Spinning Out Of Control

She was fit and healthy, yet just one spin class landed her in hospital. #TeamCLEO spoke to a reader who reveals what went wrong.
 

- Joash Kong

You know the usual drill — we all make resolutions to get fit , then break it straight away. Of course, the use of hash tags like # fitspo and # gainz have us all enraptured over clean-eat smoothie bowls, lithe bodies in the middle of piloxing, and super-cute workout gear. There’s even bootcamp training, aerobarre (a mix of boxing and ballet), anti-gravity yoga and even burlesque dancing — all a far cry from the old ‘run four laps around the park ’. So when Iris* decided to up her fitness regime just that little bit (her routine had consisted of only one HIIT class a week), she had no idea that just one spin class would lead to a series of health complications — that almost cost her life.

“WHAT’S THE HARM?”

“I only decided to go for spin class because my sister had pestered me to go along with her, and of course I thought, ‘Why not?’” Iris said. The harrowing experience that happened during and after that one class was something that she — and nearly nobody — expected. “We went for the class over a weekend last year. Everything was fine, then there were the moments the instructors told us to raise ourselves from the bikes while spinning.

“At one point, I couldn’t really lift up my body — I was that weak! The trainer did mention to keep on cycling if we weren’t able to lift our bodies, so that was what I did for the entire class. After that, we had to do some stretching,” Iris recalls.