Spin euphoric

'Our first spinning class and you do it with its inventor, Johnny G - not many people can say that,' a member of Cannons said as I slid off my sweat-slicked bike after a 90-minute ride to the limits of my endurance and back.

Other spinning classes since have failed to match the intensity of that first session. Perhaps they lack the sheer force of Johnny G's personality that inspired a worldwide fitness revolution begun in the States in 1989 and arriving on these shores five years ago with the promotional tag-line 'part Tour de France, part yoga, part 12thcentury torture chamber'.

Famous pedallers include Madonna, Robin Williams, Kevin Bacon and recently Jack Straw, who claims the only spinning he does is on the bike in the House of Commons gym.

The set-up is simple. A stationary racing bike with low handle bars, an adjustable seat, a weighted front wheel, a resistance dial and music - usually dance because of the beats per minute that emulate an increased heart rate.

Burn, baby burn

Devotees love the intense work-out; you can expect to burn between 500 to 800 calories in a 45-minute session, which accounts for the puddles of sweat on the floor and the provided towel.

Spinning's other selling point, which has drawn many men away from the weights room, is that beginners don't look stupid. Unlike a step class, where it's obvious you are a clutz with no idea of the moves, anyone on a bike can look reasonably pro right from the outset. As we spin on low resistance, we cycle faster in an orchestrated rhythm. The music builds to a crescendo, which in this darkened room feels similar to the sense of euphoria in a club.

But we are encouraged by Johnny to pace ourselves; next up are the 'jumps', raising off the seat and sitting down again to build strength and balance (more exhausting than it looks).

Its fans say that visualisation makes spinning as much of a mental experience as it is a physical pulping.

'Close your eyes,' bellows Johnny G as limbs rotate furiously in a blur for the excruciating sprint. 'Try to imagine you are riding a race. You are in a pack and you need to increase your speed to move to the front.'

At one point, he taps the ceiling. 'Reach out and open this box,' he tells us. 'This is where your spirit runs free.'

It's the kind of motivational psychology that most British spinning instructors shy away from as American pap but it's surprisingly the kind of thing you want to hear when any logical thought would make you stop such madness immediately.

We turn up the resistance dial to climb an imaginary hill. 'Life gives us an enormous amount of things to deal with,' encourages Johnny.

'Once you have climbed one mountain, completed a task, you face another one.

Training session

'That's why we call this a training session, not a work-out. It's never fully complete - you can always push yourself further, achieve more than before.'

South African Johnny G (Johnny Goldberg) invented the spinning bike after he dropped out of Race Across America, the gruelling non-stop competition billed as 'the world's toughest race'.

'I didn't have the mental strength to continue,' he says. 'I didn't want to take any more hills, any more pain. I gave up and I've never given up anything in my life.

'I came up with this idea to put myself in the mental state that I hadn't been able to do on the road.'

Now there are 10million people a day who spin. Brazilians and Italians love it. Instructor Sarah Cely says: 'It's a period in the day when you can escape the realities of the world and concentrate purely on yourself.'

To his critics who denounce spinning as too hard on the body, Johnny G responds: 'It's up to the individual how hard you work.'

He ends the class with a round of applause and the words: 'Thank you for the chance to share positive energy on what is probably the most boring piece of gym equipment known to man - the stationary bike.'

Barely alive, yes, but bored? Are you kidding?

Spinning is Johnny G's registered trademark. For more information log onto www.spinning.com