This post is sponsored by Les Mills and TMPL Gym. Welcome to another great Wild Workout Wednesday Link Up where Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Angelena Marie from Angelena Marie: Happy, Healthy & Balanced, Michelle at Fruition Fitness and I bring you workout ideas, motivation, inspiration and recipes to try. Join us each week by reading along, linking up and grab the button to proudly display on your blog/in your posts!
A few weeks ago, I was able to attend the opening event for David Barton's new gym, TMPL. The gym is 40,000 square feet, which is insanely huge in NYC. It has a floor dedicated to upper body, a room dedicated to lower body (called The Butt Room), a studio for classes, a massive pool, crazy big locker rooms, and New York's first Les Mills IMMERSIVE FITNESS™ cycle studio (the other US location is at a 24 Hour Fitness in Santa Monica).
Just last week, I was invited back to attend THE TRIP, a spin class in said IMMERSIVE FITNESS™ cycle studio.
I was a bit late to the class, so I quickly changed in the massive locker room, filled up my water bottle, and headed into the studio.
Unfortunately, the only bike left open was in the back row. I had a hard time setting up my bike (I couldn't unlock the seat to get it adjust). The class was starting, so I couldn't ask the instructor for help. Eventually, I just gave up and climbed on. It was good enough. The pedals have clip-ins for spin shoes if you have your own, but I just strapped in with my sneakers. Upon climbing onto my bike, I realized a big pillar blocked the right side of the screen (which I'll explain the point of momentarily). I was a bit flustered and was not anticipating this being a good class, but I think that was due more to the fact that I had showed up a bit late - no fault of TMPL or THE TRIP.
My negative attitude quickly turned around as the class began. You see, this wasn't just any spin class.
As you spin, cinema quality video content is projected onto an IMAX-type screen built specifically for the studio while the instructor cues exercise moves that synch perfectly with the music and graphics on the screen. What you see are different roads and paths, so it feels like you are really riding through a scene vs staying in place. You get the sensation of ascending steep glaciers, sprinting around digital velodromes (cycling tracks) or cruising into a perfect sunset.
My class took us through a few different cityscapes that reminded me of a futuristic NYC and Tokyo. When you see a hill, you adjust your resistance accordingly. When you see a sharp turn, you lean into it. When you go downhill, you take the resistance off and cruise. It was really neat and I did actually feel like I was in the scene. I liked seeing where I was going and knowing when to anticipate a hill or seeing where the peak was.
I also found that the scenes helped me push myself. I'd up the resistance to get up a hill, but then there'd be a bigger hill, so I knew I'd have to up the resistance even more. If I was just in a regular class doing hill drills, I'd probably keep the resistance the same throughout. It also gave me something to look at to distract myself from the sweating. I stopped thinking about the length of the workout and pushed myself harder.
I took a few quick videos throughout the class, so you all could see how it works. Here's a little compilation.
Learn more about this awesome class right on over here. If you're in NYC and want to give the class a shot head over to TMPL (located at 355 West 49th Street). Check out their site for the schedule, and hit me up! I'll come take a class with you. If you're not in NYC, you can find other IMMERSIVE FITNESS™ studios in Santa Monica, London, Paris, Stockholm, Hong Kong and Auckland.
Before you get into the link up, don't forget to enter the 22 Minute Hard Corps and 3-Day Refresh GIVEAWAY! There's a week left to enter, and you can earn new entries every day.
Alrighty, it's link up time! Add your fitness/healthy living posts below, hop around to other blogs in the link up to show them some love and share with #WildWorkoutWednesday. Full link up rules here.
Let's Chat:
Are you a spin class fan?
What do you think of THE TRIP and the idea of IMMERSIVE FITNESS?
