…to the best workouts. Taught a class today with a “Sir Ivan” re-mix of the old Buffalo Springfield classic: Stop, children, what’s that sound….everybody look what’s going round. 2009 energy with 1976 passion, what a mix. Kind of had a 70’s flashback thing going the last few classes: Magic Bus, Soul Kitchen, You Don’t Love Me, All Along the Watchtower (U2 version). Currently working on a them idea suggested at the Spynergy facebook page: Guilty Pleasures. Hmmmmm so far I have Red, Red Wine and Love Child……..do you have other thoughts?
April 23, 2009 Leave a Comment
Reminder: great reasons to spin
Lots of cool responses to the Spynergy Blog……one of our teachers, Jesse Page (manicspinner) provided a link we hadn’t seen before: 10 REASONS TO MOUNT A SPIN BIKE…..to read the full article with all details click here
1) Burn, Burn, Burn Calories
2) Cardiovascular Health
3) Progress at your own pace
4) Time Flies
5) Low Impact
6) Shapely legs
7) Lower your bodies breaking point Build abs while you spin
9) Ride Together
10) Mental Strength
………..we’ll add number 11 ——- Cool Music!!!
click here for full article
April 20, 2009 Leave a Comment
Bill’s playlists
MEMORIAL DAY 09
Checkin It Out Van Morrison
Diner Martin Sexton
Get On Your Boots U2
Listen to the Music (DJ Malibu Mix) Doobie Brothers
Wagon Wheel The Old Crow Medicine Show
Birthday Beatles
Right Round Flo Rida
In My Place Coldplay
My Girl Aerosmith
Paper Planes (Scottie B Remix) M.I.A.
Push It Garbage
Yellow Moon The Neville Brothers
Swimming Pools Thao
Living in America James Brown
Natural One Folk Implosion
Friday May 15th
Sympathy for the Devil Bossa N’ Stones
Brown Eyed Girl 3:45 Steel Pulse
Worn Me Down 4:33 Rachael Yamshsys
Tears Of A Clown 2:40 The English Beat
Home Town 3:13 Joe Jackson
Close To You 3:14 Stevie Ray Vaughan
Spirits in the Material World Police
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) 4:55 Talking Heads
Cry for You (Radio Mix) 3:32
One Tree Hill 5:23 U2
Read My Mind 4:07 The Killers
The Last Time 4:47 The Rolling Stones No Security (Live)
The Devil Went Down to Georgia 3:35 The Charlie Daniels Band
What a Wonderful World (Single) 2:17 Louis Armstrong
Cobrastyle 3:02 Teddy Bears
Sunday April 19th
Ride Me High J.J. Cale Anyway the Wind Blows:
One Way Out (Live) The Allman Brothers Band
Push It Garbage Version 2.0
Rock and a Hard Place The Rolling Stones Steel Wheels (Remastered) 5:25
Redemption Song Johnny Cash & Joe Strummer
Y’all’d Think She’d Be Good 2 Me C.C. Adcock
Gimme Shelter Patti Smith
Mrs. Robinson The Lemonheads
Love You ‘Till the End The Pogues
Good Man Gone Bad B.B. King
Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me Keith Urban
All Along the Watchtower (Live) U2
Lyin’ Eyes Eagles
Walking on Sunshine Katrina and the Waves 4:00 9 4/18/2009 9:34 AM
Friday May 1st
Twist and Shout 2:35 Beatles
2-Tone Army 3:20 Toasters, The
You, Me and Everything Blues Traveler
Two Silver Trees 3:50 Calexico
Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues Eels
I wasn’t kidding 6:35 Angie Stone
Just Like Heaven 3:34 Katie Melua
Whitewater 3:09 Béla Fleck
All Along the Watchtower (Live) U2 Rattle and Hum
Young Man’s Blues 3:44 Magic Slim & The Teardrops
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad 4:54 Grateful Dead Ladies and Gentlemen the Grateful Dead – Fillmore East, Even Better Than the Real Thing 4:30 Dead or Alive
Hallelujah 4:09 Rufus Wainwright Shrek China Cat Sunflower
April 14, 2009 Leave a Comment
Grateful Dead Spin notes
A few basics: there are 3 levels of Dead fans per (NY Times April 12) ……..Level 1 – those who speak of dead songs by album. 2) Dead fans who refer to “eras” i.e. “the pigpen era”…..and 3) those who refer to specific SHOWS. i.e. “Chicago Auditorium May 11th 1975″.
Music at Spynergy Grateful Dead classes have primarily featured extracts from specific shows…….and we refer to those shows by name in case someone was actually there (ha! as if they would remember….) The playlist below, by the way, was created before the NY Times Article.
In the Blogosphere amongst the Dead Cognoscenti…..there are several shows rumored to be the best shows ever. I have the full shows if anyone wants them, or you can find them at nugs.net These shows are always mentioned with extreme reverance:
Cornell University May 8, 1977
Broom County Arena (NY) Nov. 6, 1977
Fillmore East, April 1971
Veneta, Oregon, August 27, 1972
The playlist below is much more than an hour…….and of course a Dead Spin should run long if possible (I did one hour and ten minutes or so). Several of the songs below run over 15 minutes so you would hear only certain parts…….you can’t realistically play 17 minutes songs…..can you?
From the recent Spynergy Dead Spins
Background music while the people trickle in:
Fire on the Mountain (9 minute version from the Broom County arena show
1) Warm-up song: Eyes of the World, Pembroke Pines Florida, May 1977
(first 6 to 7 minutes, then faded out gently)
2) Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad, Fillmore East, April 1971
3) Franklins Tower, Providence Rhode Island, September 3, 1980 (first 6 or 7 minutes)
4) Dark Hollow, Fillmore East, April 1971
5) Sunshine Daydream, Hampton Virginia, March 27 1988
6) Scarlet Begonias (from Mars Hotel album)
7) Dancing in the Streets, Cornell University, May 8 1977
VERY IMPORTANT: this is one of the best Dead Jams EVER. For use in a class we fast forward on the Ipod and START the song at the 5 minute mark. Fade it in gently and then leave it on for at least 6 or 7 minutes. It is a great zone out —- totally darkened room is ideal, and I try to shut up. All Along the Watchtower, from the album “Postcards from a Hanging” this is an album
featuring all Bob Dylan songs played by the Dead. Amazing version of this classic.
9) New Speedway Boogie…….from Working Mans Dead. Great classic
10) I Know You Rider, London April, 1972…great live version….great song to finish
Others that could be mixed in
Me and Bobby Mcgee from Fillmore East Show
Brown Eyed Woman from Cornell Show
GREATEST COOL DOWN SONG EVER: 7 minute acoustic Friend of the Devil by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman
April 14, 2009 Leave a Comment
What the heck makes exercise doable?
No one disputes the value of exercise. We live busy but sedentary lives that are peppered with stress — then we sprinkle questionable eating and drinking on top. Normal? Sure. Healthy? Probably not.
It is what it is……and we all know that exercise is a HUGE antidote. How can we keep at it ? After a lifetime of experimenting with exercise we have determined 2 eternal truths:
1) Regular exercise takes discipline
2) The less interesting the exercise, the more difficult the discipline.
Example: Hiking the Appalachian trail in autumn is good exercise and little discipline is required to stay at it. Running on a treadmill alone in your basement is good exercise, but it’s HUGE discipline to do it often.
Here’s the thing about spin: great exercise of course….but more important, there are things about it that make the discipline less intimidating. The music, the teacher, the group energy, the darkness, the class structure, the variety — these things conspire to make the exercise (dare I say it)….Fun. If something is fun, it doesn’t take as much discipline to do it.
Love to hear your thoughts comments or examples….
April 13, 2009 Leave a Comment
Songs from Alex’s playlists….
1)Thing of Beauty…Hothouse Flowers
2)Sometime around Midnight….Airbourne Toxic Event
3)Come on Get Higher….Matt Nathanson
4)United States of POP 2008 Mash Up….DJ Earworm
Talk to me…give me your favorites…If I like ‘em, I’ll play ‘em!!
Is it your birthday??? Give me two of your favorite songs and they are on my playlist for your big day!!
April 13, 2009 Leave a Comment
Bill’s plea: Gimme some music ideas……now!
Yeah music is half the fun (or more) of the good classes isn’t it? Somehow if it’s right……..you can power right through those tough, tough intervals……..and like it! Arrrrrrrghh.
Right here is the place for you to pepper me with good music ideas……..and hammer me for the bad ones.
Genres I’ve used include: blues, rock, folk, trip-hop, hip-hop, cajun, country, metal, alt-rock, broadway, classical, disco, jazz, classic rock, electronic and others.
Themes I’ve done include: Cities across America, Halloween, Manny being Manny, Women with attitude (stolen from Fred), St. Patricks Day, Rainy day, Hot Summah, Beaches, Storms, USA, Colors, Streets and Roads, Food, Valentines Day……..and of course 100% Grateful Dead Spin (See Dead Spin notes posting).
We’d love more song requests, and even theme requests! Just got one this week from the Spynergy Facebook Fan Page ——— Guilty Pleasures. If you have ideas on that one, please let me know.
Please gimme song or genre comments, suggestions, ideas —– playlists will be posted elsewhere if that interests you.
April 12, 2009 Leave a Comment
Riding indoors vs. riding outdoors
We ride outside, we ride inside…..we love both.
Yes, we run an indoor studio, but we love the idea of cycling of all kinds. The benefits of indoor and outdoor riding are awesome in so many ways!
About 25% of Spynergy riders are also serious about their outdoor riding. They do both inside and outside riding. The vast majority of our spinners do NOT ride outside….ever.
Riding inside and outside are different………and the same.
The same because they are both rhythmic, low impact, cardio exercise. While fundamentally solitary endeavours, indoor and outdoor cycling are often done in groups and can be social. Both workouts can be intense….but both can be moderated. Both are exercise that experts agree is ideal for a range of health and fitness related goals.
How do they differ? Other than the obvious (you don’t need a helmet indoors, the sun shines outdoors), there are differences that make the workouts somewhat distinct. One is time spent. Spin classes are an “in and out” workout. In less than an hour, you can burn huge energy. With time pressures everywhere, the “exercise value per minute” is extremely high in a spin class. With outdoor cycling, equipment, preparation and clean up issues add significantly to the average ride — but you get scenery!
Outdoor rides tend to be a more varied mix of endurance and interval training, indoor rides focus more on intervals. Intervals (intermittent periods of high exertion) tend to be longer outside, leading to a very different feel and experience.
In either workout, you can work hard….or not. In both workouts the presence of other riders around you tends to motivate. Indoors, the music keeps you alert, outdoors it’s the presence of cars.
Spinning is great aerobic training for outside riding. Some outdoor cyclists complain that the cadence and saddle positions in spin class do not simulate outside riding —- but even the most ardent admit that there is tremendous heart rate work in a good spin class, not to mention the toning of key muscle groups.
Spinners who don’t ride outside usually cite traffic and safety concerns, or sometimes technophobia about all the “stuff”. These are legitimate reasons not to ride —- but if you’re a spinner, you would actually be pretty good at it, and even periodic outside riding is great cross-training for your spinning!
What’s the bottom line? Both are great exercise depending on your preference, your available time, and your mood! If you’re an inside rider looking to explore outside (or vice versa) —- feel free to email us with any questions. We love both.
April 11, 2009 Leave a Comment
The Green Thing
Cycling by nature is “green”…..like sailing and rowing, there is movement without anything being burned (except calories). In our studio, we use energy for the sound system, lights and HVAC – that’s all. And the place is only open 4 to 5 hours per day. Still, we’ve always wondered…………….can all that cycling energy and sweat be converted to AC power??
The answer is yes. The devil is in the details. How, and how much? We are soliciting proposals from a few folks — but would love to hear thoughts or ideas on the use of human energy. Anyone out there know anything?
Responses so far have led me to Ed Begley’s website, Green Revolution (a company trying to commercialize the harnessing of exercise equipent), articles on similar projects in Hong Kong and Portland…….and even to a power-generating dance floor developed in Rotterdam! Help the Earth and party!
Would love to hear more.