When looking to burn some extra calories and melt some body fat, we all know by now that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the most efficient and effective form of cardio. But if you’re not a fan of the treadmill – either because you hate running or your body doesn’t respond well to the impact – then you can still get a great HIIT workout by hopping onto a stationary bike instead.
The mechanics of a stationary bike are fairly straightforward, sit on it and ride it … 😉
The key to a good HIIT workout is working at your maximum level of effort for short bursts, followed by short periods of recovery. And you can measure your bursts of effort in terms of time, distance, resistance, or RPM.
Start with a simple warm-up; three minutes of steady-state cycling should be enough to get your heart rate up and prepare you for your workout.
1. Time
After your warm-up, perform 8 rounds of explosive cycling, pedalling as hard and as fast as you can for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of recovery.
You’ll be done in 4 minutes but you’ll be DEAD!
2. Distance
After your warm-up, cycle for 1km as fast as you can. Recover with a leisurely cycle until your heart rate reaches 125 RPM.
Repeat this 5 times.
3. Resistance
After completing your warm-up, bring your RPM to 110 and keep it at that level, increasing the resistance on your bike every 30 seconds until you cannot maintain 110 RPM any more.
4. RPM
After your warm-up, pedal as hard as you can for 30 seconds, keeping your RPM over 120. Repeat until failure.
Try and perform more intervals each time.
Cool down
After you’re sufficiently destroyed, perform a comfortable three-minute cool-down, pedalling at a comfortable pace.
Ride HIIT Hard
If that all sounds terrible and you know you’ll realistically never do this kind of workout by yourself, take yourself to a Ride HIIT Hard class. Mikey will put you through your paces and will leave you drenched in sweat. Sounds like an ideal Saturday in our book 😉
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnvrmZoFXms/?taken-by=ridehiit
Ads