"I wanna know you. Like, know your soul."

If you're awesome, you know the title of my post is from How I Met Your Mother. And that quote just kept running through my head as I got to "know my soul" at my first Soul Cycle class.

I'm a firm believer in that fitness should be fun. I enjoy group fitness classes and regularly attend them at my gym. I also love dabbling in all the new "fitness crazes." Really, I'm game for anything. Something new and exciting? A new twist on a classic form of fitness? SIGN ME UP! For anyone who knows me, you know how I got sucked into the Zumba craze in college. I became a certified Zumba instructor and brought the first Zumba class to Iona College (haaaay, go me). I've tried the hot yoga craze... and nearly died. No really. Afterwards I felt like I had a hangover from hell that lasted 24 hours. If you like Bikram, that's good for you. But I am never taking a class again. Yoga in a 95 degree room? Where I can only drink water AT THE SAME TIME that everyone else gets to drink water? As Aldous Snow would say, that's "booshit, booshit, booshit!" I've tried aerial yoga. Yes! Aerial yoga! Yoga where you hang upside down! YOGA IN THE AIR! I felt like Pink at the Grammy's!

Anyway, my point is, I try everything.

For over a year now, I have been dying to try Soul Cycle, except the problem was it's like... hella expensive and was only in NYC and Cali for a while. Well, guess what Long Islanders (aka mah people), Soul Cycle is in Roslyn! SQUEE! I had the exciting pleasure of doing a Tone It Up Meet Up, which is where members of the Tone It Up community (if you're confused about Tone It Up, please read my last post), get together and do something fun, like dinner or a fitness class. A few TIU Long Island girls and I got together for a Soul Cycle class.

Now before I do anything, I like to do research and prepare myself for what's coming. Despite Soul Cycle being a big up and coming fad, I couldn't find much on it except for a YouTube video of Wendy Williams trying it live on TV and dropping the weights that are attached to your bike seat (we'll get into the weights in a hot sec). All I knew was that Soul Cycle was just going to be... different.

Soul Cycle, if you haven't figured it out from the title, is a spin cycle class. I regularly take "regular" spin at my gym and love it, so I had a good feeling Soul Cycle would be right up my alley. The TIU LI girls that I met kept saying how it's just better than your average spin class: the music is better, the instructors have high energy, and you're basically dancing on a bike. I'm guilty of car dancing, jazz walking during a cool down on a treadmill, and there's been many a time when I've found myself singing out loud at the gym. Dancing on a bike sounded just peachy.

I walked into Soul Cycle and I immediately smell these spa-like scents of eucalyptus and fancy oils, see pretty people in their Lululemon and Nike gear, and I'm greeted by a friendly staff that was uber excited that this was my first class. The awesome girl at the front desk, Sam (who is also a Tone It Up girl!), set me up on my bike. 

So here's the deal. With Soul Cycle, you can't wear regular sneakers. You have to wear the bike shoes that clip into the bike. YOU CANNOT RUN AWAY. Be "one" with the bike. Stay with the pack. You do not escape! Are you intimidated yet? Do not be! Also I should add the room is dark and lit only by candlelight. You're probably like, "Gabby, what da eff is this hippie, granola cycle class?!" NO, IT'S AWESOME KEEP READING! The lights are off so you're not looking around at everyone, judging, because let's face it, we all get pretty judgey at the gym. 

The instructor Rachel walks in, and I can just tell this girl is a PARTAY. She's wearing these bright blue tights that remind me of Mimi from Rent, this shirt that her six pack is just RIPPING through, and long blonde hair flowing everywhere. AKA, she's everything I strive to be.  Rachel adjusts her headset microphone and wails, "ROSLYN ARE YOU READY TO PARTAAAAAAY?" Uh, yes.

By the way, class is normally 40 minutes. I had no idea I signed up for the Soul Survivor class which is an hour long. Sweet baby Jesus.

Lights out. This really funky beat is blasting (my inner speech pathologist worries about the damage this is doing to my ear drums) and everyone just starts rocking out. There it is... the bike dancing. I am hooked. Honestly, I got so lost in the moment, I cannot give you a play by play of everything that occurred. Just that I was sweating bullets and within one minute, my perfectly straightened hair curled up to its natural state. Thank goodness they give you a towel on your bike.

Ok so, what is with the weights? Like I said, Soul Cycle is different. About halfway through the class Rachel tells us to reach under our seats and pick up these adorable, little 2 pound weights. HA. Not so adorable! Right now these widdle baby weights feel like 20 pounds. We do an entire 8 and a half minute arm series while pedaling. And by the end of it, part of me wants to die, the other part of me is like, LET'S KEEP GOING!

You do everything on these bikes: crunches, obliques, push ups...It's a total body workout. And today I have that "good sore" feeling. I'm sure I'll have it for the next 3 days. I walked out of Soul Cycle feeling like a different person. I was so happy, and so thankful that I did something so good for my body and state of mind.

Do yourself a favor. Get your tushie to Soul Cycle.

Visit https://www.soul-cycle.com to create an account and reserve your first class at the discounted price of $20. Packages are also available. Single classes are normally $34. Shoe rentals are free your first time and $3 after. BRING WATER.

Like I said... hella expensive... but so worth it :)