12 Dec Understanding the Science Behind Spinning

Spinning is one of Australia’s favourite group fitness activities, with more people discovering the many health benefits of a regular cycling class every year.

While a good spin class instructor can give you all the support you need to yield impressive results, especially in the early stages, it can be agreat advantage for passionate spinners to understand more about the sport-science of spinning.

This article will help you better understand spinning science and why more people in Melbourne are choosing our Cyle Collective studio for their group spin sessions. Read on to learn more about the science of spinning.

The science of spin class

Understanding what is happening in your body when you are spinning can help you achieve greater progress and optimise your approach to your fitness development.

Obtaining and developing this knowledge can also inspire you to push yourself through plateaus and break personal bests as you will better understand the physiological aspects of spinning and the benefits you will reap from consistent and progressive practice.

Low impact, high return

Like regular cycling, spinning is considered a low-impact exercise. Spinning pushes the body to its limits without heavily impacting the joints and tissues like running, jumping or lifting weights.

Low-impact exercises usually require less recovery time, fewer injuries and more consistency in training, creating a compound interest of benefits for the human body.

So, next time you think about going for a run, maybe consider sticking your runners on the pedals of a spin bike rather than pounding your feet and joints on the harsh pavement—your body will thank you.

Improved cardiovascular fitness

A spin class takes your cardiovascular output to the next level, pushing your lung capacity past its limits and elevating your heart rate for extended periods.

Regular aerobic workouts, like a cycling class, have been linked to many positive health benefits, including:

• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Strengthening of your heart muscles
• Improving lung capacity and health
• Improved blood flow
• Increased stamina
• Aids in clearing arteries
• Stimulates the immune system
• and more

Heart and lung disease are two of the biggest causes of chronic illness and premature death worldwide. Regular cardiovascular exercise, like spinning, can help significantly reduce the onset of these debilitating and fatal illnesses.

Promotes lean, active muscle

While nutrition plays a big part in developing muscle mass, it cannot be achieved through diet alone. To build healthy, strong, lean muscle, you need to apply some resistance training, like bodyweight exercises, stretch band protocols or lifting weights. The downside to these exercises is their heavy impact on the body, and do not necessarily contribute to improved cardiovascular fitness.

However, what if there was a way you could build lean, active, healthy muscle with low impact while also knocking off your cardio—well, luckily, there is such an activity—spinning.

During a spin class, the many major and minor muscle groups used are under varying degrees of tension as you move through inclines, flats and declines, just like you were on a regular road bike. This time under tension helps to promote hypertrophy, which is how muscles grow.

This hypertrophy is achieved while pumping large volumes of blood throughout your body, supplying your heart, lungs and muscles with more of what they need to stay healthy and work optimally.

No wonder so many people are raving about the gains they receive from a regular spin class session and using it as a foundation for their fitness protocol.

Afterburn for the win

You may have heard people around the gym or online fitness community talk about the “afterburn effect”. However, what is afterburn, and why does spinning do such a good job of initiating it?

The afterburn effect refers to the amount of energy and metabolic response you receive from a workout after your session is finished. The technical term for the afterburn effect is EPOC, short for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.

High-intensity interval training, commonly referred to as HIIT, is one of the best ways to initiate an afterburn response. Cycling classes fall into this category of exercise due to a spin class’s high-intensity and low-intensity staged intervals.

The EPOC that occurs after an intense spin class has been recorded as lasting over 70 hours after one session, meaning you are burning significant calories long after your session.

This makes spin classes ideal for weight loss or weight maintenance protocols.

Sleep better and stress less

While spinning may make you feel energised and jacked up while you are on the spin bike, the after-effects may provide you with a much higher quality of relaxation and sleep.

For many people, sleep deprivation is caused by insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality, and this modern phenomenon is being linked to more serious adverse health conditions as studies continue.

Regular exercise, like spinning, helps to synchronise the body’s circadian rhythm that regulates our active and resting states, which means you are getting tired when you should and getting the quality of sleep your body needs to develop, function, heal and recover.

As well as improving sleep quality, HIIT training, like a cycling class, has been shown to help your body better regulate stress hormones like cortisol, which can reduce inflammation and fatigue and help you cope better with daily mental stressors.

Cycle Collective: Excellence in spin class performance

Since 2014, our Cycle Collective spin studio in Richmond, Melbourne, has strived to provide world-class, science-based spin classes and spin class instructor training.

We use industry-leading, state-of-the-art spin cycles, including:

• The Stages SC3

Ideal for indoor cycling at all skill levels providing a smooth, high-performance ride

• Cycle-Ops IC300

A high-performance chain-driven smart spin cycle that provides a more realistic cycling experience and allows for more technical spinning techniques

Come and see why more people are trusting our highly skilled and qualified spin class instructors and using our world-class facility to achieve the results they have been striving for.

For more information, contact us via phone today at 03 999 617 57 or send your inquiry via email by filling in our online contact form, and one of our representatives will respond promptly.