A Mega Workout For All

Megan Gridley was faced with a dilemma.

Running was out. The two knee surgeries in the same year saw to that. Her career as she knew it, that was gone too. The decades spent working as a personal trainer and leading workout classes every day in the gym were just a memory, like so much articular cartilage.

At 43, with two kids and a loving husband at home - and daily knee pain a reminder of the toll high-impact exercise has on your body - Gridley could have packed it in. Instead, she opened a gym of her own and is back leading workout classes as often as four times a day.

is an indoor cycling studio in Shrewsbury. When it came to finding an exercise supplement to running, Gridley said cycling and spin classes were everything she needed to stay fit and active. Not only does a spin class burn more calories than any other workout, she said, it also provides the best workout with the least impact on your joints.

Now, she's passing it along.

"It is a super high calorie burn," she said, sitting at the desk inside her darkened Route 35 studio. "It's a way for people who are avid cyclists to get their daily ride in, regardless of the weather, and it's a way for someone starting out to get a low-impact workout."

The reason for the dim lighting is simple enough. At Megacycle, the focus, even in the middle of a class with 20 people, is on you. There's no pressure, no insecurity here. The goal is your workout, Gridley said, so when you're in the studio it's just you and the ride.

Whether it's during one of the four daily classes or just by yourself, the focus is right where it belongs.

"She's got me hooked on the spin," Aberdeen resident Sue Bernardin said following a solo workout. "The programs are very cookie cutter at other spots. It's kind of full service here. And, there are likeminded people. Everyone has the same goal: to get healthy."

Bernardin, who followed Gridley from the YMCA where she used to hold classes, said she's lost the bulk of her weight, about 100 pounds total, through spin. Though that good work is hers alone, Bernardin gives an assist to Gridley, who manages to turn what would otherwise be painful and exciting into a workout that you actually want to attend, she said.

There's a reason why Gridley's methods of motivation work. She's been there.

"I was overweight pretty much forever," she said. "I was overweight in middle school, high school, college. I was always kind of that way.

"I was using food for the wrong reasons. I was using food to not have to meet guys, to have an excuse for why I couldn't go out with my friends. I figured the only person who was going to get me to change was me."

This is why she cares so much more. How could she not? She's been there, knows the temptations, knows the struggles.

More importantly, she knows how to overcome them. And now she's showing you how.

For more information about Megacycle, including rates and schedules, visit www.themegacycle.com.