Student Stories: Spinning, Italian Style

Please don’t tell us to turn right. Turning right means pushing harder on the pedals, it means more sweat and more huffing and puffing. “Turn right.” Ah, she just had to say it.

And so goes the inner monologue of a typical devotee of the Spinning (indoor biking) classes taught two nights a week by Marzia Cozzolino. Turning right—twisting the tension knob on a stationary bike so that it takes more strength to push the pedals—is one of the many ways she elevates her students’ heart rates. Cozzolino, a University of Bologna student who is taking classes and assisting with Italian classes at Dickinson this academic year, teaches a biking class that Pat Braught, environmental studies and geology department staff associate, finds particularly rigorous.

Cozzolino (right) Spins out in this vigorous exercise that can burn 750 calories per hour.

“It’s harder on me than running,” she notes, “which I do five to six times a week for three, four or five miles, depending on the weather.” Though Spinning with Cozzolino requires a lot of sweat equity, “Marzia makes it as pleasant as it can be,” says Braught. “She’s so sweet.”

When asked to describe herself, Cozzolino quotes what friends say in her native Italy, “that I have the sun inside me.” Those who spin with her would concur, for they leave with an upbeat, positive feeling, just what Cozzolino wants.

“I give a lot of passion, but it’s not just for myself. I want these 22 people to enjoy themselves, to feel the music and feel emotion on the bike.”

Braught, who has worked at Dickinson for 21 years, is one of Cozzolino’s many older students. Every Spinning night in the dance studio the room is maxed out with riders, more than a third of them mature. Professors, spouses of professors, coaches and administrators as well as college students seek stress relief through an hour of intense cycling, losing themselves in the music propelling them through the hour.

Before each class Cozzolino spends an hour working on the choreography, counting out the RPMs and mixing music to fit cycling movements—climbing (simulating ascent of a hill), running (standing and pedaling at a fast pace) and jumping (standing up and sitting down in time with the music). She favors “chill-out or lounge music,” the same tunes that pulse in the discos of Paris and across Europe.

Marilyn Spahr, who retired four years ago after working in the campus mailroom for 17 years, calls the music “good and upbeat.”

“She is very much attuned with the music when she teaches and utilizes a lot of rhythm climbs and tempo riding in sequence with the beat,” says Don Nichter, in the technical lingo of a Spinning instructor, which he is. Like Cozzolino, Dickinson’s cross-country coach took the extensive training needed to be a certified Johnny G Spinning instructor.

This special brand of cycling, that integrates music and camaraderie in an exercise that emphasizes the mind/body connection, was created in the 1980s by Johnny G (Jonathan Goldberg), a South African personal trainer and athlete. The exercise has spread worldwide and, according to Cozzolino, is especially popular in Italy and Germany, where different colors of flashing lights accompany the shifting movements.

Indoor cycling classes—some of which are led by certified Spinning instructors—have been taught either as for-credit, physical-education courses or as open recreational classes for five years at Dickinson, Nichter says. He and several other college employees have taught the classes. “Marzia has been gracious to offer her time, energy and expertise this academic year.”

Tullio Pagano, chair of French and Italian, also has welcomed her help this year with classes, the Italian language table and the Italian film series. “We’ve been really pleased with her. And she is getting a lot out of her Dickinson experience. It’s great to see that.”

An established paid Spinning instructor in Italy, Cozzolino taught courses there to all age groups. She also instructed “huge men. I’m half of them in size and age,” she says with a smile.

While her Spinning style is distinctive, so is her dress. She wears her official uniform, which is required for teaching in Italy. Her professional appearance helps to prove, as Spahr says, “She’s really into it. She’s very passionate, and it comes across.”

“Marzia is very dialed in to her students and is a wonderful motivator,” Nichter underscores.

Though teaching Spinning isn’t her life goal—Cozzolino is an education major who wants to be a language teacher—it is certainly one of her greatest pleasures.

Ask her to choose between a late night at the clubs or a good night’s sleep before a morning ride, and she’ll take the latter.

“I’m in love with a bike. It’s where I spend my best hours.”
—SK

Dickinson College, PO Box 1773, Carlisle, PA 17013, 717-243-5121