How much spinning is too much?

[Andrea J]

I have been spinning for a few months approximately 3 times a week. I was wondering if I increased my spinning frequency to over 3 times a week if I would receive any additional benefits (staying in shape, burning calories, etc). I know there comes a point where the muscles get used to the movements and was concerned that there wouldn't be any additional advantage to the extra spinning days. I also take a step class once a week and weight train 2 times a week. Thanks much.

[CR400]

Nothing wrong with adding another class or two if you want to. It will give your muscles a boost to get into a slightly new routine. Which means you will see some progress in your endurance and preformance. Most people when they ride outside in the good weather will ride 4 to 5 times maybe more a week. I would recomand using more resistance on the spin bike after a few weeks of extra classes. If you want to keep making progress, if your goal is just calorie burn then you can stay with the lower resistance.

[indysteel]

The more you work out, the more calories you burn, so you will obviously see a benefit there. Whether an extra spinning class will add anything to your overall fitness, however, is harder to determine. Your body does need time for rest and recovery to get stronger. If you add the class in, but start to feel sluggish or fatigued, then I'd suggest that you might be overdoing it. Either cut back down or use the extra class as a "recovery ride" by keeping the resistance low and your heartrate down.

Whether an extra class will make make you stronger or contribute further to your cardiovascular fitness depends, in my opinion, on how your classes are structured and how you're riding them. Just as doing endless miles at Zone 2 on a road bike won't necessarily make you stronger muscularly or aerobically (although it will likely help with endurance), neither will riding more miles on a spin bike. I would suggest talking to a trainer at your gym to determine how to approach your spin classes so that you can best meet your fitness goals.

I'd also suggest that you might benefit more from adding something into your routine, either in addition to or in lieu of an extra spin class, that develops core strength, flexibility and balance. Yoga and pilates obviously come to mind.

[aicabsolut]

I find that the more fit I get for riding bikes (road bike or bike on trainer or spin bike), the longer it takes me to warm up. Often, I need a good 45 minutes. In a spin class, I may start feeling better closer to 30 min in because of all the high heart rate intervals they tend to make you do early in the class. However, if your spin class is only 50-60min long, then that sucks for improving your fitness really. I don't have access to this type of schedule now, but I used to like to do back to back hour classes plus my own warm up and cool down. It's a little easier to do that than to spend 2+ hours on an indoor trainer, but I'd still make the workout my own in the spin class. I'd advocate trying to find at least 75min classes or take back to back classes occasionally first before just adding more short classes into your week as far as training better. Balance longer more endurance-type workouts with the shorter classes that focus on intervals. This may require some experimenting with different instructors. If you can't do back to back classes but have access to a spin bike outside of class, maybe do an hour warmup on your own, take the class, and then extend your cooldown somehow, whether you just spin through the stretch portion and then stretch on your own or you finish the class as usual and then do an easy spin for a few minutes. Ultimately, no matter which you do, so long as you aren't experiencing symptoms of overtraining, you are not doing anything bad for yourself, and you can only be doing good in burning more calories and improving your fitness.