The New Fitness Sensation: Flywheel

I had an opportunity to experience Flywheel, the new fitness sensation, at a recent fundraiser for Nephrotic Syndrome in LA. I was one of the 46 riders in the stadium seating area at the Flywheel studio on Larchmont in LA. I have to tell you about it, because although it's only in about 20 cities nationwide + Dubai, it will soon be everywhere. It is a 45 or 60 minute workout that will burn fat, test endurance, make you smile and SWEAT. It's a new "spin" on an old favorite, cycling. I am a great lover of indoor spinning. I do it three times a week. I love the rewards and the immediate feedback from my high tech Kaiser bike that tells me my RPM's, Watts, calories and distance I have travelled. At the end of the ride I know whether to have yogurt or pancakes for breakfast. Flywheel has an additional component to typical indoor cycling. The high tech bike also has two 10 pound bars that are used for upper body work towards the end of the ride. After riding insane hills and sprints for 30 minutes, the instructor has you take out one or two weights (in my case one weight) and leads you through a series of upper body exercises while continuing to pedal. It was intense, and I felt it the next day. Otherwise, the bike is similar to the bike I ride in my regular workout, showing you RPM's, Watts, distance and calories. To make it more challenging for the competitive ones, there is is lighted board on the front wall that shows how you are doing compared to everyone else. They have the bikes numbered, so all you do is look for your bike number and see your ranking in the class. It adds a little more competition for those that want that. I was number 27 in a class of 46 during the fundraiser I did. I was also one of the oldest people in the class, so I felt pretty good about being in the middle of the pack. All spin classes have music, but the music in the Flywheel class was blasting. I hope those instructors wear earplugs, because the volume was louder than a rock band. Those young men and women will all have hearing loss by the time they hit 50. However, the music was fantastic, very motivating and inspiring. The instructors too, are outstanding. They are so into the class, the workout and making sure each student performs to his best ability. They are a cut above the typical spin teacher, as the class is a cut above the typical spin class. The only other thing I can say is that all the students in Flywheel seem to be under 50. This is not so in spin classes I take, where there are many spinners in their 60's and 70's. (maybe even a few in their 80's). This is an exercise you can do until you die, even when you can no longer walk. I remember my Dad, weeks before he died at 94, on his home bike. I'm not sure whether the young Flywheelers I saw were typical, or that this craze just attracts a young crowd. (loud music, competition may discourage some older people). In any event, Flywheel is a great workout that I hope will come to San Diego soon. It's always nice to find a new kind of exercise to get your juices going.