Congratulations, and enjoy your class! So sorry to hear about your assault.

Connect your routine to an outside ride. For those of us who do ride outside, a good spinning class is one that simulates outside riding. I don't bother with spin instructors who do not ride outside or never have.

Tie your cadence to the music. Nothing worse than the spin instructor completely ignoring the beat of the music, and nothing better than a good song sweeping you along in the class.

Also, remind people to drink often, and don't do things like pushups while on the bike! I took a TERRIBLE spin class where the instructor (how she was hired I will never know) had the students do pushups on the bike while pedaling. She also had students put the resistance at the hardest level and push no matter what. She and the students were at about 5 rpm no joke. I just did my own thing because her music was pretty good, but she got snippy about me not going along with her routine. I told her that her routine was dangerous and potentially quite injurious. Don't do those things!

Which certification program did you take?