Spinning - in Italian!

This week, we dipped our toe in the water of the local gym - Citywell Fitness, about 4 miles away. We are both used to gyms, and so there's a lot that we immediately understand - however any visit to a gym (especially the weights room or 'sala pesi') makes you feel like the new boy at school, amongst the more experienced older boys. You just have to dive right in, and do what you feel happy with. Naturally, the most complicated part was trying to understand the pricing structure - this much for weights & classes - ah but not those classes with a star*, they are extra..or you can buy just those classes, on a 10-session card...or a 3-month price..and then there's the monthly price if you sign up for a year..I felt tired after just trying to suss out the right combination of things for us.

In the end we asked if they could give us a deal price for a one-month trial with spinning included, and they did - good result. So we have signed up for that. On Thursday we tried a simple hour in the gym at a quiet time of day - already we felt more confident after that - and then on Friday evening - our first spin class. They have a very fancy, newly renovated spin studio, only 12 bikes, so it's pretty intense. Marta the instructor was lovely and welcoming (and was born in Papiano so that was a natural connection). For some reason she had a packet of nibbles - we didn't quite work out why..all was clear later!

As it was the Friday before Christmas, there were only 6 in the class..and during the warm up the discussion seemed to focus on the correct type of pasta for Christmas (Cappelletti in brodo seemed to the generally agreed 'classic' dish), how to cook it, and what to do if you were also cooking a cannelloni as well - though, some hard challenging as to why you'd do that. I must admit that is not the usual conversation at the Rapids in Romsey..

Back to the class - a good 45 minute work out, building nicely. We did find it pretty hard to catch all of the terms, in Italian and over the excellent music tracks We had wisely sat at the back so we could at least follow the actions of those in front, and just set our own resistance levels. There's a lot of working to heart rate zones as well as RPM, rather than the more UK approach of focusing on the resistance. We'll get there. Next week we have our 'test' before we are permitted to book on to the harder class, SpinPower! All in all a good experience.

Finally, just as we were about to leave, a bottle of Prosecco and some small beakers appeared, and we all had a 'salute', a toast to Christmas. I cheekily asked 'do all classes end with a glass of Prosecco?' which raised a smile. And now - it was clear what the nibbles were for as well.

A great start this week - and another thing making us feel more a part of this lovely place.

Wish us luck with the SpinPower test!