There’s a new fitness craze in town and everyone’s lining up to try out the newest indoor cycling studio that just opened in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. Tucked inside Beyond Yoga Antigravity Fitness Serendra is Saddle Row, an indoor spinning and rowing studio for newbies and fitness enthusiasts alike. I was lucky enough to have tried their classes even before they opened, and let me tell you, they are all FUN. Exhausting, but fun.
What with Philippine National Cycling team head coach Chris Allison, cycling enthusiast Sancho Honrado (and wife Jammy), Crossfit addict (and beauty columnist) Jigs Mayuga and Martha King (who is also a former Philippine wakeboarding champion), workout enthusiast George de Fiesta, businessman Joel Poniente as owners, these guys decided to put up a spin + row studio because of the complementary nature of these exercises that are also two of the most sustainable exercises one could enjoy for a lifetime – aside from the fact that they are incredible workouts that are easy on the joints.
Walking into the spin room will remind you of über stylish Savile Row in London, with the brick walls and lantern “posts” adorning the room, mood lighting setting the ambience for a “stylish” yet effective workout. The spinning studio alone boasts of having a full roster of over 20 instructors who come from various backgrounds – from triathlon, yoga, dragon boat, swimming, cross fit, marathon running and cycling as their fitness background to business, law, and real estate from the business standpoint. Each one hashis own flavor and style of teaching so it’s best to try them all and find your favorite.
Saddle Row offers a variety of classes across both cycling and rowing. The initial rollout of cycling classes are broken down into three types:
The Underground is enjoyed by a lot of females because it’s the one where you’ll “party.” These classes are taught to the beat of the music with a lot of fun dance choreography. Don’t worry, the dance isn’t too hard that you’ll fall off your saddle. I find this class the easiest, so beginners and non-beginners alike would enjoy for sure.
The “level two” is The Exchange. This one is their power numbers class where the focus is on specific power-based workouts that are great for triathletes, marathoners, or anyone interested to improve his endurance capabilities. This class is my personal favorite, as it has proved to be both challenging and fun.
The third and most advanced class is The Resistance band class, which offers a great combination of challenging cycling intervals combined with core and upper body strengthening. It is the most total body cycling class they offer. Be warned that at my level of fitness, I was very sore for the next two days. It felt really good, but perhaps beginners might find it a bit too hard – especially because it is filled with uphill climbs.
What is great about Saddle Row is that their instructors were put through a rigorous international indoor cycling certification from Schwinn that covers bike fitting, proper technique, class programming, and safety protocols. Supplementing this is guidance from the Philippine National Cycling team head coach and performance director, Chris, who approves all the moves done on the saddle to make sure everything is safe and on point. They want people to have a fun and effective workout but safety is of utmost importance to all of their fitness programming. Beginners are constantly reminded to respect their bodies and to not try to push too hard or above their current fitness level. Skipping some movements or taking short timeouts from the workouts are allowed, as Chris believes that “the key to gaining fitness is not pushing too hard to the point of injury in any one workout, but (going) progressively harder over many workouts.”
Personally, what I love about spinning in saddle is the fact that each bike has a screen for you to monitor your gear (difficulty) level and cadence (rpm). Students are constantly reminded to never spin at zero resistance and to keep it to a minimum, so having that screen in front of you helps. Right in front of everyone is a giant screen that sometimes displays the numbers from each bike in the class. The power and energy numbers help motivate and challenge the students to keep up with the group. One’s competitive nature comes out once he sees the numbers on screen – one wouldn’t want to be left out. Students can also opt out of having their numbers projected on the screen, though. In some of The Exchange classes they do team races or work together as a class to hit certain targets – it is quite fun as the class is required to have teamwork despite it being in a room of strangers.
The rowing studio is set to open mid-November, and it will carry a good variety of rowing classes for beginners to hardcore fitness enthusiasts alike. Everybody is also excited for that one but for now, I think spinning is making everyone’s world go round.
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