When Ed Aurrecoechea began attending spinning classes in 2017, he had no way of knowing what was ahead. What started off as a desire to improve his health and lifestyle would eventually result in Ed not only becoming a spinning instructor but touching the lives of many people and offering hopes for those suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
Ed is the founder of Spin 4 Love, a charity that donates funds to the research of Parkinson’s disease. Ed uses 100% of his proceeds as the instructor of a high-intensity level cycling class to support these research efforts. His spin classes range from 40 to 45 minutes and get the heart pumping. Currently, Ed instructs at local gyms and his schedule can be found on his site, spin4love.com.
Ed set out to change his lifestyle in 2017 to better himself. He began to exercise more, eat healthy, and spend more time with his loved ones. His life started to transform in ways he could not have imagined.
He was eating better, creating more meaningful relationships in his life and his dedication was paying off. “People started to ask me, are you an instructor, are you a personal trainer?” Ed said.
“With this idea in my mind, I thought to myself I don’t know, maybe, let’s see.”
Ed juggled with the idea of becoming an instructor but put the idea to the side to focus on his creative directing of films where he works at Harris Media Services, the parent company of Idaho Falls Magazine. He continued to stay active by attending a variety of gyms and classes then one day he met someone who changed his life.
Ed met someone who he learned suffered from parkinson’s disease. He felt empathetic towards them and began researching the disease. He found that exercise was one highly recommended way to reduce the symptoms of the disease. “I never wanted to push someone or anybody to do exercises but I wanted to do something that I feel is making a difference,” Ed said.
When leaving one of his cycling classes the instructor commented on his athleticism and encouraged him to become an instructor himself. Ed then moved to Idaho Falls where he received a certificate to become an instructor.
He began instructing cycling classes and had the idea of donating the profits to the research of Parkinson’s. “I can’t make miracles but I can probably, you know, help someone in the future with the same kind of situation,” Ed said. “So I decided to create Spin 4 Love.” The proceeds from Spin 4 Love are donated to the University of San Diego’s research department where researchers use donations to advance the care and knowledge of Parkinson’s patients.
Ed hopes to expand his classes and bring more awareness to Parkinson’s disease through his website, spin4love.com. On the site, you can find a schedule for his cycling classes, resources that provide more information about Parkinson’s disease, and a link to where you can donate to parkinson’s research or directly donate here, www.giveto.ucsd.edu/giving.