Yes, You Can Do Cycling Training On A Stationary Bike

Here’s the sitch: I’m new to road cycling, and after a run-in with a truck a few days ago, I’m not so trusting of vehicles on the road. That means rain is a deal breaker for outdoor rides. So to help me with my training for the 100-K charity event for Ride for Karen on days when the weather isn’t on my side, Andrew Randall of The Cycling Gym offered me these two training programs for my stationary bike.

Here are two workouts you can do for cycling training on a stationary bike. Slip on your heart rate monitor and you’re ready to go.

Day 1 Cycling Training on a Stationary Bike 

“The goal is to do the max repeatable work for each of the interval sets,” says Randall. “The time in brackets is the recovery between each of the interval sets.”

• Warm-up – 4 minutes easy < 100 bpm • 12 minutes steady, with the heart rate building from 105 to 130 bpm over the 12 minutes, put in an 8-second spin up to 110 rpm sprint every 3 minutes • A few minutes easy • 3 x 3 minutes of 40 seconds on/20 seconds off (2 minutes easy to recover, perhaps stop for 1 minute then pedal easy for 1 minute) • 3 x 3 minutes of 30 seconds on/30 seconds off (2 minutes, same as above) • 3 x 3 minutes of 20 seconds on/40 seconds off (3 minutes) • Cool down for 10 minutes (easy) “For the first block of three-by-three minutes, you’ll do three minutes broken down into 40 seconds on/20 seconds off, then recover for two minutes,” explains Randall. “Then start another three minutes  block. You’ll do this three times to make up the first three-by-three minutes set of work.”

Day 2 Cycling Training on a Stationary Bike 

Make this a rest or active-rest day.

Day 3 Cycling Training on a Stationary Bike 

• Warm-up 4 minutes easy < 100 bpm • 12 minutes steady cycling, with the heart rate building from 105 to 130 bpm over the 12 minutes, put in an 8 second spin up to 110 rpm sprint every 3 minutes. • 3 x 12 progressions – slowly build the heart rate from 130 to 150 bpm over the 12 minutes, then take 2 minutes easy to recover between the progressions; • 5 to 10 minutes easy to recover getting the HR below 130 bpm. Happy riding, whether you’re indoors our outside!