One of my clients recently sent me the following email about indoor cycling and I thought I would share with you….
QUESTION:
Hi Erica,
I was wondering about cardio and fat burning. One of my friends has been looking amazing and feeling really good on a mostly spinning cardio workout routine. She swears its the best workout for everyone and her results are hard to argue with. Except…that I hate biking (for ergonomical and anatomical reasons). I promised her I’d ask you two questions: 1) Is spinning the best cardio workoutfor fat burn? 2) Her only negative comment on spinning is that her thighs have gotten larger than she anticipated. How can she change that and reduce them?
Thanks!
ANSWER:
Hi there,
Glad you like the workout today. So, spinning. To an extent your friend is right – spinning provides an awesome workout that usually burns loads of calories and = great weight loss. However, anything you do that burns the same amount of calories would lead to the same result. The reason spinning tends to work so well is that most people don’t do cardio that is intense enough for that amount of time, and therefore don’t burn the calories.
The key to cardio is doing something you really like doing. If you hate biking you shouldn’t do it. You’ll end up dreading class and either skipping or not being consistent, which defeats the purpose. And to make matters worse, according to Dr. Elizabeth Lyster (www.drlyster.com), if you don’t enjoy the exercise you are doing all of the good hormones that are normally released are not. Instead stress hormones are released…which encourage fat storage! That really defeats the purpose. A kickboxing class, step class or other high intensity cardio should achieve results you want as long as you enjoy it.
Finally, re. increase in leg size. Spinning is primarily a lower body sport so you are most likely going to see gains in the leg musculature. I recommend to all of my clients that they vary their cardio routines so they are always working different muscles in different ways, which promotes even more weight loss and reduces injury risk. And, it will balance out her proportions a little bit too. Spinners especially tend to be very tight in their hip flexors and chest from sitting on the bike. If she were my client I would balance her routine with yoga for flexibility and strength training sessions that work those muscles she doesn’t use during spin class. Hope this helps!
Erica
