How Many Calories Does Spin Burn?

Spin calories by weight & duration

The roughly 598 calories per hour figure is an estimate for a 155-lb person riding at a moderate-to-vigorous pace, and your actual burn will shift based on your body weight, how hard you push resistance, and your fitness level. You can log your spin sessions and track calorie output over time using the Mariposas app.

Calculated as MET (8.5) × body weight (kg) × hours. How this works.

What to expect in a spin class

Your first class starts with a few minutes of finding your bike fit: seat height, handlebar position, and getting your feet locked into the pedals. From there the instructor guides the room through a warmup, then alternates between heavier-resistance climbs where your RPM drops to around 60 to 80 and faster flat sprints where you spin at 90-plus. You will probably hit at least one standing climb, which loads your quads and glutes differently than seated pedaling. The last five minutes or so typically step the resistance back down for a cooldown and some light stretching.

Tips for your first spin class

• Arrive five minutes early and ask the instructor to help set your bike fit. A seat that is too low creates knee strain, and handlebars that are too far forward make it hard to breathe deeply during hard efforts.
• Ignore what the person next to you is doing with their resistance. Use the instructor's RPE cues (like 'this should feel like a 7 out of 10') as your guide, not the sound of a neighbor's flywheel.
• Bring a full water bottle. Even with good ventilation, an hour of spin can produce significant sweat, and dehydration makes the second half of class feel much harder than it needs to.
• Clip-in cycling shoes improve power transfer and pedal control, but most studios offer cage pedals as an alternative. Wear snug athletic shoes if you use cages, since loose footwear can slip mid-sprint.

What affects how many calories spin burns

The 598 cal/hr figure applies to a 155-lb person riding at a genuine moderate-to-vigorous effort, which is roughly what a MET of 8.5 represents. Someone heavier will burn more per hour at the same relative exertion, and someone lighter will burn less, so treat that number as a reference point rather than a personal target. The biggest lever you control in class is resistance: riders who keep the knob light and coast through intervals are working at a noticeably lower MET than those who actually load the flywheel during climbs and hold their cadence during sprints.

Three things move your number most: body weight (a heavier body burns more for the same activity, that's why the table runs from 125 to 225 lb), duration (calories scale with time), and intensity. A spin you push hard burns more than an easy one, because effort is what the MET value of 8.5 represents, an average for this activity. Your fitness level and how much you rest between efforts shift it too, so treat these as a solid estimate rather than an exact count.

How we calculate spin calories

Every number here uses the standard energy-expenditure formula: calories ≈ MET × body weight (kg) × time (hours). The MET value of 8.5 for spin comes from the published Compendium of Physical Activities, the same reference researchers and fitness trackers use. We convert your weight to kilograms and multiply through, no fudge factors. See our methodology for the full formula and sources.