Opinions on spinning?

Spinning can be good exercise, and can offer a lot of benefits to some people.

However, weight loss and toning are, at best, secondary benefits. Those things will mostly come from managing your intake - if your diet isn't where it should be, then spinning won't help. But spinning can play a role in weight loss and toning.

MaxiPoe wrote: »

So I found a gym who offers spinning classes right around the corner from my place. Was just wondering what your opinions on spinning are?

Did you notice a difference on how fast you lost weight?

Did it help tone your bum and legs?

Do I need to know anything before going to my first class? (is there proper spinning etiquette? is there a secret code i should be aware of??)

Thank you for your input!

I enjoy spinning. I'm primarily a road cyclist, but I do a lot of spinning in the winter when I can't be on the road as much. I used to do a lot of classes, but I bought an indoor trainer and mostly spin at home to YouTube classes in the winter.

As weight loss goes, that is going to be largely a matter of your diet and calories coming in being less than calories going out. Certainly spinning can up your energy expenditure, but it doesn't default to weight loss. I've been in maintenance for over 5 years and I ride all the time...I maintain my weight because I eat maintenance calories. If exercise defaulted to losing weight, nobody would be able to sustain a regular exercise regimen because they'd just wither away and die.

When you start out, it's likely that you're not going to be able to keep up with everyone in the class and do things exactly as the instructor is laying it out...that's OK...as one of my favorite instructors used to say, "remember...this is your ride." You will improve with time...I still struggle with work out of the saddle because I don't ride out of the saddle all that much on my day to day road rides.

I'd also advise to get their early and have the instructor fit you to the bike...bring a pen and paper so you can right your numbers down. I also wear padded cycling shorts and my mountain bike shoes so I can clip in.

I am a mountain biker. Spinning helps me in the office season. Certainly burns enough calories to help me meet my daily goals.

MaxiPoe wrote: »

So I found a gym who offers spinning classes right around the corner from my place. Was just wondering what your opinions on spinning are?

It's a good workout, and can be good for relative beginners because you can start with the intensity you can manage, but build up from there as you get fitter.

I spin partly to keep myself from rowing (on water) every day, which at my age would be too much of a good thing: A bit of cross-training is better. It was getting hard (OK, pretty much impossible) to find low-impact exercise that kept my heart rate high enough for my training goals, but that wasn't more rowing.

Did you notice a difference on how fast you lost weight?

I've been spinning a couple of times a week for 10+ years. For at least 7 of those years, I was obese. It's pretty easy to eat back any arbitrary number of exercise calories, unless you're doing long-distance running or biking or something like that. I work hard in spin, monitor my heart rate and keep it high, and did even when obese. In the 180s, my obese weight, I got about 350-400 calories from a 45 minute spin class. Now, in the low 130s, I get 250-300. That's like one Snickers bar, or a couple of slices of good bread. If you're not managing calorie intake somehow, it's easy to eat that much extra. Just one regular mocha latte wipes out the whole class, and then some.

It's important to be aware that the calories the bike says you burned may not be accurate. Some of them over-estimate pretty severely. If the bike has a power meter (it's a good sign if it give you a watts readout) and is calibrated correctly, it can be fairly accurate. Otherwise, it can be anything from close to silly high. Use other sources (fitness device, HR monitor, MFP database - all of which can also be inaccurate!) as a reality check.

If you're tracking your eating, and maintaining a calorie deficit to lose/maintain weight, those extra calories can be helpful to improve satisfaction. You do need to fuel this or any exercise, not just add the exercise to an already large calorie deficit - the latter would be unhealthy/dangerous.

A health-preserving, sustainable rate of weight loss is way better than a fast rate of weight loss.

Did it help tone your bum and legs?

"Toning" is a word that many people use, but there isn't a standard definition. Often, it's used to mean "have a little visible muscle but not look "bulky"". Having visible muscle happens from a combination of having the muscle in the first place, plus losing enough overlying fat that it shows. If you're new to exercise, cycling can help a bit with building some muscle, and - subject to the weight loss comments above - help with making a calorie deficit achievable thus helping reveal that muscle as you lose fat.

If that's what you mean by "toning", then strength training is a more efficient way to "tone" than spinning is. To keep building muscle, you need to keep challenging the muscle even as you get fitter. That's harder to do with spinning than with strength training. Strength training can also help preserve existing muscle while you lose weight, which is an important and useful thing. In general, women needn't worry about "getting bulky". Most of us just won't/can't (wrong hormone profile), and those few who can (without performance enhancing drugs) will only do it with major significant effort, and veerrrrrrrry sloooooowly. Since it doesn't happen overnight, if you're getting to the muscularity level you like, you just back off the strength training a little to maintain it.

(More info about strength training here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you ).

Spinning is super good for cardiovascular fitness, though, so it's definitely worth doing, and can help build muscle at first. Note that spinning is probably going to do more for legs, not so much for bum, because you spend quite a bit of time sitting.

Rowing has been better for my leg strength than spinning, but mostly because I do more of it, and there can be a bit of progressivity to rowing (for technical reasons too tedious to go into here).

Do I need to know anything before going to my first class? (is there proper spinning etiquette? is there a secret code i should be aware of??)

* Be early & talk to the instructor, as mentioned above. Get your bike set up right (adjusted for your height, etc.).

* During your first class (and a few beyond), your goal should be just to keep pedaling through the whole class. That's better than trying to push for the same intensity as the experienced folks, only to wilt part way through. When pedaling the whole time starts to feel more manageable, then start adding in more of the intensity. If something looks/feels risky (standing, "jumps", etc.), don't do that part until you feel comfortable adding it.

* Expect to have sore lady parts after the first few classes. To moderate this, you can use bike shorts with padding, or a gel seat cover. But eventually you toughen up, and it shouldn't continue to be a problem. (The toughening up doesn't interfere with . . . any other female lifestyle activities.)

* Take water in a standard sized bottle (some bottle holder cages are more accommodating than others, so keep to a standard size until you find out) and a hand towel. If you sweat lots like I do, a hat, bandana, or sweatband may be helpful to keep sweat out of your eyes.

* My gym's bikes don't have shoes, but do have clips or straps. I've never bought bike shoes because the straps work fine for me, for including some pull in the pedal strokes.

* Don't spend a bunch of money on special clothes or equipment until you see whether you enjoy it. Give yourself at least 3-4 classes to decide whether it's enjoyable . . . most classes - of any type, not just spin - are a little intense/overwhelming at first, so you want to give it a fair chance.

* Etiquette: Some old-hand class participants like a particular bike (even though they're pretty much all the same). If you get there early, you can ask the instructor if there's a bike that's usually free. But don't worry too much, the "snooze/lose" rule applies.

Thank you for your input!

Enjoy your class!