Please Excuse the Excessive Use of Caps in this Review. Yes, I AM YELLING BECAUSE I AM EXCITED.
Simply put, Holly is EVERYTHING I look for in an instructor. Fucking. Rock. Star. You know that adrenaline rush that psycho killers get when they’re chasing their prey (on a bike)? Well, I’m pretty sure Holly can do that for you. So if you’re a recovering murderer, I recommend this class. I looked down numerous times at my little torq monitor and couldn’t believe the speed/torq/perceived effort ratio.
Here is why Holly is thebomb.com.
- She was ready to go from the second she walked in. I got there 30 minutes
early and was chilling out in the waiting room eating an apple (the free fruit
helps me justify the $35 class. Bite me). Holly strolled in, already pumped up,
big hellos for everyone. She paused at the front to check out class stats.
“WOW full class this morning! There is NOTHING BETTER than a full class!”
- Energy, energy, energy. On the bike and off the bike, Holly is just a fire ball.
She was having the time of her life, so I was too.
- Goon. Holly was fist pumping, booty shaking, hopping around, destroying her
poor little pedals, and generally being a total dingleberry. No inhibitions.
Several times she reached her arms over her head like Usain Bolt’s pre-finish
line “Victory run” – this move in particular was just pure joy. I am smiling just
writing this. I LOVE HER.
- Music and synchronization. As always at Fly, the music rocked and was
matched up perfectly to the pace.
- Holly got in my face. If you don’t like this, just don’t sit in the front row. I think
she could sense that I was into it so she kept grabbing onto my bike and
telling me to go harder.
- She’s female. OK, you can’t control your chromosomes. But honestly, I find that
for intense classes it is harder to come by superstar females than superstar
men. The demographic for group classes is female-heavy, and it’s harder for
women to connect on that “tough love” level. Holly does this with flying colors.
- I have a girl crush on her.
Lessons that new instructors should learn from Holly.
- Ask at the beginning of class, “who hasn’t taken my class?”
- Meet the newbies, learn their names, remember their names, use their
names. Even a mediocre instructor can get major points by doing this.
- Notice when people are exerting an awesome effort and call them out on it.
- Be relentlessly positive and energetic. It’s contagious.
- Lose every drop of self-consciousness in your system.
- Practice your timing. Holly’s timing and delivery is impeccable. Periodically,
she would yell things like, “WHY DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING? WHAT
KEEPS YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT?!” … queue the emotional, spazzy chorus of
the music. It seems effortless, but you know that it was planned. This is a skill
that you can learn if you work at it.
- Go with the flow; don’t apologize for little slip-ups. At the beginning of class,
Holly put on the wrong song. “Psych out! I bet you thought we were starting off
to that song… but you were wrong”. Not “Oops, I’m so sorry, I screwed up the
music”. If you screwed up, okay, it took a second away from class. If you then
spend a minute apologizing about it, you’re taking up more of my time. Make it
a non-issue. Or make a joke.
Holly is the “Female Athlete” Prototype.
I must disclaim: after hundreds and hundreds of reviews (yeah… you ain’t seen nothin’ yet) I am embarrassed to say that I still arrive to each class with a preconceived notion of the instructor based on mother google. Yeah, I knew that Holly sold out classes like it was her job, and that she’s one of the most talked-about instructors, yada yada yada. But the bitchy side of me looked at 4 pictures of her and said, “this is just going to be another one of those unfriendly type-A female athletes. I’m not going to like it.” Ah, I never learn.
Holly is uber athletic. Her guns are intimidating; I’m quite sure she could crush me with one finger. She’s also a small person – a little bundle of strength. She very much gives the “female athlete” vibe. I’ve always found this to be an intimidating breed (I’m ‘athletic’, but I self-servingly avoid activities where I can’t be at least ALMOST the best, so varsity college sports didn’t happen for me). I’ve always assumed that Holly-types are simply cooler than me. Holly, on the other hand, is, in fact, way too cool for me, but also accessible and warm. I felt like I finally made the team.
The End
Holly, I may or may not be totally obsessed with you. It’s 30 minutes after class and the adrenaline pumping through my body is still out of control. You are the reason I switched careers to do this shit.
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