4 Tips for Your Indoor Cycling Workouts

When it comes to having fun on a bike, most cyclists would rank riding inside on the trainer somewhere between bonking 20 miles from home and getting hit by a semi. But riding inside doesn't have to be torture: The key is to adopt a get-on, get-off attitude and build more intensity into your workouts so you can spend less time pedaling to nowhere. Here are some simple guidelines for making the most of your rec-room sweat sessions.

Be Consistent

If an athlete wants to maintain fitness over the winter, I recommend he or she ride four times a week and build intervals into three of those sessions. That might work out to two midweek rides on a trainer and two weekend rides. If two won't fit into your schedule, you could do a program with interval workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and (if road conditions are good) an outdoor group ride or long endurance ride on Saturday.

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Go Hard, Not Long

Indoor training is all about working at the right intensities without wasting time idly pedaling. Some of the workouts that follow are tough, but you can complete them during a trainer session of just 60 to 90 minutes.

Then Go Harder

You might be riding three or four times a week with a bunch of hard efforts, but if you don't incrementally increase the workload, all you'll do is burn calories. That's not a bad thing, but if your goal is to emerge from the basement a fitter rider, you need to increase time at intensity, starting first by focusing on endurance-building aerobic intervals (tempo), then on harder workouts that will raise your maximum sustainable pace (steady state, climbing repeat) and boost your top-end speed (power intervals).

Below, you'll find the first four weeks of an eight-week plan that uses a winter event as an incentive. For descriptions of each workout in the chart (including the CTS Field Test) and the rest of the calendar, visit the Workouts and Body Stats Every Cyclist Should Know.

More: The Truth About Indoor Cycling Cadence

Your Winter Workouts

Twice a week, do the recommended interval sessions (see chart) as part of a 60- to 90-minute ride. Your third ride of the week should include a long tempo interval during the first three weeks, and three sets of 10-minute steady-state or climbing-repeat intervals during weeks four through eight. On the fourth day, do a long ride or group ride outside, if weather permits.

Do the following warm-up before the interval sessions: 3 minutes easy, 30 seconds at a high cadence, 30 seconds easy, 2 x (1 minute max effort at a high cadence + 1 minute easy), 3 minutes easy

Week 1

• WORKOUT 1: Test—to gauge your fitness and set intensity goals for each workout
• WORKOUT 2: 3 x (10 minutes tempo + 5 min. recovery spinning between intervals, or RBI)

Week 2

• WORKOUT 1: 3 x (1 min. fast pedal + 1 min. RBI) // 2 x (15 min. tempo + 5 min. RBI)
• WORKOUT 2: 3 x (1 min. fast pedal + 1 min. RBI) // 30 min. tempo

Week 3

• WORKOUT 1: 3 x (1 min. power interval + 1 min. RBI) // 3 x (8 min. steady state + 4 min. RBI)
• WORKOUT 2: 3 x (8 min. steady state + 4 min. RBI)

Week 4

• WORKOUT 1: 3 x (10 min. Steady State, 5 min. RBI)
• WORKOUT 2: 3 x (10 min. Steady State, 5 min. RBI)

Looking for more creative ways to stay fit during winter? See our list of favorite Indoor Trainer Workouts for Cyclists.

More: 2 Indoor Cycling Workouts to Improve Your Climbing