Exercise party Spins off 500 calories

***image1******image2***There’s a lot of screaming
and hollering taking place 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays at the 415th Base Support Battalion’s Kleber Fitness Center.
“Sometimes that’s out of pain, but most of the time, it’s out of fun,” said Jake Jacobson after his third spinning class at the Kleber Fitness Center, Bldg. 3235, Kleber Kaserne. “The instructor makes it so much fun for everybody.”
The instructor, Velia Anstadt, has taught the spinning class at Kleber for four years and has been a fitness instructor for more than 20 years. She says there’s a good reason for all the screaming.
“That’s just pepping them up and getting them involved in the music and having a party-type atmosphere,” said Anstadt. “Instead of thinking of it as work, we just focus on making it fun. It’s really like an exercise party.”
Spinning is nothing like working out on an exercise bike, said Anstadt.
“It’s totally different. We do a lot of different hand positions. We stand up and sit down. We move low front and low back,” she said. “Plus, you are on a racer bike not a stationary bike, and there’s music and people around you.”
Spinning primarily tones from the waist down, but Anstadt says she occasionally throws in arm workouts in the class format.
“It’s mostly cardio. In a 45-minute class, you will burn about 500 calories,” said Anstadt. “It’s a hard workout, but anybody at any level can do it. It’s a matter of the instructor formatting the class.”
Anstadt constantly changes the format. Students may be faced with a-mountain-and-hills class one day and the next time, they may sprint like crazy.
“Sometimes, I tell my students to use their imaginations,” said Anstadt. “We’re in the Alps, and we’re just about to climb; or we’re on the beach pedaling in sand.”
Then there are interval classes where Anstadt combines different bike speeds and settings to different music tempos.
And it’s the instructor and the music that makes the class a party according to Anstadt’s students.
“I love Velia. She’s a great instructor and motivator,” said Corine Salinas, who has been coming to the class almost since it started in Kleber. “She always has great music, and she always changes the music.”
It’s a popular class. The Kleber Fitness Center has 25 spinning bikes, and only one bike was not in use during Anstadt’s Aug. 5 class.