Kick My A..naerobic Threshold

Every Tuesday and Thursday night and Saturday morning I take an indoor cycling class.  The name of the class is KMA.......Kick My A..naerobic Threshold.  And it does just that.  Each class is two hours of pure torture.  It is mostly cycling on your own bike on an indoor trainer, but he also likes to throw in some strength training as well.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays we do resistance band work.  Our coach thinks it's really fun to make us do isometric exercises with the bands.  For instance recently we did a 4 minute isometric squat.  I literally thought I might die.  I think he was a sadist in a previous life.




That's me in the hot pink....kicking it!


In spite of the pain, it's kind of fun in a way.  As I've said before I'm not the strongest or fastest athlete.  My class is made up of about 90% men and 10% women.  Alot of the men are serious cyclists, but the isometric exercises are an equalizer.  Those guys legs are shaking just like mine.  They are breathing hard, and alot of time there are a few curse words being expressed.  It's kind of funny to watch.

On Saturday's the coach likes to put together an obstacle course......oh gee more fun.  We spend about 30 minutes on the bike, then about 45 on the obstacle course and then complete the class on the bike.  It's a great way to break up the bike, but the obstacle course is tough and he changes out the exercises every week.  We do fun things like jump rope for 2 minutes.  Now that should be easy right?  I could jump rope for like 20 minutes when I was a kid and didn't think a thing about it........not so much anymore.  Have you jumped rope lately - man that can get your heart rate up in a second.  We also do agility ladder exercises and hip extensions on the ball, but my FAVORITE one that we've done for the last few weeks is where I get to crawl on my hands and knees with a partner behind me who has a resistance band around my waist and gets to pull me in the opposite direction (really wish I had a picture of that).....it is FUN....is my sarcasm font working?

I know that's just a ringing endorsement for the class right, but honestly it has been great for me.  I do dread every workout, but I know it has pushed me farther than I probably would have gone on my own this winter.  I would never have sat on a bike and ridden this many miles (even if it is indoor) on my own.  So thanks Coach Goodman Goodpain.

On a side note, I decided to get clipless pedals installed on my bike prior to the class starting.  I figured if I was going to be indoors on a trainer for 3 months I might as well try them out and start getting some practice clipping in and out in a safe environment.  Even that wasn't easy.  The first time I clipped in, there was no way I was clipping out - they were set too tight.  So I had to get off and on my bike with my shoes still attached to the bike pedals - "Pro Style".  I'm not sure if this "practice" will translate from trainer to outdoors, but we shall see soon enough.  I'm sure my klutzy self will have lots of fabulous stories to share when I first start riding outdoors with those things.  I am just hopeful I don't seriously injure myself.

Anyway, I do feel the class is making me stronger.  I'm hopeful to see some improvement in my cycling speed when I start training outdoors again.  Very, very hopeful.  Biking is my strongest sport, but I'm still well below most people's average.  I think with some extra effort I'll be an AVERAGE cyclist any day now.

How about you ?  Any one do the group exercise thing or are you the lone wolf?