At 5:45 a.m. on a frigid January morning, Tom Donley, a Sidwell science teacher, is dripping with sweat.
“Let’s get this Tuesday started,” he tells the groggy group of seven gym members - including this reporter - who are pedaling the stationary bikes arranged in rows in front of him like desks in a classroom.
This 45-minute indoor spin class at an LA Fitness in Silver Spring is Donley’s first teaching assignment of the day. He has led the class at least once a week for ten years.
Donley’s style is relatively subdued as spin instructors go. He said he prefers to let his cycling students find their “intrinsic motivation” rather than barking orders at them. He sets the tempo with a mix of music ranging from Carrie Underwood to electronic dance music.
“He’s very kind of intense but low key,” said John Brill, a gym member who said he’s been a regular in Donley’s spin class for two years.
“He's very steady [and] he has a calm energy about him. Some of the [other spin] teachers are really super hyped-up but he's actually the most steady, calm spin teacher I have here," Brill said. "He has a good sense of humor. It’s very understated.”
As a former student of Donley’s in Physics 1 class at Sidwell in addition to his spin class at LA Fitness I can vouch for this assessment.
Donley doesn’t try to get students too excited. He just puts students through their paces — whether in science or cycling — in a straightforward way.
Donley, who was on the swimming team at Amherst, said he got interested in cycling while training for triathlons. He earned his certification as a cycling instructor through a training program at the Hotchkiss School, a boarding school in Connecticut where he once taught.
Donley tells his students to measure their exertion based on a scale of one to ten based on relative effort, as opposed to the gear they use on their stationary bike.
His class focuses on pedaling in aerobic and anaerobic heart rate zones, and features intervals that require varying levels of exertion. The intervals last anywhere from 30 seconds of maximum effort to a minute and a half of a “seven out of ten effort” on the pain threshold scale.
Michele Zauche, who has attended Donley’s classes for five years said Donley’s classes are “more realistic than most spinning classes because it’s like doing long hills. [In] other classes they do more quirky things and this is more like real biking outside.”
She added that in Donley’s class participants do all-out efforts for relatively longer intervals, and said some people “don’t like this class because it’s hard in a different way” that other spin classes.
The job is not always easy.vDonley wakes up at 4:45 a.m. to walk and feed his dogs before he drives from his home in northeastern Montgomery County to the fitness club in downtown Silver Spring.
After teaching the class, he showers and drives the rest of the way to school to start the day at Sidwell, his other teaching gig.
In January 2018, Donley fainted while teaching his spin class, fell off the stationary bike he was riding and fractured his skull on the edge of a table. He was forced to take weeks off from his science and spin classes, but he recovered and returned to both of his teaching roles.
In addition to the once-a-week spin class, Donley plays water polo two to three times a week with club teams in Montgomery County.
Donley said the spinning job has its perks. He makes approximately $800 a year from the job, and the way he sees it, he’s “getting paid to work out. I don’t know of a better gig,” he said.
His favorite part of the job? “Seeing the people come back and seeing them afterwards being like ‘that was pretty hard.’”
I, for one, am a member of that group.
By Kelly Anderson, Horizon Editor-in-Chief, February 2018
“Let’s get this Tuesday started,” he tells the groggy group of seven gym members - including this reporter - who are pedaling the stationary bikes arranged in rows in front of him like desks in a classroom.
This 45-minute indoor spin class at an LA Fitness in Silver Spring is Donley’s first teaching assignment of the day. He has led the class at least once a week for ten years.
Donley’s style is relatively subdued as spin instructors go. He said he prefers to let his cycling students find their “intrinsic motivation” rather than barking orders at them. He sets the tempo with a mix of music ranging from Carrie Underwood to electronic dance music.
“He’s very kind of intense but low key,” said John Brill, a gym member who said he’s been a regular in Donley’s spin class for two years.
“He's very steady [and] he has a calm energy about him. Some of the [other spin] teachers are really super hyped-up but he's actually the most steady, calm spin teacher I have here," Brill said. "He has a good sense of humor. It’s very understated.”
As a former student of Donley’s in Physics 1 class at Sidwell in addition to his spin class at LA Fitness I can vouch for this assessment.
Donley doesn’t try to get students too excited. He just puts students through their paces — whether in science or cycling — in a straightforward way.
Donley, who was on the swimming team at Amherst, said he got interested in cycling while training for triathlons. He earned his certification as a cycling instructor through a training program at the Hotchkiss School, a boarding school in Connecticut where he once taught.
Donley tells his students to measure their exertion based on a scale of one to ten based on relative effort, as opposed to the gear they use on their stationary bike.
His class focuses on pedaling in aerobic and anaerobic heart rate zones, and features intervals that require varying levels of exertion. The intervals last anywhere from 30 seconds of maximum effort to a minute and a half of a “seven out of ten effort” on the pain threshold scale.
Michele Zauche, who has attended Donley’s classes for five years said Donley’s classes are “more realistic than most spinning classes because it’s like doing long hills. [In] other classes they do more quirky things and this is more like real biking outside.”
She added that in Donley’s class participants do all-out efforts for relatively longer intervals, and said some people “don’t like this class because it’s hard in a different way” that other spin classes.
The job is not always easy.vDonley wakes up at 4:45 a.m. to walk and feed his dogs before he drives from his home in northeastern Montgomery County to the fitness club in downtown Silver Spring.
After teaching the class, he showers and drives the rest of the way to school to start the day at Sidwell, his other teaching gig.
In January 2018, Donley fainted while teaching his spin class, fell off the stationary bike he was riding and fractured his skull on the edge of a table. He was forced to take weeks off from his science and spin classes, but he recovered and returned to both of his teaching roles.
In addition to the once-a-week spin class, Donley plays water polo two to three times a week with club teams in Montgomery County.
Donley said the spinning job has its perks. He makes approximately $800 a year from the job, and the way he sees it, he’s “getting paid to work out. I don’t know of a better gig,” he said.
His favorite part of the job? “Seeing the people come back and seeing them afterwards being like ‘that was pretty hard.’”
I, for one, am a member of that group.
By Kelly Anderson, Horizon Editor-in-Chief, February 2018
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