Attention, Healthistas: in case you haven’t heard, there’s a hip new fitness studio taking London by storm. Psycle (even the name is trendy) is an exercise-meets-clubbing spin studio that’s a far cry from any other cycling class you’ve taken.
Psycle‘s studio, a 5-minute walk from Oxford Circus, looks shiny and new. The décor is modern and clean-looking and one wall mural sticks out outside the studio itself. The Roald Dahl quote reads: ‘If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.’
What a nice sentiment to see walking in and out of a spin class. It fit the mood of the session: it wasn’t zen, but there was definitely a lot of positive energy involved.
The instructor’s enthusiasm was infectious. There was clapping, woop-ing, and a general sense of excitement. His platform was part demonstration pedestal/part Deejay booth, and there was another employee controlling the lighting (think neon lights shooting across the ceiling in time with the chart-y music remixes.)
It felt like being in a club at one in the afternoon. My personal favorite tracks-Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal and David Guetta’s remix of Shot Me Down. (I’ve always thought Shot Me Down is a pretty weird song, but it actually worked well for the section of the class that was a bit like an interval workout.)
Psycle also offered more of a full-body workout than a regular old spin class. Everyone grabbed a set of hand weights as they walked in for the arm workout section, and there was also shifting exercises (moving forward and back on the bike, essentially) that gave more of a core workout than usual. Having these detours was helpful because it gave you something else to focus on besides burning legs.
The class was 45 minutes long, but it probably could have been an hour. In all honesty, I was surprised when we were cooling down, because it felt like it was 20 minutes. Emma, my coworker/fitness class buddy agreed that though this wasn’t the hardest workout class we’d ever taken, though it was harder than we’d work on our own. The bottom line: Psycle’s a worthwhile class, and a nice change of pace from the usual spin studio. (Bodyologist Helen Foster agrees–she mentioned it in her blog.)
One ‘credit,’ or class pass, at Psycle, is £20. If you buy 5 credits, the classes are £19 each. If you buy 10, they’re £18, and if you buy 20, they’re £16.25. Bike shoes and a workout towel are included.
Interested in booking a class? Sign up here.
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
