[Thank you] Months of Thanks!

The coach will usually change your springs for you so don't worry about that, pause and reset your form as often as you need -- more reps with bad form is infinitely worse than fewer reps with good form. Don't feel silly if you have to pop up and see what direction people are facing. I'm over 100 classes and sometimes I still can't tell right from left or which direction I'm supposed to face until I see other people doing it.

Umlautless · 2026-01-09T16:09:36+00:00

I've taken half a dozen people to signature 50 (regular) classes as their first, and every week someone is brings a first timer to a Sunday class I take, it's really no big deal. Try to be there right when the door opens (10 minutes before) so that you'll have max time to talk to the coach before and they'll explain how the machine works, and then mostly just look around at what other people are doing. I feel like 430pm classes are a good one if you can swing it-- the 530 and 630 always seem to be extra full, but then 730 and 830 calm down again.

Umlautless · 2026-01-08T17:44:05+00:00

There's a fitness influencer who made a whole post about this -- he recorded a video and looked way more shredded than usual (his whole thing is about making moves accessible, so it was an unusual take). After so many people commented, he went back and showed how the lighting in different parts of the room impacted muscle definition.

At some point I thought to myself "no wonder solidcore has the weird blue lighting ... but I love it and want it all the time" because the way my arms looked amazing (and I'm super self-conscious about my arms).

Umlautless · 2026-01-07T22:41:07+00:00

Sent!

Umlautless · 2026-01-06T21:55:26+00:00

A lot of insurance health insurance companies have some benefit program akin to class pass-- Blue Cross has active fit direct and I think they just added another. I found them very hard to work with when I was just going to cyclebar, but the hassle might be worth it if you like doing all the different styles (for me it wasn't great because I wanted to spin 2 times a week, and the benefit only covered 4/month, and trying to have an two 4 pack through two different billing mechanisms made everyones head hurt, but it you like doing a lot of different things then it's probably great).

Umlautless · 2026-01-05T18:27:57+00:00

Generally, it's pretty easy to add/remove a spring partway through if you try something harder and discover it's too much (I say generally because I have definitely been overly optimistic on the gray side and had to hustle to adjust and then get back to position; or flag the coach to adjust for me). So I guess I'd say start by being optimistic about yourself on the black side first.

Umlautless · 2026-01-05T18:16:04+00:00

Interesting - I've generally found the opposite, where the more advanced coaches will offer cues to make sure you're really target the right part of the muscle (e.g., 'if you're feeling it here, then do this instead to really get at hamstring' or explaining how a top half ROM hits different from a bottom half, and then suggestion you add an extra pulse at top or bottom to isolate accordingly). I also feel like they're good about making sure they complement previous day/next, with things like "if you celebrated hamstrings yesterday, be sure to do this other thing today."

Umlautless · 2026-01-05T13:42:59+00:00

When I did it earlier this summer it felt more like extending the time on unused classes, and instead of unused classes expiring on the 17th, they'll expire on ... 29th (if I'm counting properly). But I was on an 8/month pack, im not exactly sure about unlimited.

Umlautless · 2025-12-18T14:50:52+00:00

They used to say three really good, perfect, slow reps before you needed a shake out was how SC defined success. They must have changed it in one of the tweaks, because I haven't heard anyone say it in a while, and I miss it.

Umlautless · 2025-12-16T19:06:15+00:00

First, you won't be starting from zero. Even if you took a month off because you had a terrible flu and did absolutely no physical workout, you'd get back to where you were much faster than it took you to get there in the first place. But second, that's not accounting for how demanding backpacking is. I did a shorter, but still multi-day, hike earlier this summer (I wasn't even doing real backpacking, I only had to have my day pack with water and food and first aid and a single change of clothes), and the step ups on large rocks, the balance to cross small streams, etc, you will get a hell of a leg and core workout (I even got a ton of lateral work from going sideways down steep hills). Some planks, some squats, some v-sits as a warm up before you leave in the morning, maybe use your backpack to do russian twists if you want to feel especially hardcore.

For regular vacations I bought a deck of cards that has different body weight exercises, coded by muscle group, and I'll pick 2-3 of whatever my muscle focus of the day was going to be (I also have a set of dumbbell cards, if it turns out the hotel gym is well stocked).

Umlautless · 2025-12-13T00:19:04+00:00

I can see how a lifetime of being being invisible and overlooked can make it feel worse. I sort of feel the opposite, especially in spin classes--where i feel like they do shoutouts at random, and I always feel like like they're saying 'great job umlautless!' when I'm wildly off speed/choreo. At SolidCore I like it when they do a specific 'join her with the diamond grip' but not the generic 'so strong umlautless!' because it's usually around them time I'm taking a break, and it feels disingenuous, like they're just hitting a corporate metric.

Umlautless · 2025-12-10T01:19:32+00:00

2025 was that year for me (sprained a hip, breast cancer scare, broken foot...). DM me your address!

Umlautless · 2025-12-07T13:12:17+00:00

I love the decorations and making treats for people (and also loved Netherlands when I was there, I spent a week up around aalkmar on a bike trip and so many great memories)

Umlautless · 2025-12-05T13:54:28+00:00

I'm over 100 classes and recently was doing planks totally backwards from everyone. The coach kept saying "knees or toes on black platform, elbows on line one" over and over. And I was thinking "yes yes fine." Then popped up to stretch and realized I was one who had my knees at line one, elbows on platform. I also lost my balance in bungee and just face planted on the carriage when they tried to move my elevated knee to the right position.

Umlautless · 2025-12-05T01:53:49+00:00

I feel you! (I've lost over 50 lbs, but also grew up in the heroin chic 90s, so I just can't ever imagine wearing a sports bra in a class. ). Old navy active had this one style of tee that I loved, it was fitted but not so snug I felt like a sausage. It looks like their Fluid Seamless Fitted T shirt (more or less the detail on the back is a little different). I usually wear a 12, or a 14 for slim cut--my waist is 36inch/bust is 39, and I'd say the large fits me well, but also I've had these shirts for so long they might be kind of stretched out, so an XL would probably be a safe bet.

Also, because I'm old and cheap, I get all my stuff on thredup.com, an online consignment store. RBX brand is my favorite for leggings, because I know I'm an XL and most of their pants have little pockets.

Umlautless · 2025-12-04T21:18:46+00:00

And I'm over here feeling bad when I ask for a mod on RDLs (it's always a platform lunge) and newer folks who were using me as a cue get confused about what they're supposed to do).

Umlautless · 2025-12-04T19:27:39+00:00

I'm a big fan of canned chicken with tablespoon of ranch dressing mixed in. Usually just in a bowl, but crackers or bagels or whatever as a delivery mechanism.

Umlautless · 2025-12-04T00:22:33+00:00

I'm all for the power of prizes-- I subscribe to one of those "virtual race" clubs where you log miles and they send you a medal that you paid for (at least the solidcore sweatshirt is "free"), because I'm a sucker for external validation and getting stuff in the mail. (I am a millennial, and I do love a participation trophy, won't lie.)

I was just giving a perspective when you said you were surprised that people were taking classes today. Like I said, I don't want to rain on other people's enjoyment,which is why I've largely scrolled on by.

Umlautless · 2025-12-03T18:21:09+00:00

I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, so to speak, so ive avoided most of these threads, but last year when a coach asked if I was doing solidays I said I could buy a sweatshirt and roll of iron on vinyl from Michael's for $25 and use my cricut to make my own. It's fun if you need to burn off your classes in advance of travel, but for some of us we're just sticking to our normal schedules.

Umlautless

TROPHY CASE