The Holiday Season is upon us. Although a time of peace and joy, it is also a time of cookies, candies office parties, family travel and inclement weather. All reasons to over eat and having to ditch your riding time resulting in incomplete workouts and extra pounds of non-functional weight. This is a great time to bring out the trainer or indoor cycle and incorporate some gut-buster carpet criteriums, studio stage races, garage grinders, basement bursts….whatever you call them. With limited time and extra calories to burn, you can effectively expend the most amount of energy in an hour or less, while also reaping the benefits of positive physiological adaptations.

While I prescribe numerous indoor workouts to my clients, I decided to ask them which workout was their favorite to do on their indoor ride. Since there were so many responses, I’ll break this up into two articles. In this first edition, I give 8 responses, along with the workout in detail, so you can reap the benefits of an Hour of Power. In the second edition, I will give the rest of the favorite workouts, plus I will reveal your favorite ways to pass time while riding indoors. Read on to get the workouts and be sure to submit your responses too.

Chad likes the 15-5-15-1 Threshold Booster session. “This workout is really good as the goals for each interval are solid goals based off of a good 10min peak power test. Any workout that has goals that are realistic but tough, are good”

Warm Up in Zone 1 (easy).
Based on a 10 min Power Test or your 10 Peak Power Value, do 4 intervals at a percentage of your test/value results. Take 5min rest in between.
Interval #1: 15:00 @ 80%
Interval #2: 5:00 @ 90%
Interval #3: 15:00 @ 80%
Interval #4: 3-6 x 1:00 @ 101%+ with 1:00 rest in between. Attempt to build each effort, by increasing watts just a tad more than the last.
Cool Down in Zone 1 (easy)

Adam loves to do StepUps, as “it is entertaining (I get bored easily) and it works through my aerobic system from low end to ceiling, liberating my fat cells (many) along the way”. This session can have any starting point, but Adam “likes to start at the low end of Zone 2 and work his way up to threshold power. “I like to use my low end Zone 2 as his recovery intensity, which challenges my aerobic system a bit more than if I ride an easy Zone 1”.

Warm Up Easy Zone 1
3 x 15:00 gradually stepping up from low end Zone 2 to threshold power. Begin at the low effort and every few minutes step up to a higher effort over the duration of 15:00. Be sure to hit threshold by the end of 15:00. You can get there sooner if you prefer, giving you more time to sustain at the end. Immediately afterward, step down to the low end of Zone 2 and begin the step up process again. If you have additional time, add additional step ups, based on the amount of time you have left to spend some energy.

Carmen & Rick spend their hour of power together in the basement, motivating each other as needed. Carmen’s favorite workout so far is the 20/5 threshold session. “I like how time goes by quickly in the last part of the work out and that I can feel an improvement from week to week”. For Rick, “I like the Bike Circuit Workout, which is a combination of low cadence force work on the bike, mixed with off the bike leg work”.

20/5 Threshold Session
This session is based off of Threshold Power.
Warm up Zone 1 Easy.
20:00 @ 80% (as fitness increases, increase to 85%, 90%, 95%)
4 x 5:00 easy and 5:00 @ 85%, repeating without hesitation. (as fitness increases, increase to 90%, 95%, 100%) Ride remaining time easy and cool down.

Bike Specificity Strength Circuit

Warm up on the bike easy Zone 1.
Then do an 8:00 force intervals interval as:

• 2:00 gradually building to highest load you can sustain at 70rpm
• 1:00 standing in that same gear (change cadence as needed)
• 2:00 back to the saddle in biggest load you can sustain 70 rpm
• 1:00 standing in that same gear
• 1:00 back in the saddle in that same gear
• 1:00 spin legs out easy, easy, easy. That is a total of 8:00.

Then, hop off bike & do as many walking lunges as possible for 1:00. If you do not have space to walk the lunge, just do them in place, but make sure you are always switching lead legs. Then hop back on the bike and spin the legs out easy for 3:00. Now REPEAT the 8:00 force interval and lunges for a total of 4-6x, or as time as time allows. Finish with an easy cool down on the bike.

Mike’s favorite session is the 3:00 Repeatable Power Efforts. “I call this my love/hate workout. I love to hate these. They are tough, but I spend a ton of energy and I get the benefit of repeatable power, which will help me in my future criterium races. They do hurt, but they hurt so good. I like it so much that I often throw in a few extra.”

Warm Up Easy Zone 1.
3 x (3x3:00X1:00) efforts with 1 min rest in between, and 2:00 complete rest between each full set.
Ride your first 3x3:00 efforts at a high cadence of 85+ in Zone 3 in a gear that doesn’t cause fatigue. Do not change gears during the effort. Perform your second 3x3:00 efforts in a bigger gear, still trying to work at 85+ rpm. The intensity will feel harder. Do the third 3x3 efforts in a bigger gear yet, still trying to keep cadence at 85+ rpm. This will feel very hard. It is likely that the cadence will drop as you near the end of the 3min, but battle to keep it up. Ride remaining time easy.

Shelly prefers the Descending Pyramid Workout. “I really dig these because the time gets shorter as duration goes on. It is amazing how doing the shorter duration of the same effort can be just as hard as holding for a long time, when you are fatigued. I love to listen to Alice in Chains, Godsmack and as odd as it sounds…Hans Zimmer movie themes when I’m riding, for motivation to kick through these”.

Warm up easy.
Do a descending pyramid of intervals, starting with 20:00 and working your way down, by cutting the time in half. This is 20:00; 10:00, 5:00, 2:30; 1:15; :45 Incorporate 3-5:00 of recovery in between each. Decide the effort you will repeat, having it be as near your 20:00 peak power value as possible, with a goal to bump it up a bit each time. Thereafter, cool down. If you have time constraints, stop after the 5:00 effort.

Bob is a triathlete that totally loves doing bike/treadmill sessions. “This workout is a short brick workout, burns lots of energy and works both my cycling and running muscles. Plus it kicks my butt in a really short session.”

After a good warmup on the bike, build to 50 rpm in a big gear for 1 min. Without changing gears, increase cadence to 60, 70, 80 over the coarse of 1:00; THEN without changing gears, stand and accelerate :15 THEN spin easy 2:00. Next do 3 x :90 fast cadence in big gear with :90 easy spin in between. Spin your legs out easy for 3-5:00 and hop off the bike, quickly changing into your running shoes. On the treadmill, you will basically repeat the same focus. Put grade around 7-10% at slow pace. Increase pace over the course of a minute, adding an additional :15 sprint afterward. Then walk/jog easy 2:00 and do 3x :90 at that fast pace/grade & :90 recovery, 3x. Walk easy 3-5 min and jump back on the bike. Repeat the bike/treadmill as time permits.

Lastly, my personal favortie is the short, sassy intervals. These are guaranteed to take me to the dark side. They are very short and intense efforts of 30s, 20s, 10s and 5s, with at least 5:00 rest in between.

Take a nice long warm up. Then do:
2 x 30s; 2 x 20s; 3 x 10s; 3 x 5s . Your effort is at your hardest effort. You can use your peak power values for the same duration, as your carrot to chase if you want Ride the rest of the workout easy.

That gives you eight gut-buster carpet criterium workouts that you can do in a short amount of time on your trainer or indoor cycle. You’ll burn lots of energy and achieve the benefits of aerobic conditioning and boosting threshold and VO2. If you don’t have motivation from a riding partner, like Carmen & Rick do, all you need is some kick-butt music or a great movie to keep you motivated. I personally need a fast paced movie or one about riding bikes, to keep me entertained. My personal favorites are Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, American Flyer and Breaking Away, The Italian Job, James Bond, Indiana Jones or Gladiator…but that’s just me.

What about you? In a couple of weeks I’ll have part two of this article, providing more studio stage races. Send your responses by January 6th stating the answer to the following questions. I’ll publish the results in the next article.

1. List your top 3 favorite movies to keep you motivated while training on your indoor cycle or trainer?

2. List your top 3 favorite songs to keep you inspired while training on your indoor cycle or trainer?

Follow this link to submit your responses.

Provided by Angie Sturtevant
CycleOps Power Fitness Education Director & Master Training Specialist
Owner of Specialists in Sports Performance