Torq Cycle

Sometimes peer pressure is a good thing.  My friends alerted me to a two week promotion at a new spin cycle studio in Central, Hong Kong -- Torq.


Crank it Out!

Even though I despise do not love spinning, I was encouraged enough to give it a try. I figured, why not, right? It's free and it's fitness and maybe after trying it a few more times I could catch the cycling bug.

So I signed up. And I went to my first class. It was actually not that bad (except for one part, where I  started wheezing as sweat was dripping onto my handlebars).    And near the end, I was really, really regretting my choice of lunch.

The studio is really small - just one room stacked full of bikes, a lobby area selling some bike related equipment and waters, and two locker rooms (one for women, one for men).  The locker rooms are small but well designed and very pretty, and I liked that they use Aesop products.  Their towels were also really fluffy and soft. 

(Am I the only person who cares about the beauty products in a gym?  I am a total sucker for it.  I really think it makes a huge difference, even though it really shouldn't.  I'm sure if we delved into some marketing studies we would find that gyms can charge significantly more if they just make their locker rooms and soaps really nice).

I thought the neon lights were a really nice touch. 

For the most part, we cycled in the dark to a lot of pump-up music.  But sometimes the neon blue lights would come on, which was kind of fun.

My bike! And my pink weights.

 Because it was not enough just to ride, we had to do weights about three quarters of the way through.  Bring it on I say!

Torq has a TV screen up at the top of the studio that shows where everyone in the class stacks up.  This obviously is meant to be a motivating factor.  I do not think the whole shaming thing works on me, but if I were in dead last and significantly worse than everyone else, I would probably be embarassed enough to step it up.  I am not sure how I feel about the scoreboard, but I am guessing most people could care less how I am doing relative to them. 

My "seat" is aching today, wondering what the heck I did to it, but surprisingly my abs are not sore at all (the instructor said they should be).  Either I am doing something wrong or my abs are stronger than I thought.  I am betting it is the former and not the latter. 

Will I go back?  Yes, I think so.  It was a startlingly good workout (I am gauging this based on how absolutely hungry and wiped out I felt afterwards) and I think it would be fun to try out a few of their other classes.  I heard from my friend that the class we went to was actually pretty easy, and not as intense as another one she had tried.  Good to know...