Splendiferous

Today just like every Saturday I launch the weekend officially in KSC. Usually the 8 am because it gives me so much more of the day to luxuriate in. What struck me today particularly was the fact that near rides end Kristen remarked seeing someone looking at the clock and that she was going to the back of the studio and rip that clock off the wall and smash it to pieces. Now I have heard this many times over the past 3 years and of course she’s only joking but for me the clock is not my friend because the hour dissipates like melting sugar in my coffee and I am never happy about it at least nowadays I’m not. I can recall in the early days thinking how am I going to make it through the hour now of course it’s a different story. I love spinning and sometimes my sexagenarian body wishes I didn’t love it so much.  

KJ was full of vignettes today and they are usually didactic like something her mom or dad would say or examples from her very real life that always leave me with a smile. The ones about her dad are most endearing and when she tells them it’s almost like I can feel the lump in her throat. When she talks about Don I am most amused like her telling us just how fast he can pack up all his belongings which by most accounts would be a world record. (32 minutes if her stopwatch was working properly)  Don always the good sport and his munificence is incredibly apparent.  

The class today was splendiferous in terms of intensity and its design is never predictable. Kristen is very adroit in her call and although we recognize the music her pattern interrupts are designed to shock the body and most of us are wearing physiologies that bear out that very fact.  I had seen an email yesterday proclaiming that spin was not a good exercise and it indeed made you look older and that there were many other ways to get results with less time. Even if I believed that for a moment I wouldn’t give up a minute of my time in the Lavender Palace even if I end up a curmudgeon. 

I was glad that KJ had to teach another class because it gave me time to hotfoot it over to the end of her driveway because I really needed that hockey equipment. Look what I found.  

Kristen’s Spin Class: I think this might become a habit. What do you think?  

Do you recognize this man?  He makes a lot of noise in the Lavender Palace that’s what I hear. 

The Super Star Downstairs

There comes a time in every man’s life when he has to do something different. Today was that day. I went downstairs for only the second time in my 10-year tenure here at EQ. 

The 1st floor studio is a multi function space with a hardwood floor and soft lighting. This morning at 945 it became the Yoga studio. The 90-minute class is called Hot Vinyasa Yoga led by Raj Shtrom. (More about her later)   And it was one of the most challenging group exercise efforts both physically and mentally I have ever partaken in.  Although I must confess that I did take this class about 6 months ago and it took a yeoman’s effort to make it through the full 90 minutes. Today I put my big boy pants on and was determined to dig in.  

Fortunately for me my friend Jesse and his wife Guninder were there for moral support even though Jesse was doing handstands and twisting his arms around his body like a pretzel twist I was not going to even try what would have broken me in two or more pieces. Right from the start my heart was pumping and as we went through some of the various poses I tried to do my best facsimile of what most of my classmates were doing. They were the veritable rubber band compared to me who is tighter than Gene Krupa’s drums. (Okay Ginger Baker if you don’t know who he is)  Within 7 minutes no more I began to sweat profusely and out came the towels lest I slip and do myself a mischief.  

Raj is quite literally magical and maybe the right word is mystical. She starts everyone off in the lotus position or asana, which is supposed to be comfortable.   (For me that meant legs folded there was no way my feet were going to be cradled in the opposing thighs) We closed our eyes clasped our hands in prayer mode and began to chant OM.  I used it as an opportunity to center my breathing and leave the outside world behind. Raj has this voice that is melodic and soothing. It seems to me as if she is chanting the instructions of the different positions and it felt like music to my ears. It’s as if she came out of ancient India but by the same token she had a practicality about her that made me feel even more comfortable even though my flexibility is like petrified wood. She said to me Jack don’t wait another 6 months rather give me 6 months and you will be in awe of the change.  

I was glad I came and I know that the time is now for me to change it up and I think Yoga is what needs to compliment my fanatical spin routine.  Raj Shtrom is indeed the Super Star Downstairs.  

I will be back.  

This was me in Downward Dog

Come to think of it I didn't even look nearly this good. 

That Mancini Woman

The pure beauty of this young performance artist and athlete is that she represents the next generation of group exercise professionals and this woman in particular sparkles with a charisma that’s understated.  She commands respect without so much as a raised voice or eyebrow. Why do I think she’s so good? Well she doesn’t try to imitate anyone of her predecessors or even the Queen of Spin.  She is carving out her own fiefdom and not only sharing the spotlight she gives it a whiter shade of pale. Fact is her discographies are well thought out and as Gary Lewis once sang: Count Me In whenever I get a chance to clip in for her time slot.  

She’s been building her following in the Lavender Palace but also in the Main Studio in group exercise. (I am still resistant to that room with a plethora of excuses)  Some of my spin mates swear by her and judging by the response from all of you she has a lot of fans and growing every day.  

That Mancini Woman has it all going on.  

Burnt Toast

I think that the only way I can really describe KSC is that it is an insatiable desire. I can never get enough I always want more and for me the stories just keep on coming. How can it be that every single class she teaches is different than the last? Answer: Because she has a plan. She never just rolls in there and rests on her considerable laurels. No way! And no matter what mood she wakes up in she gives a stellar performance like it was a Broadway show. In the locker room the roosters were crowing just how great today’s class was. David, Ivan, Roy, Howard all were waxing poetic about the 8 am.  I don’t think I will ever run out of superlatives about the Evil Woman. She’s SFG. You would think that after 450 stories I might be done. I guess not.  

 The last few sessions have started off with Tabata and she gave us her solemnity by saying that we were torching off those unwanted carbohydrates from the night before. How cool is that? You mean those Lorna Doone’s I inhaled after platelets yesterday are poof? Yeah baby! I like that. 20 seconds all out and then 10 seconds of lights out. Tabata is a killer way to start the session. Of course those 20 seconds seem like an indeterminable amount of time and those 10 seconds of down time are wickedly quick. Getting through the set of 8 is no easy task but the only way to take them is one at a time.  

Oh my God she played that Mumford & Sons song again to round out the session. If I were a balloon inflated without a knot I’d be flying around the studio. It is just one of those songs along with countless others that might put me in the grave just a few minutes before my time I get so excited.  Fabulous session KJ.  

I love my toast burnt and today I was toasted.  

P.S.

A freshman member by the name of  Jill was alongside me today and I had to thank her at rides end because BION* I was watching her hands on the handlebars and she had them open palm the whole ride. Why is that meaningful? Well try as I might I cannot seem to help keeping a tight grip on the handle with my left hand and I go numb. Well today I didn’t and Jill thanks. 

*BION Believe it or not.  

Fake It Til You Make It

Shot out of a cannon and on a Monday to boot. She started off with that Mumford & Sons smash hit: I Will Wait for You. I think I lost two stages of my rocket ship during that song alone.  I’m also thinking I just might get to like Monday mornings as much as the Evil Woman does. I was fired up and high. Whenever she would tell us how much she loved Mondays in the past I said: Really? NFW I hate Mondays.  Well I am a man after all and sometimes it takes a bit of time for me to come around and she may have something in this I love Monday morning mantra  because I got launched today. 

I had to laugh when KJ said that people tell her that when they look at Anastassia’s legs they get inspired I thought to myself yeah her legs are nice too! Lol.  She is a natural beauty the Czarina. And my Queen I just might need a leash as I do get out of hand most of the time. What else can I say I loved today and the music selection was nearly transcendental going back and forth in time although going back ten years is hardly time travel for a sexagenarian. (+2) 

Here is the link to that Mumford & Sons tune. I confess I downloaded the live and studio versions. My maternal Grandfather played the banjo and as was told to me by my Grandmother the strings would explode when he fired up his magic fingers.  

Oh and Mrs. Bean your quote: Fake it ‘til you make it? Fabulous quote I used it all the time in AA and it helped keep me sober but it also changed my demeanor because as I acted happy and sober then I became happy and sober.  

I will wait for you and this is for you. 

Mumford & Sons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGKfrgqWcv0

The Gold Standard

When President Nixon took the U.S. off the Gold Standard in 1971 gold was $35 dollars an ounce. Some proponents today argue that we cannot print our way into a recovery and that the only way to stabilize our economy is to return to gold. At EQ we have been on the Gold Standard in-group exercise ever since Kristen James took over that position. I remember when she first arrived she held the position of Club Manager. Lucky for us she left that spot and took on the real challenge as Group Fitness Manager at Equinox.  I know she has become a Regional Coordinator due to her leadership skills and charisma but what matters most is that she has never stood still in terms of her own gold standard of excellence in how she leads.  Maybe I have waxed poetic about this many times before but I always feel it bears repeating. When you see the results her devotees achieve like Howard (-40 pounds) his partner Ferne (-32 pounds) and Lisa (-20 pounds) to mention but a few you know she has impacted our lives immeasurably. For me it’s a rippling effect beyond the physical plane.  

When the Evil Woman says to have a seat and  “Light up the flywheel” the metaphor is complete because as we ignite our metabolism so too do we fire up our collective imaginations in terms of how we start the rest of our day. I keep reminding myself how I spent almost 7 years exercising alone thinking that the solitary way was the only way for me. How I came out of that mocus state I know not but glad I am is where I be.  

The weather makes me think I will miss the Saturday version of KSC but today was the perfect way to begin the weekend even if I am like some of you snowbound.  

Cycle for Survival Revisited

Organization like a well oiled machine with frills. There’s nothing spared here and in a way it seems enigmatic that a charitable organization would be as lavish as it feels right now.  However the generosity of all the participants motivates you beyond what you might think you could normally contribute to a cause that everyone is touched by in some way, and that’s a good thing, a real good thing.  

I saw The Evil Woman arrive in her silver down jacket as well as the other master motivators of EQ. Even the charismatic Pam Polestino (Double P) lends her grace and charm to the upcoming proceedings, which will build into many crescendos.  

Setting the stage now is the emcee. He is doing his housekeeping speech leaving no stones unturned. One of my teams is the Tumor Busters lead by Young Dana with her own visceral love for this event. Tripp happened by resplendent in his disheveled iconic hairdo. It never really matters what he says because with this man it’s all in the unspoken dialogue of the heart and soul. 

I just walked through an energy field I have not felt since maybe The Boston Marathon. It filled my senses from every pore in my body and it quite literally left me shaking and I had to write about it right this second. I thought for a moment that I could see the sparks flying.  It is so palpable. When Homo sapiens focus the 6th percentile of their brains. (We only use 5%) The earth shifts so discernibly.  

Kristen has center stage and why not she is the architect of Equinox spin and I suspect beyond the borders of the physical plane. Young Atlas to her left and Svengali on her starboard side.  It’s almost here Cycle For Survival and how could anyone calculate this response having never had this experience before.  Kristen just took in a breath and her sentient side gave her countenance the look of an expectant beautiful teen, the one we used to fawn over in HS.  She just said how excited she was and I never hear her voice crack but it did just now, how wondrous.  She speaks the name of a rider, as is her trademark. God when she does that it’s so powerful and I know I steal some B-12 whenever she does it.  I will, I can I want to. Carries the full glass of human emotion and Maslow would open his eyes right now.  She has them standing in #3 and it just got really cranked. The drug is spin and this “high” has no “crash”.  

I just reached into the air simulating an antenna and those damn lachrymal glands just tried to fill my ocular cavity with tears but I resisted because there’s time enough left in the hours ahead. Breathing centers the emotion and it’s an aphrodisiac. 

It started again, she’s ramping up the whole room with the motivational choreography: Release Me. The building is shaking what a feeling, my mom must hear us in heaven right here, right now. Together like one! Love your life another mantra that is cycling through us right now.  

Double P, Pam Polestino just asked me if I was riding. I thought she said was I writing? I guess the onomatopoeia just told me I don’t do one with out the other. Kristen near the end of her segment and Svengali, Tripper is next which promises to elevate the room with his own brand of kinetic spinography.

And he did not disappoint. The trance inducer did just that. Milton Erickson the father of hypnosis was smiling from 6 feet under. What is it that motivates us when the setting is just like this?  We begin to remember that we are all connected in ways that are not just psychobabble because when we focus power together nuclear missiles shrink like dead violets. 

As they announced what was raised I had the number 4 in mind as in 400,000 but I was a digit off. It was 4.1 Million Dollars! You could have knocked us all over with a feather when that number was spoken and to top it off visually the huge ceremonial check was raised just like they do at sporting events.