Spinning bulking me

janineisaacs

Hi. I have been doing spinning now at the gym for about 6 months now, 3 - 4 times a week. I'm concerned because as a female I thought its cardio and supposed to slim me. My thigh size as well as glutes have increased, waist is smaller.I enjoy the hill climbing. Has anybody else experienced this? What should I do to slim down my thighs and glutes?

RealWorldStrengthLLC

You have to stop working the muscles if you want them to stop growing but it sounds to me like you might have some body image issues.

DancingMoosie

Are you losing weight? Have you actually taken measurements of the areas you mentioned? It is possible that you built muscle in your lower body by doing high resistance spinning, especially if it was a new exercise for you. However, if you are losing weight you will lean out and most likely lose size in most if not all areas. If not losing, then it is quite possible to put mass on your bottom half.

jenncornelsen

Oh i wish! But yes biking will increase your glutes. But you are getting strong! If you don't want any muscle then i guess you better stop and just slowly walk everywhere, but that would be greatly unfortunate. Embrace being physically fit, its a beautiful thing!

robertw486

janineisaacs wrote: »

Hi. I have been doing spinning now at the gym for about 6 months now, 3 - 4 times a week. I'm concerned because as a female I thought its cardio and supposed to slim me. My thigh size as well as glutes have increased, waist is smaller.I enjoy the hill climbing. Has anybody else experienced this? What should I do to slim down my thighs and glutes?

Biking uses glutes and quads primarily, and if you are spinning at higher resistances and climbing, you are going to probably build muscle in those areas. That and water retention to give those muscles the glycogen they need is going to be visible.

Assuming you are eating at maintenance or in a deficit (you did say your waist was smaller) then you can't do much other than to lessen intensity and/or time spinning. But appearance will vary person to person based on where you store fat more, how much muscle you build, water retention, etc.

I agree with the comments from @DancingMoosie about taking measurements. It could be that your slimming waist just makes you feel like your glutes and thighs are bigger, and also possible that if you keep losing weight they will somewhat "catch up" as you keep slimming.

And I think @jenncornelsen has it right as well. Being strong is a good thing, but for some women it takes some getting used to seeing real muscle.

janineisaacs

DancingMoosie wrote: »

Are you losing weight? Have you actually taken measurements of the areas you mentioned? It is possible that you built muscle in your lower body by doing high resistance spinning, especially if it was a new exercise for you. However, if you are losing weight you will lean out and most likely lose size in most if not all areas. If not losing, then it is quite possible to put mass on your bottom half.

No, I haven't taken measurements and weight is still the same but my clothes are looser around the waist but more snuggier around the glutes and quads. I have also started upper body weights to try and sort of balance out.

Madwife2009

I found that, when I started cycling, and especially when I had to put real effort in for the hills, my leg muscles increased in size but they matched my frame. The fat vanished off them as well, so they looked quite muscular. However, my muscles did not keep getting bigger and once they reached a certain size, that was it, despite daily rides that were longer and more challenging.

mph323

Madwife2009 wrote: »

I found that, when I started cycling, and especially when I had to put real effort in for the hills, my leg muscles increased in size but they matched my frame. The fat vanished off them as well, so they looked quite muscular. However, my muscles did not keep getting bigger and once they reached a certain size, that was it, despite daily rides that were longer and more challenging.

This is my experience as well. During the season I do 4 - 5 hour rides at least once a week. My glutes, quads and calves are well-defined but dont get any bigger no matter how much stronger I get. I think after a certain point, unless you are doing weight training to build muscle, your leg muscles will look more defined but wont get larger.

L1zardQueen

mph323 wrote: »

Madwife2009 wrote: »

I found that, when I started cycling, and especially when I had to put real effort in for the hills, my leg muscles increased in size but they matched my frame. The fat vanished off them as well, so they looked quite muscular. However, my muscles did not keep getting bigger and once they reached a certain size, that was it, despite daily rides that were longer and more challenging.

This is my experience as well. During the season I do 4 - 5 hour rides at least once a week. My glutes, quads and calves are well-defined but dont get any bigger no matter how much stronger I get. I think after a certain point, unless you are doing weight training to build muscle, your leg muscles will look more defined but wont get larger.

I found this true for me too. A one legged guy told me that I have great looking legs. Lol

Cahgetsfit

I don't spin, but a friend of mine has been doing it for almost a year now, and last time I saw her I was amazed at how hot her legs and booty looked! AMAZING! Almost made me want to start spinning.

As others have said above - if you don't like muscular legs, stop spinning... or spin less. Like once a week, not 3-4.

naomi8888

I have also experienced this over the last few years. I do a couple of spin classes each week and cycle to and from work most days (I also do some strength work too). My legs are a little bigger and whilst that's not my aim, I am pretty proud of the strength I've built. As per above suggestions, if you don't want them to grow at all you may need to switch to running or something else (sad I know!).

sijomial

Yes you can develop some muscle from taking up cycling, but that's going to be quite limited and probably won't continue.
I saw clearly noticable changes in my legs from going to no cycling to 1,000 miles a year but only very subtle changes from 1,000 to 5,000 miles a year - mostly in calves not quads.

Have a look at elite long distance female cyclists and very few you would describe as having "bulky" legs despite intense and extraordinarilly high training volume.

MikePfirrman

I think your lifting the upper body is great for balancing. Completely agree with others. Beyond a certain point, when your legs likely look very pretty and athletic, you won't grow more muscle.