How to Use the Spin Class Calorie Burn Calculator
Pedaling to pounding music under dim lights, a spin class is one of the classic ways to soak your shirt through in under an hour. How much you actually burn depends heavily on how much resistance you dial in and how long you ride, so this calculator takes your weight, ride length, and perceived intensity and estimates the calories burned for that class.
The estimate uses metabolic equivalent (MET) values: 6.8 for a low intensity where you can still talk, 8.5 for moderate (breathing hard, sweating), 10.5 for high intensity where talking is difficult, and 12.5 for interval-style efforts with repeated sprints. Because instructors constantly cue resistance changes throughout a class, how the effort feels is the best proxy for how many calories you're actually burning.
Actual burn varies with pedaling cadence, your fitness level, and how the instructor structures the class, so treat this as a useful approximation. If a class mixes warm-up, main effort, and cool-down segments rather than staying at one steady intensity, pick the setting that best reflects your average perceived effort across the whole ride.
Frequently Asked Questions
Indoor spinning has no downhill coasting or stoplights to break up the effort, and resistance and pace can be pushed continuously on the instructor's cue, so for the same duration it often burns more on average than typical outdoor riding.
How the effort actually feels matters more than the resistance dial number. If you can still hold a conversation, pick low; breathing hard and sweating is moderate; struggling to talk is high; and repeated all-out sprint intervals call for the highest setting.