Instructional &
Informational Posts
rut. noun /ret/: a habit or pattern of behaviour that has become dull and unproductive but is hard to change.
In our column, Rut Buster, we challenge writer Valerie McTavish to climb out of the all-too-common health ruts we find ourselves in from time to time. From the running rut to the gym rut, and even the couch potato rut, join us as Valerie tosses aside the usual and takes on a variety of get-your-sweat-on activities.
Don’t sit behind the uber-fit college boy.
That was the first hard lesson I learned when I decided to try out a spin class at my local Y.
It was still a few minutes before the class was scheduled to start and the bikes were filling up fast, everyone sitting and spinning absentmindedly. That’s when I realized I’d sat myself behind a perfect spin-specimen who was already pedalling at double the speed of anyone else. I could see my self-confidence straddling his back tire and ride off into the distance.
By now all the bikes were taken and Joel, the instructor, was cuing up the throbbing tunes. No time for ego issues, it was time to spin. For the next thirty minutes of this ‘beginner’ class, my non-stop propeller legs switched from the “65% effort” of high revolutions, to the 75% stand-and-push, to that 85%-grind that made me wish the bikes were equipped with airsick bags.
It was in our last standing sprint, while I contemplated the medical possibility of my butt actually falling off, that I noticed the taught thighs of the rider ahead of me. Then, the ripple of his calf muscles as his legs went round and round. I was mesmerized, inspired – possibly delirious – but it got me wondering about how many gallons of spin-sweat I’d have to shed to get perfectly-toned legs of my own.
I don’t know how many classes it’ll take but you can be sure I’ll be the one pedaling like a demon to catch up to the super-fit college kid.
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Valerie needs your help. Email your stories about how you busted out of a rut (fitness or otherwise). Share your successes or suggest an activity for her to try. Stay motivated together.
