Last Saturday, I took my first spinning class. It took about 4 days, but my donkey walk finally went away. While me and my nether-regions were waiting for the pain to subside, I did some research on some suggestions by readers and by twitter-folk. I really liked the actual ACTIVITY of spinning, and wanted to give it another shot.
The first suggestion was a bike seat cover. They are about $11-19 and have a gel cushioning. I ordered one and when it came, I was skeptical that it could do much.
On to donkey-butt defense #2, padded garments. I had no idea there were so many options for padding in the nether-regions. Underwear, bike shorts, skirts, pants, whatever.
I ended up getting this thing:
It's a skort/capri thingy, but the “seat” is padded. The place I bought it (Always for Me – not a sponsor, just a place I shop!) is where I buy the mac daddy of all sports bras and my super cute blue swimsuit from the cruise, so I figured it would be worth a try. It was pricey, but if it would enable me to start doing spinning without donkey butt, I would gladly pay it.
I was worried that the padding would be too narrow or not cover all my surface area. Not trying to be self depricating, just sayin'! But then I got it and flipped it inside out to reveal the padding. ZOMG.
Let's just say that this thing is like the size of a maxi pad that you dreamed of having when you first got your period in your earlier years. It felt like one too. Like a huge super maxi pad from the early 80s , before dri-weave or whatever super absorbing technology came out (guessing here, I didn't wear maxi pads in the 80's). Needless to say, I felt completely covered.
This morning I wanted to go to a new class at the gym which is 40 minutes of spinning and 20 minutes of yoga. I suited up and prayed that these weapons would be enough to hold off any numbness, pain and future bruises in inappropriate places.
I wanted to make sure the back wasn't too short. The picture is awful of me, but I cracked up looking at my dog. She likes to show off her honches.
I order to relieve some pressure from the front part of the nether regions, I raised the handle bars a little higher so I didn't feel as strained when using them. As we warmed up, I felt quite comfortable! 10 minutes in? The thought of pain hadn't crossed my mind! 30 minutes? Still going strong! At the end of 40 minutes? Very, very little pain at all, just more discomfort. Completely went away when we transitioned to the yoga studio.
I know some of you commented on my first spinning experience that you were scared to try it, and I really hope you'll reconsider. I got a great workout and honestly, I have zero pain right now. I wouldn't hesitate to jump back on a bike right now, as long as I had my seat cover and super-padded skort/capri thingy (I have no idea what to call it).
As far as the yoga goes, we ended up going over time and doing about 30 minutes yoga. I hadn't ever really done yoga, other than The Biggest Loser yoga DVD. I actually really liked it, and wished I could do it longer. It was calming and energizing at the same time, if that is possible. I guess “refreshing” is a better word? I know there are many yoga faithfuls out there, so I'll start looking into this a little more to see how I can integrate it into my training regimen.
Do you take exercise classes or do special DVD's? What kind of classes are your favorite, and why?
