Fit for nothing

I started going to spinning classes somewhat over a year ago. I had managed to bring my weight down to a bearable 95 kilos, through a lot of jogging and cycling, motivated at that time by the desire to keep up with the group of guys with whom I was planning to take a four-day hike in the Alps. A good enough reason to go on a bit of a self-induced training programme - with at the back of my mind all those statistics you read about the correlation of physical fitness and long-time overall well-being. Afterwards I looked around for a way not to rejoin the over-100s, and found it in spinning. The University of Twente has really excellent facilities which as an employee you can use completely free of charge, and there are spinning classes every day of the week. Luxury!

Essentially you are on a stationary bike and pedal to loud music, sitting down and standing up, for 45 minutes, to the shouted commands of an instructor. There is a knob on the bike to increase and decrease the resistance of the flywheel. Sounds boring, doesn't it? The first time I thought I would die, though not of boredom. However, I did not want to give up after a single try, so I persevered. It did not take long to improve, and to my surprise, not much longer to start feeling really fit! I would have been skeptical had anyone told me this in advance.

Another very unexpected and nice result was that I started appreciating the music more and more, and started recognizing that these very same songs were played all around me in shops and on the radio. I made little projects out of looking up the song texts afterwards and collecting the playlists, so that for the first time since the beginning of the 80s I can now recognise and name some of the current pop songs. I surprised and shocked both of my sons by my sudden knowledge of will.i.am, Justin Bieber (that was the most shocking), Macklemore, Sum 41 and so on.

All this is why I looked for a way to continue my routine as soon as I was here in York, and found it in the Sport Village which I have already mentioned plenty of times. Again, daily classes are available (though each day at different times). So far, so good. Less ideal are the spinning bikes themselves, which are rather old and crappy, it has to be said. Strange: you are there to exert yourself, but if the bike does not have a smooth action and for that reason increases the exertion, this definitely detracts from the experience. This was a main reason to cast around for another type of fitness class. I know by now that I need someone shouting at me, going to the gym for solitary exercises is just not something I will keep up for very long.

Muscles: heavier than fat

Thus, I now alternate with body pump. A different sensation. After a spinning session I have to cool down for at least 15 minutes before showering, otherwise the effects of the shower are immediately undone. Not so after pumping: instead, the main residual effect is a total depletion of muscle strength, especially in the arms. Also I am still waiting for that sense of improvement, that feeling of increased fitness. But the music is the same, so if not fit, at the very least this is keeping me young.

In the meanwhile, the weight issue that was a large part of my original motivation is still in the balance. I keep telling myself that muscle tissue is heavier than fat. Yeah right.