Hey friends! Long time no talk. The last bunch of days have been a whirlwind, and last night I arrived back to Cali after my 17-day stint in NJ. I was planning on writing this post while I was in the skies, but quickly abandoned that idea when I found myself in a middle seat next to a big man whose arm was resting in my territory the entire flight. Oh United Airlines, your seats keep getting smaller and smaller, but I keep flying with you because your flights time are the best and I enjoy racking up my miles.
Anywho, rewinding back a few days, my weekend was spent with A’s family in Pennsylvania at his cousin’s wedding, visiting his mom and grandmom back in Jersey, then ending at my parents’ house for a family dinner. Lots of family time, and a great way to end my trip!
With my hubby at the wedding last weekend
Prior to my whirlwind family weekend, I spent my Thursday night with my close friend Danielle. She has been raving about her SoulCycle workouts, so I of course had to try it out with her while I was in town. Danielle’s friend Tiff teaches class at SoulCycle locations around NYC, so we headed into the city for a late-night sweat session.
I spent much of my life living next to NYC, and it felt SO nice to be back in the city! Don’t get me wrong, I love the small city sort of feel that San Diego has, but there’s a hustle and bustle of NYC that’s so familiar to me. Before class at SoulCycle’s Union Square studio, we stopped at Liquiteria for some green juice. I ordered their Mean Green smoothie – a mix of kale, spinach, mango, bananas, golden pineapple & fresh golden pineapple juice. It was delicious and the perfect pre-workout fuel!
Next we headed into the SoulCycle studio to strap our cycling shoes on and get ready for the class.
I didn’t know much about SoulCycle except the obvious – that it’s a cycling workout. To be honest, I tend to find cycling classes boring. I came to this realization earlier this year when I participated in a typical spin class, when I turned to my friend afterwards and said, “Whew, that workout went by so slow!” While I cycle a lot when I exercise at a gym, in the last few years I’ve incorporated spinning into a strength training & cardio interval routine when I only spin for 5 minutes at a time, rather than just straight spinning for 30 minutes-1 hour.
So as for my first SoulCycle experience, I wasn’t exactly sure if it’d be more fun to me than normal spin classes…. oh but it definitely was!
What makes SoulCycle different is that it switches it up so that you aren’t just spinning the entire time. There’s a portion of the class that focuses on upper body strength, where you do exercises like bicep curls and punches with light hand weights. Besides your typical in-the-seat, out-of-the-seat high intensity and recovery periods, SoulCycle also includes doing pushups while spinning with both wide and narrow arm stances, as well as fun little dance moves while cycling.
One of the best parts about the SoulCycle class? The music was great and definitely made me feeling like moving! I love when classes have awesome music, and this definitely seems to be a major theme of SoulCycle. In fact, the workout focuses on riding to the beat of the music. This was fun to do and was interesting to me because I kept catching myself zoning out from the rhythm of the song, then having to reel it back in and pay attention to my spinning and the beat.
I can definitely see why SoulCycle seems to be quite a popular workout. The 45-minute class went by quickly, and I burned 10+ calories a minute and felt great afterwards. SoulCycle currently has 25 studios and plans to open a lot more next year, so I hope that they open one near me!
Tiff, Danielle and me
Afterwards, Danielle and I went out for a drink with Tiff. Green smoothies + a great workout + girlfriend time + ending the night with an alcoholic beverage = a great Thursday night to me!
Tell me… Have you ever tried SoulCycle? What was the last new workout you’ve done?
Disclaimer: I attended a SoulCycle class for free, but as always, all opinions expressed are genuinely my own.
I was completely the same as you! I didn’t like spinning classes at all when I first tried them because they were so boring. I actually went to my first Soul Cycle class back in 2009 because there is a location near me. I decided to give it a whirl and absolutely loved it! You burn a ton of calories. Now I’m obsessed with Flywheel because they have this leaderboard, which allows you to see your stats during class. I love that!
Yep I need to try Flywheel! I’ve heard lots of positive things about it.
I’ve been wanting to try soul cycle for so long! I’ve avoided it though because I’m afraid I’ll love it too much, and that would get pretty expensive, especially in addition to my gym membership. I am very tempted to try it though…
Ha, I totally hear you! All of the specialty gyms can get pricey.. but they’re so much fun too!
I’ve never been to a spin class but I’ve heard lots of god things about SoulCycle!
I have never been to a spinning class. I really need to try one, as they look so much fun!
OOOOO SOUL CYCLE – how I abhor your constant need to ride up my butt….. SO UNCOMFORTABLE – ha ha ha ah aha ha! I am so not a biker, so I cannot do such a work out, but I know it’s the SUPER HOT THING – lol! I like to go against the norm 😉
You and your hubby look like a celebrity couple in that pic. Gorgeous!
And I agree, good music is everything for a workout class. That’s one of the main reasons I love LesMills classes. It makes the time fly by!
I never got used to spin classes because they’re always so painful for me (hello butt pads) but I really like that SoulCycle works the entire body. That sounds much more fun than just cycling the whole time.
You are too sweet! It was like the one good photo of the night where we weren’t making weird faces, blinking, or having people photobomb us haha
Yes I hear you… my crouch was definitely sore the next day! The good thing though, is that you aren’t sitting on the bike the whole time, so my crouch wasn’t bothering me during the class like it does during mountain/road biking trips.
You are so right! You need pump up music to keep it going during an intense workout! Glad you had fun! …also you and your hubby are so cute together 🙂
Thank you, Cailee!
Definitely, music is a big factor for me during workout classes!
Omg I haven’t taken a cycling class in forever! I should really get back into it. The next new thing I want to try is CrossFit (I’ve been saying this for months) it’s taking me that long to work up the guts 🙂 And yay for smoothies with the girls after class!!
Ah yea, CrossFit definitely can seem intimidating! I used to think that CF gyms were full of ripped people doing pull-ups like it’s their job, but then I visited some gyms and realized that it includes people of all fitness levels doing the workouts. You should just go for it woman! 🙂
I’ve only attended Flywheel classes in Chicago but I really like them, as long as the music is great and I like the instructor. That makes ALL the difference. I went to one this morning, for example, and it was so so so so soooo boring. So I can totally see where you’re coming from 🙂
Haha. Boring classes are no bueno. I want to try Flywheel!
I was dying to try soulcycle in NYC! Looks like a blast!
It was, you should definitely try it if you’re near one sometime!
I have been dyiinng to try Soul Cycle, but there are none near me. I’ve heard it can be pretty competitive to get a spot in a class, haha. That’s awesome that you got in! =)
Well, the class I went to was at 9:30 PM. Haha, only in NYC!!