Chelsea Pier Fitness Center’s Noll Daniel offers the best of both worlds in this unique class... first, spinning, then yoga.

Noll told me “What I found was that a lot of people who do cycling or spinning don’t tend to stretch enough, in fact I rarely see them in a yoga class. People who do yoga hate it, they hate cycling, they hate cardio work in general. So I’m trying to wake them up and say you still need something, you still need to burn fat, you still need to keep your heart healthy. You know, lose a few pounds anyway while you’re at it.”

The first half of Noll’s class is cardiovascular in nature, going on an imaginary bike journey up and down hills at various speeds and intensities.  “Plus” Noll says “what’s really great about it is the heat that is generated from the cycling is very useful with the yoga practice. When your body is really warm, it stretches and opens up and releases much easier." 

Though initially yoga and spinning may sound like two extremes that don’t mix--they actually compliment each other quite well, providing strength, flexibility and cardiovascular training into one exercise session.

Nolls says “it’s just kind of a sneaky way, I guess, of really getting, what I think are two extremes, as you already pointed out, together in one, and getting a lot out of it, so it covers a lot of bases in an hour and fifteen minutes. “

For Fitness Magazine, I’m Bonnie Kaye.