On your bike – there’s a huge choice of spinning classes
Photograph iStock
Spinning was invented by South African cycle racer Johnny Goldberg as a safe way to train without having to leave his family for long periods of time. A year later, in 1990, the world saw the first spinning centre in Santa Monica, California - and the rest is history.
‘Spinning is a high-energy, indoor, 45-minute class using stationary bikes. Sessions are set to motivating music and an instructor, also on a bike at the front, leads you through intervals, climbs and descents for a full-body workout,’ says Mia Smith of London’s Pedal Studios. Specialist classes encompass trendy Psycle, set to banging beats with boxing and weight-lifting; Nuffield’s sessions where big screens project forests, mountains and country lanes; 30-minute Olympic training-inspired Victoria Pendleton classes at Fitness First; and Wattbike, with bikes that monitor everything from power output to cadence, let you race over mock flat stages or mountains, and do time trials.