Picture a Buddha statue – the highest symbol in yogic culture – and immediately the idea of unshakable faith, mental discipline and fearlessness come to mind. Ask a professional cyclist what it takes to complete a 100-mile race and you’ll hear about similar self-mastery. Trevor Tice, CEO of Core Power Yoga (CPY), has always appreciated the similarities between power yoga and the sport of cycling, and now he’s investing in both.
Making his mark with sweaty, core-centric yoga classes, Tice selected the bike that would serve his members’ needs best – the RealRyder® Indoor Cycle. This “unstationary” indoor bike actually leans and turns, emulating the same functional, core-centric movement you feel on the real road.
“The lateral movement adds a whole new dimension to the experience. You’re not only getting your arms more involved in the workout, but it’s also more specific work for the core… just like the type of yoga we offer at Core Power Yoga,” says Tice. “We wanted to provide this as a value-add, so that our members could move away from the gym and be completely fulfilled spiritually, mentally and physically at Core Power Yoga.”
Read more on RealRyder and Core Power Yoga by clicking here.
When the RealRyder® International team travels across the globe presenting at fitness industry trade shows, we get all kinds of questions about the RealRyder® bike. Some inquiries that are particularly common from those who’ve never experienced our bike include, “Is it possible to lock the bike in place so it does not move?” Or “Excuse me… but I think there’s something wrong with your bike. Do you know that it’s moving?” (no joke!)
Another question that’s far more frequent is the purpose of this blog: “Is the RealRyder workout harder than a traditional stationary bike workout?”
- 501SPIN’s RealRyder Indoor Cycling Studio
Before you bust out with a definitive answer, we believe it depends on whom you ask. Take Kathy Wilder, a dedicated RealRyder Indoor Cyclist at 501SPIN in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Now in her 50s, Kathy has been extremely passionate about fitness her entire life. She was an avid runner in her 20s. She’s always known maintaining muscle mass and keeping her heart strong and healthy is important as she ages. Yet, while most baby boomers are complaining about stiff knees or achy backs, Kathy wakes up each day confronting a 32-year battle with Multiple Sclerosis.
“I remember waking up one day and the lower half of my body was completely numb. Then, I woke up another time and my upper body was completely numb. We didn’t have MRIs in the 1980s, so I had no clue what was wrong with me, so I just kept on moving through life with random, scary symptoms,” said Kathy.
Over the years her condition worsened. Her six-mile daily runs came to a gradual halt. Leg exercises with weights became too much for her lower body to tolerate and inevitably, balance became an issue. Fast forward to today, Kathy finds it difficult to complete a half-mile walk with her husband, whom she used to enjoy hours of walking with around the city. The burdensome obstacle that prevents her from being physically active begins in her legs.
“My legs start to feel like Gumby. I get a spasm in my low back and dull pain radiates up my spinal muscles,” says Kathy.
Determined to keep her body moving, Kathy decided to try a new gym and fitness facility in her neighborhood called 501SPIN. What initially attracted her to this facility was the upper body ergometer machine (think cycling using your arms), which she believed would work well for her, given it excluded the lower body. While getting acclimated to the studio, Kathy discovered the facility’s uniquely fun and dynamic RealRyder® Indoor Cycling classes. Curious about the new bikes that could tilt and lean, she decided to try a class.
“I was afraid of falling off the RealRyder bike at first. I wasn’t worried about the bike tipping over. I was concerned about my problems with balance!” says Kathy. “But I realized I just needed to get used to it and take it slow.”
And that’s just what Kathy did.
Today – thanks to Kathy’s courage, and an inspirational teacher named Dawn Doll, whom she credits as a major influence and motivational force - Kathy told us, “I’m able to complete an entire class. I’m able to stand up and ride, which I never thought I could do. The fact that the bike moves and simulates turns, and improves core strength is really helping me.”
- Dawn Doll, Founder of 501SPIN
Newly enlightened and deeply moved by Kathy’s incredible story of personal triumph, we decided to ask her the ever-popular question that newbie RealRyders often ask us:
“Do you think RealRyder Indoor Cycling is harder than traditional cycling?”
Kathy: “It’s not harder. It’s just different. And most importantly, the classes are fun!”
RealRyder is hard at work on its installments featuring studios across the United States that have taken their indoor cycling studios to the next level (see our first installment on Real Ryder Revolution in metro-Detroit Michigan). What is their secret to selling out cycling classes, creating waiting lines and leaving their customers hungry for more? Watch the second part of this installment, featuring Qi Ryders, to learn more about the secrets to their success!
“Every month has been better than the last.”
“In 5 months I’ve never had one class not sell out.”
“Customer retention has been easy. We just put them on the bike.”
“RealRyders provide 100% more benefit – to everything.”
Qi has an incredible story in terms of its business success, but the classes featuring RealRyder® ABF8 bikes have also changed the lives of their participants. Below we have the story of how RealRyder changed the life of one of Qi’s top trainers and their Boxing Director, Nick Spinosa.
Nick has been on his feet for most of his life, growing up working his family’s restaurant in Pennsylvania. As an avid athlete, Nick played many sports – baseball, football, basketball – and continued to play baseball at the collegiate level at Penn State. He also developed a love and passion for boxing, which runs in his family. Nick’s grandfather was a professional boxer.
Nick’s love of sports and time spent on his feet caught up with him. During his collegiate years, while playing both baseball and boxing, Nick had to undergo surgery for damages to his feet, also dealing with arthritis pains from being on so many surfaces. Surgeons had to fuse the bones of his feet together in a series of surgeries. Three surgeries, in fact. Not an easy thing to swallow for an active person. And that wasn’t the end.
Following college, two additional surgeries (for a total of 5 surgeries on his feet!) the newly-minted kineseology grad headed out west to live with his brother in Denver, Colorado. Nick said he could barely walk or bend over when he arrived in Colorado in early 2010. It was time to get back in form. His brother proceeded to introduce him to Chris Lindley, one of the co-owners of Qi.
The two hit it off immediately, bonding over boxing and the Army-style workouts Chris provided at Qi. Enter the RealRyders at Qi. Nick was re-learning to walk when RealRyders arrived at Qi, and with the RealRyder® ABF8′s, he was able to accomplish his goals of walking again, becoming physically active and shedding weight gained over multiple surgeries. Nick is now 60 pounds lighter, teaching at least 13 filled or sold out classes a week and directs the Boxing programs at Qi. Nick’s personal triumph is one of the many stories we are proud to highlight and share. Qi continues to make an impact in the Denver community and on the lives of its participants and employees.
Do you have a story to share? We would love to feature your story on RealRyder’s blog!
A new year, a new decade and a new era of indoor cycling! How were your holidays? Did you eat and drink too much? Did you pick your New Year’s Resolutions and if yes are you still sticking to them?!
I had a little chuckle this morning listening to the radio in the car and they were talking about people who had already broken their resolutions! My favorite was a lady who resolved to give up cussing, which lasted until the morning of January the 1st!!
According to the University of Scranton 36% of people making resolutions have fallen off the program after only a month, but surprisingly 46% of people making resolutions keep going for six months or longer. Motivation and commitment clearly play a big part in this especially with fitness and weight loss resolutions. This is where RealRyder and our unique form of indoor cycling comes in!
Losing weight is the most popular resolution, with getting fit not far behind and indoor cycling is a great form of cardio which will help you achieve either goal.
Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions
1.Lose weight
2.Manage debt/save money
3.Get a better job
4.Spend more time with family
5.Quit smoking
6.Eat right/Get fit
7.Get a better education
8.Reduce stress
9.Going greener
10.Volunteer to help others
Why RealRyder Indoor Cycling?
Why is RealRyder different to indoor cycling on any other bike? Simply, because it will give you a much more complete stationary bike workout and even more importantly it will keep you more motivated because our bike is more fun to ride!
On the first point the RealRyder’s unique articulating frame leans from side to side and creates a much more dynamic full body workout, by recruiting your core and upper body.
Other forms of indoor cycling really only work your legs and lungs. Studies have shown that indoor cycling on a RealRyder stationary bike will burn approximately 20% more calories than on other indoor bikes!
On the second point, our bike really is more fun to ride!
This is not just our opinion or some marketing claim, if you take a moment to look through our blog there are many testimonials from people of all levels of fitness. From instructors and top cyclists to novices the message is incredibly consistent RealRyder is more fun and once people have tried one they don’t want to go back to their old, non-moving indoor cycling bikes!
So if your resolutions include weight loss and fitness try our version of indoor cycling and give yourself a better chance of sticking to your resolutions once the initial enthusiasm wanes. Don’t just slog away on a boring pedaling machine it’s a new year, a new decade and a new era of indoor cycling!
As the snow and cold weather hits New Jersey, we wanted to let you know about a great new indoor cycling venue in Waldwick, NJ.
Indoor Ryder Cycling Studio opened its doors in September, to group fitness enthusiasts, cyclists, triathletes, and everyone who enjoys a really good indoor cycling workout.
This is the first RealRyder Indoor Cycling Studio in Bergen County and has 14 of our unique stationary bikes that have been taking the indoor cycling world by storm!
No other indoor bike tilts and turns in the same way as a road bike! It’s this revolutionary technology which works the whole body engaging the core muscle groups and increasing the amount of calories burned by 20%.
Guy Darienzo the owner is an enthusiastic cyclist himself and shared his philosophy on his new studio and provided some thoughtful insights about why he chose the RealRyder bike.
On Indoor Cycling Philosophy
“We want to simulate the experience and benefits of riding a bike out in the real world through pedaling, leaning and balancing. Our diverse classes are designed to be fun and motivational, yet challenging, giving you a complete workout in 45 minutes.”
On Stationary Bike Choice
“I wanted to marry the best technology with a unique studio that provides an overall workout to improve not just legs and cardio, but also upper body and core muscle groups.”
On Indoor Cycling Training
“Our instructors coach and teach all cycling clients to use the correct techniques that will ultimately give them a better, safer and more effective overall workout.”
Many gyms offering group fitness classes require long memberships, but Indoor Ryder Cycling Studio does not insist on a membership. You can take a single class or make additional savings by buying a series. They also offer introductory classes for beginners, plus intermediate and advanced sessions for those who want to take their training to the next level!
The full address of the studio is:-
10 Franklin Turnpike
Waldwick,
NJ 07463
Phone (201) 421-1913
More details are available on their website – just click the logo.
So if you are looking for indoor cycling classes with technical coaching for all levels of cyclists give Guy a call and check out Indoor Ryder Cycling Studio. Some quality stationary bike workouts are a great way to beat the elements and keep your winter training on track!
We wish Indoor Ryder Cycling Studio every success and we are sure with the best indoor bikes and Guy’s total focus and commitment to provide a better indoor cycling experience, Waldwick will become a popular venue for NJ cyclists and indoor cycling enthusiasts!
