SoulCycle — an expensive fitness studio popular among urban women — filed to go public on Thursday.
This verifies that the boutique indoor cycling classes are, in fact, taking over America.
But as with many fitness fads, it's not all it's cracked up to be.
I can confirm this firsthand.
I had a momentary obsession with SoulCycle. Stuck in a fitness rut and feeling the effects of my desk job on my waistline, I wanted a workout that would force me to break a sweat.
A shiny new, grapefruit-smelling SoulCycle studio had opened close to my neighborhood, and as an avid spinner, I found that sometimes regular spin classes left me unsweaty and unsatisfied. I had tried high-intensity interval videos on YouTube in my living room, much to the chagrin of my neighbors, and that didn't work, either. The idea of a class was alluring; I would be required to show up, and at $34 a class, I would have to push myself, or else it wouldn't be worth it.
Plus, I had heard so much about the community of SoulCycle. Celebrities cycled there. Reportedly, the teachers were like gurus, and you would leave with your metaphorical demons cast out from your day!
But I was nervous, because in November I had passed my certification to be a Mad Dog spinning instructor, and Mad Dog master instructors vilify SoulCycle. I felt slightly like a traitor, but I was still excited about the new experience. Plus, a first class was a comparatively cheaper $20, and the new studio near my apartment even offered a one-time complimentary class. I promised myself I would go only those two times, but that turned into many, many more.
But then I realized there are many things wrong with SoulCycle. My wallet is now thanking me.
1. It's not a good workout, according to some experts.
Because SoulCycle focuses on combining dance moves (that have not been scientifically proved to do anything for you) with riding the bike, I found it hard to actually get an optimal cardiovascular workout and a toning workout.
In 2011, James S. Fell wrote in the Los Angeles Times that he gave SoulCycle "a failing grade for exercise physiology and biomechanics."
"The whole idea of working one's upper body while pedaling a stationary bike is not only counterproductive," he wrote, "it can be physically detrimental over time, according to several experts I talked to."
He wrote that neither of SoulCycle's cofounders, Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler, had a background in exercise science or any indoor cycling certifications. (Rice told Fell the two worked with an exercise physiologist to come up with the routines.)
Further, some experts believe that the workout is bunk and that by combining weights and cycling, you actually lose efficiency, one expert told Fell.
"You're probably going to burn less calories because your power output is going to drop," Jennifer Sage, a master-spinning instructor with a degree in exercise science who wrote the emphatic "I'd Rather Sell My Soul Than SoulCycle," told Fell.
Separately, Sage wrote that the popular move of doing push-ups on the bike was useless. "Because of this vigorous action, there is momentum to his movement, reducing even more the potential of any strength gain,"she wrote.
"There is an illusion that they are working out harder because high repetitions can cause a burning sensation, but it doesn't accomplish anything," Martha Heaner, an indoor cycling instructor with over 15 year of experience who has a doctorate degree in nutrition and physical activity, told Fell in the same