Sports. Be it electronic sports, such as computer games, mental sports such as chess or physical sports. They all exert a sort of attraction on people and sometimes it can be hard to defy them. I feel this way. My body urges me to go to the limit and I can't help it. My favourite sport is cycling. Outdoor cycling. Since I live in an area with where there are a lot of slopes and hills, I use either my mountainbike or my treckingbike. I take my bike out for a ride two or three times a week. Unless it rains. Unfortunately, in Germany there can be quite an amount of rain over a long period. Probably just like England in some ways (is that a stereotype?).

However, I have recently been going to spinning classes and found they are pretty fun. Independent from the weather, I can train whenever I want, as long as I want and with the intensity I choose. It is really convenient and I like it. The big plus would be that I don't train on myself, but with a group of people. That way it is much more fun, I make new acquaintances and get to know my own body and its limits even better.

If you don't know what spinning is like, I searched two videos on Youtube. The first one gives a pretty good overall impression of this sport. The second one (with only women in it) show some kind of choreo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XADw0qPVSP4&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w_t2Z0CRag&feature=related

Spinning is very good sport and depending on how you train, you can achieve your goals. Adjust your training methods for your own purpose (fatburning / endurance training / strenght training). The girls in the second video obviously go for a mix of the first two points. A pulse watch comes in handy, since your can monitor your heart rate and adjust more easily your training intensity depending on what you want to achieve in your training.

Example:

I am 27 years old. According to guidelines my maximum heart rate can be calculated, though it always is only an approximate value, unless calculated by a doctor. My maximum heart rate would be 220 - 27 = 193.

Now fatburning starts at 65% (~125) of my maximum heartrate, endurance builds up at 75% (~145) and strength at 85%(~164). Now, while in training, your pulse should never exceed 92%(~177/178), because if it does, your training is pointless. The body will be too exhausted to remember the training and nothing happens - except for a breakdown perhaps. (Mental breakdown as well ).

That's something that nearly happened to me not to long ago and I take better care now.

Today, I couldn't live without any sports - at least that's what I feel like. Besides sports, there are many more things I wouldn't want to live without though. Number one would be my computer =)

So long,

Thistle