22 Mar Are Spin Class Good for Weight Loss?
Yes, it can definitely help with weight loss. Although you could be forgiven for assuming that spin class focus mainly on the legs, this type of exercise does offer a full-body workout. It is common knowledge that spin classes work for large muscle groups and improve cardiovascular endurance. However, are spin classes good for weight loss?
In this article, we will discuss the many benefits of spin classes, discuss their effect on your metabolism, and learn why Cycle Collective in Richmond is at the front of the peloton for spin classes, in Melbourne.
The benefits of spin class
Spin classes offer a full-body, low impact workout that can take your fitness regime to the next level. As well as providing many physical benefits, spin can also protect you against some adverse health conditions. Still, do spin classes help you lose weight? Read on to find out.
Spin Class Cardiovascular health
An intense spin class can push your heart and lungs to the limit! Spin classes provide aerobic and anaerobic training that expands your lung capacity and improves your heart’s stroke volume, and this is a good thing!
Improving your cardiovascular health provides many benefits, including:
- Increases circulation
- Better heart and lung function
- Decreases chances of heart attack and stroke
- Improves memory and brain function
- It helps to slow mental decline with age
- Protects against dementia-like Alzheimer’s
- Aids with muscle and skin health
- Helps with organ and sexual health
- Improves sleep and much more
Cardiovascular training is vital in obtaining optimal health and performance and is a key factor in improved life quality and expectancy.
Muscle development
Although cycling, like spin class, heavily involves the legs, spin classes work muscles all over the body, which means more full-body results from just one workout.
Muscles that get a solid workout from a spin class include, but are not limited to:
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Glutes
- Calves
- Heart muscles
- Core
- Shoulders
- Back muscles and more
After a solid spin class, you can expect to feel the burn all over your body, making spin a great supplementary exercise session between your resistance and weight training days.
Low impact workout
Spin class is considered a low impact exercise, as you are working your body hard without impacting your joints and tendons, like when you run on roads, lift heavy weights, or perform exercises like boxing or martial arts training.
Spin achieves a low-impact status because your body weight is supported by the bike itself, rather than your body taking the brunt of the weight and impact associated with other exercise activities. This makes spin class ideal for people with joint issues or individuals recovering from injury or physical trauma.
Are spin classes good for weight loss?
Now we get to the real question. Although spin classes are great for cardio and muscle training, are they effective when trying to lose weight?
The answer is an absolute yes! And there are several reasons why spin classes are so effective at burning calories and melting your stubborn fat. Read on to learn more about spin classes and weight loss.
The afterburn effect
As previously mentioned, spin classes are a form of HIIT or high-intensity interval training. Put simply, HIIT involves timed bursts of intense exercise mixed with shorter periods of rest or low-impact movement throughout a HIIT session.
For example, a spin class involves short bursts of sprinting or increased load, with lighter cycling in rest periods.
This type of training initiates what is commonly referred to as the afterburn effect. This is known as EPOC, which stands for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption in health science.
Simply put, this refers to how long it takes for oxygen levels to return the body to its resting state, Which includes:
- Restored oxygen levels in the body
- Removal of lactic acid
- Repairing of muscle tissue
- Restoring levels of ATP
ATP is a molecule that provides the body with energy for movement and function, like when performing HIIT exercises, like a spin class. The afterburn element of the EPOC process measures how many calories you are burning post-workout, and nothing ramps this up more than a solid HIIT session.
One study indicated that this afterburn effect could last for up to 38-hours after a HIIT session, meaning spin classes can provide you with fat-burning metabolic boosts for more than a day after your session is over.
Muscle building
Spin keeps your muscles under load, especially your legs, which include some of the biggest muscles in your body, namely the thighs and the glutes.
When you engage your muscles in resistance training, you experience muscular hypertrophy, which occurs when muscle fibres get slightly torn or damaged. The muscles then repair bigger and stronger than before, which requires a fair amount of energy from the body.
A Wharton university study showed that approximately 4.5kg of muscle (10-pound) would burn 50-calories in a day at a rested state. In comparison, the equivalent of fat would only burn 20-calories.
This means having more muscle means you burn significantly more fat when you are at rest or asleep, contributing measurably to the calorie deficit required to lose weight.
However, to see the results, you must pair your spin classes with a balanced diet and proper nutrition.
Feel the burn
As well as all of the post-workout fat-burning benefits you receive from a spin class, there are also a considerable amount of calories you burn during your class!
On average, depending on the class intensity, a 45-minute spin class can burn between 350 to 600+ calories in one session; that is some serious energy expenditure.
All these factors put together with a well planned and balanced diet makes spin classes a great way to shed unwanted weight, improve your physical function, and get fit and healthy to live your best life.
Spin classes Melbourne
If you are looking for spin classes Melbourne, and surrounding suburbs, check-in with Cycle Collective, Richmond, one of Melbourne’s leading spin class facilitators.
Our highly-trained, energetic and engaging spin instructors, along with our fantastic community of spin enthusiasts, create a winning environment for you to smash your fitness goals in 2022. For more information, call 03 942 59 319, or fill in one of our online contact forms, and one of our facilitators will reply promptly.
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