With the holiday season upon us, many cyclists (including myself) are finding themselves with bloated bellies. After a gigantic meal loaded with delicious fats and sugars, it’s time to hop on the bike and burn away some calories. Unfortunately, for many, the holiday season coincides with snowed out streets, icy roads, or overall dangerous riding conditions. If you don’t own a fat tire bike or if you feel nervous about cycling in winter, the best way to keep up your love of cycling is to do some indoor training in winter.
For many years, I trained on a stationary bike in my basement. I was able to customize each workout with my spin bike’s resistance features and would often ride for long periods of time because I set up the television in front. However, in recent years, I switched to a magnetic bike trainer. I did this because the stationary bike had me riding at an unrealistic angle and I liked the feel of riding on my own bike. If you’re in the market for an indoor bike trainer, bicycling.com has a great article telling you all about how to choose an indoor bike trainer.
Another thing that I did was to eliminate TV watching while training indoors. I recommend this to all cyclists because I’ve noticed that watching television has the same effect on anyone working on a self-controlled piece of equipment. When your mind becomes disengaged from the physical task of training, your ride will inevitably be less effective than if you were concentrating on your indoor ride. Therefore, I’ve substituted music for TV and have found the results to be highly advantageous. I use custom tracks that mimic the intervals of each indoor ride I take. This motivates me to ride efficiently instead of becoming lackluster while zoning out on a show.
Speed intervals are the way to go if you’re interested in making the most of indoor training. They improve your overall power and speed at a high rate and build muscle the fastest.
On another bicycling.com article titled How to Ride Inside: Indoor Trainer Workouts for Cyclists, Andy Applegate of Carmichael Training Systems suggests the below speed interval session for maximum results. I have been doing a similar routine for months and have found it almost as effective as riding outdoors. I’ve added my music style recommendations so that you can create a playlist that will motivate you during your ride.
0:00-10:00 – Warm-up by riding easy to a slow-paced song
10:00-11:00 – Pedal hard and fast on low resistance to a fast-paced song
11:00-12:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
12:00-13:00 – Pedal hard and fast on low resistant to a fast-paced song
13:00-14:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
14:00-15:00 – Pedal hard and fast on low resistant to a fast-paced song
15:00-16:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
16:00-17:00 – Pedal hard and fast on low resistant to a fast-paced song
17:00-18:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
18:00-23:00 – Ride these 5 minutes easy while listening to an upbeat (not too fast) song
23:00-23:30 – Pedal hard and fast at higher resistance to a fast-paced song
23:30-24:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
24:00-24:30 – Pedal hard and fast at higher resistance to a fast-paced song
24:30-25:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
25:00-25:30 – Pedal hard and fast at higher resistance to a fast-paced song
25:30-26:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
26:00-26:30 – Pedal hard and fast at higher resistance to a fast-paced song
26:30-27:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
27:00-27:30 – Pedal hard and fast at higher resistance to a fast-paced song
27:30-28:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
28:00-28:30 – Pedal hard and fast at higher resistance to a fast-paced song
28:30-29:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
29:00-29:30 – Pedal hard and fast at higher resistance to a fast-paced song
29:30-30:00 – Recover to a slow-paced song
30:00-40:00 – Slow down and decrease resistance to a slow song to wind down
It’s difficult finding songs that fit the interval training of 30 seconds on/30 seconds off. I’ve found that many of the HIIT Speed Workout Training songs on iTunes or Youtube have built-in segments of this nature so that you can interval train in sync with a playlist. Here is a link to a 30-second interval playlist: https://soundcloud.com/richardtaylorfitness/30-second-intervals-hiit-mix
Best of luck burning calories indoors and staying fit throughout the winter season!