The Woodlands is Getting It's First Full Psycle!

IN RECENT YEARS, HOUSTON HAS SEEN AN INFLUX OF CYCLING STUDIOS, from Austin’s Ryde joining established spin studios like Define and Revolution to the much-anticipated addition of SoulCycle to River Oaks last year. Now a new cycling concept is opening in The Woodlands is what its founder hopes will be a flagship location for the Southern U.S.

Full Psycle plans to stand out from the crowd by offering classes that incorporate rhythm workouts, strength training and race-style “performance” goals, all in a 45-minute workout. You might call it the Orangetheory of spin classes, but founder PK Harmeling says it’s much more than that.

“To us and our clients, it’s a lot more. We try to make the workouts as fun as humanly possible. It’s not just a studio where you’re bouncing around the whole time and doing rhythm and riding really fast,” he said. “At Full Psycle, you’re watching your heart rate, but at the same time, you’re watching your stats from the bike — your power, your RPMs, your energy, your calories. We split our classes into teams, and everybody races each other. We have match-up races where we’ll put you against somebody who is just about as strong as you are. We have different screens that just watch pedal speed. We actually have everyone so that they can see what they’re doing live in real time.

“There’s no downtime — there’s really no breaks. It’s a killer workout in 45 minutes where you’re never bored, you’re never doing the same stuff.”

Full Psycle was founded five years ago when Harmeling and cofounder Shelly Scott, who moonlighted as spin instructors, decided to quit their day jobs.

“Before we started Full Psycle we had corporate backgrounds in finance and engineering, but we were also really good spin instructors on the side. We became kind of known in the industry as the world’s foremost instructor trainers. That’s because we know all these elements that make up an indoor cycle class,” Harmeling said.

They even trained the instructors at Ryde River Oaks, he said. After Full Psycle was founded, they decided to go into franchising. That’s how Full Psycle came to Texas. One of their franchising partners, Judd Miller, lives in Katy.

“The idea was that there’d be one in Judd’s backyard and that that would be our Southern flagship location,” Harmeling said. “Houston is a huge up-and-coming market. It’s cool. It’s kind of the place to be. We’re really excited to join the Texas market because we know there are some good studios there. We’re not afraid of the competition. I think when people do our workout, it’s so dramatically different that I would have no problem spotting up next to them and saying ‘Hey, take your pick.’”

Full Psycle will open at Market Street in The Woodlands in September, with a grand opening party planned for Oct. 1. It’s the first of six studios currently planned for Texas, including future locations in Meyerland and Town and Country. Until then, you can visit their offices at Market Street, where they’re offering early-bird membership specials of $109 per month for unlimited rides.