Indoor cycling is an asset to any training plan, boosting endurance, leg size and strength, and torching a serious amount of calories.
And if you set yourself up with a rig at home you don’t need to worry about bad weather, traffic-dodging or overcrowded gyms.
These three indoor cycling workouts from Wattbike will give you a proper full-body workout.
You’ll need to use the RPE scale, which is the Rate of Perceived Exertion. The scale starts at 1 (very light with hardly any effort), going up to 4-6 (when you’re starting to breathe heavily but can still hold a conversation) and eventually 10, which is your absolute maximum that can only be maintained for a very short amount of time.
WORKOUT 1:
VO2 Max Builder
Focus: Improve your top-end aerobic capacity and overall endurance
Duration: 59 mins
WARM-UP: 10 mins, building from RPE 1 to RPE 5
MAIN SET:
- Effort 1 – 4 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 4 mins at RPE 5 - Effort 2 – 4 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 4 min. at RPE 5 - Effort 3 – 4 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 4 mins at RPE 5 - Effort 4 – 4 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 4 mins at RPE 5 - Effort 5 – 3 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 4 mins at RPE 5
COOL-DOWN: 10 mins at RPE 3
WORKOUT 2:
The Metaboliser
Focus: Increase your metabolic rate for up to 24 hours with this fat-torching HIIT workout.
Duration: 35 mins
WARM-UP: 10 mins building from RPE 1 to RPE 6
MAIN SET:
- Interval 1 – 20 secs at RPE 9
Recovery – 35 secs at RPE 4
(Repeat 5 times)
Recovery – 3 mins at RPE 5 - Interval 2 – 20 secs at RPE 9
Recovery – 35 secs at RPE 4
(Repeat 4 times)
Recovery – 3 mins at RPE 5 - Interval 3 – 20 secs at RPE 9
Recovery 35 secs at RPE 4
(Repeat 5 times)
Recovery – 3 mins at RPE 5
COOL-DOWN: 1 min easy spinning at RPE 2
WORKOUT 3:
Sports Conditioning
Focus: Improve your cardiovascular fitness and prepare your body for the demands of sport.
Duration: 45 mins
WARM-UP: 7 mins building from RPE 1 to RPE 6
MAIN SET:
- Effort 1 – 1 min at RPE 9
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5 - Effort 2 – 2 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5 - Effort 3 – 3 mins at RPE 7
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5 - Effort 4 – 2 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5 - Effort 5 – 1 min at RPE 9
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5 - Effort 2 – 2 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5 - Effort 3 – 3 mins at RPE 7
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5 - Effort 4 – 2 mins at RPE 8
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5 - Effort 5 – 1 min at RPE 9
Recovery – 90 secs at RPE 5
COOL-DOWN: 3 mins at RPE 3
To find out more about the brand-new Next Generation Wattbike Atom, visit wattbike.com/gb/product/atom