Is Spinning Bad For Your Knees? All You Need To Know!

Just because you have issues with some of your joints doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy any of the higher impact exercises that are available. One of the main questions that everyone asks is spinning bad for your knees, which means riding an indoor bicycle rather than going outdoors. Read More: 5 Best Home Spin Bike

The pain in this area is often because the cap keeps shifting around and not being in the proper alignment and this can cause higher levels of pain. This means that numerous exercises have been deemed as too intense and that means biking outside, so keep reading on to find out more.

What is Spinning?

You should know if is spinning bad for your knees or not before you start it, especially if you are looking for a new workout regime that you can start. If you don’t know what this exercise is, then it is simply riding one of the stationary bikes rather than taking the bikes out on to the road. This is going to be better for the joints since you won’t have to ride over the bumpy and unpredictable roads that are found everywhere. Read More: Benefits of Exercise: How Exercise Can Improve Your Mood

This is often one of the exercises that all therapists would recommend to their patients since it is often considered as one of the better exercises that you can participate it. This is because it is less impact on the areas that are painful rather than any other exercises like running, biking on the roads and much more. You should consider this as one of the options to add to your routine if you have this type of pain and if you want something easy and high impact.

Read More:

What Can Spinning Help With?

After you have decided that it isn’t an option that is spinning bad for your knees, but it is instead good for them. There are numerous ways that this exercise can help you, including:

Strengthening the ligaments
Strengthening muscles
Increased heart rate
Weight control
Adjustment of the intensity

While you are exercising you want to increase your heart rate and this is a good exercise that can do that. Not only can it increase the heart rate so you are burning more calories, but it is also a low impact, which means it won’t be as hard on the joints as other exercises might be.

Protecting the Knees While Spinning

There are numerous ways that you can protect the joints while you are biking, especially if you still have concerns about if is spinning bad for your knees. These should be done every day and you need to know what they are so you can protect your joints from more damage, such as:

Adjusting the saddle – The seat should always be adjusted so that it is the perfect height for you. Make sure that you do this at the gym or even at home if you have the stationary bike there. The easier you are able to ride and pedal, then the less impact it will have on the joints.

In order to properly adjust the seat of the bike, there are a few things that one would need to do, including:

Sit on the seat with your feet on the pedals
Straighten the legs while you are pedaling while bending the other
The bent leg should be at around a 90° angle and when it is bent the angle should be at 25°

Once you have achieved the right angles you are going to know that the seat is at the perfect height for you. If you don’t want to go through this exercise daily, then you should remember the height or the notch location to make it easier to shift, especially if you are going to the gym.

How to Keep Spinning Safe

After you have confirmed that it isn’t true that it is spinning bad for your knees but that it will help you, then you need to know how to keep yourself safe. There are many ways that you are going to want to do that and one includes warming up beforehand. Here are some areas and the stretches that will help to get you ready to ride, including:

Hamstrings – You need to ensure that the hamstrings are being properly stretched before you start biking. Spread your legs apart and bend over while touching your toes while trying not to bend the joints. Do this a couple of times so that the blood starts to flow to your hamstrings since they are used heavily in this exercise.
Quadriceps – These are the muscles that are on the front part of the thigh and are responsible for being the power behind pedaling. These stretches are easy and you should face a wall while pulling your bent leg behind your back to the butt with a single hand. Repeat this a few times for both legs.
Calf muscles – Another area that needs to be stretched are the calf muscles since they can give you additional speed. This can be done easily by just doing some squats, which would also help to stretch the rest of your leg muscles at the same time.
Shoulders – The last part of the body that you need to make sure you are stretching is the shoulders. These are important since they would be stretched out and used when holding the handles and you can do this by holding them behind your back and stretching them out as far as possible.

It is extremely important that you are stretching your entire body to make sure that you are ready for the biking exercise. The more you stretch the easier your muscles can adjust to the workout and the lower the risk for injuries. Knowing what muscles you need to stretch is a great way to make sure you aren’t going to be hurting yourself further and to lower the amount of pain you might suffer later.

Keeping a Steady Pace

You should always think about whether or not a class is going to be ideal for your needs, especially once you know are aware that is spinning bad for your knees is false. However, you might want to think twice about signing up for a class, especially if you are just starting out. Also, if you find that the increased speeds aren’t helping you, then you should consider doing it on your own. One of the important things that you need to know is that keeping up a steady pace is going to make this the best exercise possible. If you can keep up the speed, then it would be a more effective exercise than others and you need your heart rate to go up.

There are plenty of ways that you can keep up a steady pace when it comes to this exercise, including by listening to upbeat music. Also, you should keep an eye on the information that is displayed to ensure that you are burning the calories that you want. You shouldn’t worry about whether or not is spinning bad for your knees, but rather that you are keeping your exercise to the right level.

Choosing the Right Bike

Another factor that you need to consider when starting the exercise is deciding which of the stationary bikes is going to be ideal. You shouldn’t think that is spinning bad for your knees since it’s one of the least impact options that you can ride. Here are a few things to help you to decide which bike would be ideal for your exercise routine, including. Read Here: Top 5 Best Spinning Bike

Upright – This type of bike is going to be the same as the normal bikes you could ride outside, but it just doesn’t move. It would have the bicycle seat, pedals and handles and this would allow you to exercise the exact muscles that you would do when you are biking outside. However, these might have lower handles that means you would need to bend over while exercising, which might be uncomfortable with people with joint issues.
Recumbent – These have a bigger seat that is a chair like and they are easier on the hips and lower back because the frame is more comfortable. These are also much simpler to get on and off of, which means they would be perfect for older people. However, these mean that the hip is going to get more exercise than the other type of bikes.

The best way to figure out which one is going to be the best for your needs is to try them both out. Make sure that you are doing a few workouts on the different bikes to see which one is more comfortable and which one involves less pain at the end of the day. You won’t know which one is better until you try it out, so why suffer if there is another option that you can use while you are working out? Read Here: 5 Best Home Spin Bike

Cycling Habits to Avoid for Knee Issues

You should always think about what habits you might be creating when you are riding your bike, even if it is stationary. While you are thinking about whether or not it is spinning bad for your knees you also need to consider what habits you are doing that might be wrong. Using the stationary bike is going to be a good way to exercise while not harming your joint and some things to avoid doing includes:

Not going slow – You might not want to go slow when you are first starting out, but it is important that you do. Also, don’t make any sudden increases in the pace you are keeping the entire time or even the length of time you are riding, but rather go slowly and increase over time.
Sitting wrong – Another thing that you need to avoid is sitting wrong, which means you might need to adjust the seat. Make sure that you are comfortable when you are pedaling and that you aren’t having to lean over too much to grip the handles.
Mobility – You might not think about it, but the level of mobility that you have is directly affecting how you are biking and exercising. It is also hurting your joints because if you don’t have the proper mobility level then you aren’t being able to pedal right. In order to prevent this, you should ensure that you are stretching out all of the muscles that you would be using.
Wrong shoes – Also, you might be using the wrong shoes since there is a huge array of options that you can use. If you are using those that attach to the pedals you want to make sure you are wearing the right ones. The position of your foot might also be wrong since you want the ball of the foot to be over or even behind the axle a bit.
Wrong bike – The wrong bike is another thing that can cause pain in the joints, so think about which one is going to work for you. Try them all out so that you can decide which one is perfect for you and which ones give you the perfect level of comfort and exercise ability.

Make sure that you are thinking about all of these mistakes that people often make when they are biking and these can even be seen on stationary bikes. If you ensure that you are avoiding these issues, then you can see you would have less pain and a more effective workout.

The final answer to the question about is spinning bad for your knees is no! This exercise isn’t going to be bad for the joints, but instead, it can help you get an effective workout without having to hurt yourself more. Make sure that you are choosing the right bike, which could be a stationary one or a recumbent one depending on which one is more comfortable for you. Also, you need to think about how you are riding and ensuring that you are stretching to keep yourself safe from injuries and extra pain.