draw. However, once a week, it's something different, which jogs the metabolism as well as keeps up the mental energy. I am setting my sights on completing a small tri by year's end, and it's more cycling training than I get regularly by a long shot (swimming is a horse of a different color, that's going to take a boatload of discipline, no pun intended). All in all, a decent workout that goes by quickly and delivers what it promises. Two cheeks up!