A few months ago, we discussed HIIT (high-intensity interval training) for treadmills. Now let’s move onto the bike. If you want thighs of steel, this is the workout for you. You will come off the bike feeling like your legs way a hundred tons after this workout because you’ve worked so hard. HIIT is a great way to stay in shape, turn the fat-burners on high, and improve oxygen capacity. Think you had to run 6 miles a day to do that? Think again! HIIT is a great time-saving way to stay in shape while constantly challenging your body, thus burning more calories. Plus, you build more muscle because you’re doing more powerful exercises that require force (sprints, etc.).
Interval training burns more calories and challenges your body more than most cardio programs due to the nature of intervals. You are constantly changing your speed and pace, thus forcing your body to try to adapt. In sprint mode? Your body has to fight to give your muscles and lungs enough oxygen. In recovery mode? Your body has to slow down all its systems to try to provide you with the right recovery tools. But do you let it recover? Of course not! Thus, your body is constantly attempting to adapt to the conditions you force upon it, but the nature of intervals cause it to never be able to properly catch up, which makes us stronger in the end.
Do this for a minimum of 15 minutes. The best would be 25-30 minutes, or even more if you’re feeling crazy.
- Begin with a 3-5 minute warm-up of 75-80 RPMs. Let your legs get warmed up so you can TOAST them.
- Start your 1-minute sprint. I want you to pump those pedals as FAST as you can, get your RPMS above 100, maybe above 120! If you need to up the resistance, do it! Go hard! Train with purpose! Listen to awesome music!
- Once you hit a minute, go into 1-minute recovery mode–think of it like a fast enough pace without killing you. Cycle easy, but not too easy.
- Repeat–go back into your sprint for a minute. Then return to recovery.
If this seems too advanced for you, try doing 30s sprint/1min recovery. If this seems too easy for you, try doing 1min sprint/30s recovery. There are so many ways to change this up to fit your needs. HIIT is one of my most favorite ways to train and this is just ONE example. Doing HIIT on the bike will accelerate muscle development in your legs, shaping you to be more powerful in that part of your body. Keep your eyes out for more on this series of how to burn calories and the best HIIT tricks. Use this workout to stay hungry and fit!
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BONUS KITTY PIC
Double cuteness!!
This looks great as it is detailed enough for me to get down the gym and do it alone! However, I’m not really looking to put on muscle rather I am just interested in fat burning to SLIM my thighs. Will this work for that? Cheers 🙂
Oh absolutely! HIIT is one of the BEST ways to burn calories and burn fat. Torch it!
Reblogged this on LifeBuildingBlocks.
Never done HITT training on the bike — I like this idea. I always struggle with motivation to cycle, especially when I’m training for a race, but something like this may make the bike more intriguing.
Yes! I hate regular cardio on machines but HIIT always jazzes it up for me
I do HIIT on a bike varying the resistance and amount. Will give your version a go and will reblog. Thanks for posting
Awesome, go for it!
Reblogged this on Seeking the balance and commented:
It’s hard but definitely worthwhile!
This is a great workout! I love putting my clients through these type of workouts on the spinner.
Absolutely!
I love this idea! And the fact that’s it’s easy to remember and not too complex means I will actually give it a try. I like spinning classes but often can’t get to the gym at the right time so nice to have something to do on my own.
Perfect, give it a try!
Love me some HIIT! Great way to be efficient and burn calories 🙂
Yesssss!
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how many calories would you burn during a session like this? I can’t find data anywhere on how to calculate the caloric burn during hiit on a exercise bike.