Just Don't Do It in your indoor cycling classes!

Don't think this stuff happens out there? It not only happens, it's actually prevalent in some places! Sorry, I have to take off my normal diplomatic hat and get downright indignant here. The contraindicated stuff just won't go away, and as such, I just can't/won't shut up! The shananigans in these Youtube videos are not only contraindicated, they're just plain stupid.

I mean, isn't a properly conducted Spinning, or any indoor cycle class, hard enough without goofy moves that take away from actually riding the bike? And this class in the first video is only doing some of the most egregious moves; perhaps it saves the others for the next song, the hovers, squats, & isolations. The second video, I'll leave you to comment (er, gag) on the "Spingasm" hovers, gyrations, hip thrusts and backbends of Angela's Joyride.

I'm slightly relieved to see that these aren't real "Spinner" bikes and is not my beloved "Spinning" program. But that doesn't make it OK or give it credibility. There is not a single indoor cycling program certification worth its salt that condones these outrageous types of class formats. It is bad to a ridiculous degree. These are instructors who are not certified and/or they are making up stuff because they don't know how to ride a bike and they think their students need to be entertained by erroneous fluff. They don't trust that their students are smart enough to know the difference (or maybe, dare I say it, their students aren't smart enough to know when something hurts it's not good for you). These instructors feel that every one of their students has a bad case of ADD and cannot sit for more than 15, 30 or even 60 seconds and just pedal a bike correctly, without having to flap their arms. They probably watch The Biggest Loser and get their class ideas from Jillian. They don't understand physiology, biomechanics, or the mechanics of pedaling a bike (even if it doesn't go anywhere, it's still a bike)!

Common sense would preclude this from taking place, but we've all heard that common sense isn't very common anymore...

Tell me, who will pay for the dental work for that woman in the back when she slams her face into the handlebars in the first video? Or the chiropractor visits many of these students will need over time, from either of these classes? Actually, maybe the students don't have the sense to put two and two together that it was their cycle class that threw their back out (except that backbend in Angela's joyride would be a sure culprit for most people in touch with their bodies).

It is my hope that eventually this blog post makes its way around the country until it actually reaches instructors who teach like this so they see the error of their ways. Hey, maybe it will even make it to these particular clubs. The first one is in Italy and the second in Los Angeles not far at all from the Spin Fitness HQ (I guess only in Los Angeles would you find an orgasmic Spin experience!)

Well, maybe that's a pipe dream that they'd suddenly convert from the dark side...

But I can try! :-)

I need your help to take this viral. Do me a favor; send this to every instructor you know, every club manager, even to your students, and have them send it to every instructor or club manager or fellow Spinning enthusiast that they know, with the message "Please! Don't let this happen at your club!"

Maybe we can have just a little effect and clean up indoor cycling around the country, maybe even the world!

Remember to Keep it Real in your indoor cycling classes!

(Oh, and if you haven't see my post from last year on numerous other horrible-yet-kinda-funny aerobics-on-a-bike Youtube videos, check these out!)

My mission: to use the power of Web 2.0 to help clean up Spinning/Indoor Cycling around the world. I'm using Twitter, Facebook and online forums to help spread this as well.

ARE YOU A BLOGGER (especially in fitness/indoor cycling, but really, any blog that will reach potential enthusiasts)? Please link to this post on your blog and then let me know about it!