Bike workout training is a smart way to achieve your athletic goals. Riding and pedaling is only useful if your sole purpose is that of losing weight and achieving a good level of health, but it is not enough if you have any other goals, such as competing in a trail marathon or facing a long journey by bike.
To achieve those goals, you need proper bike workout training, and the first step towards it is to draw your own training plan.
A training plan is nothing but a schedule that indicates your expectations and the desired outcomes of the workout. The plan should enclose details of all the training sessions you have to accomplish to reach the intended goals, and in this table, you can also note down your progress.
Creating a workout plan will also help you commit to a determined training program and avoid overtraining.
Probably the first step in designing your own bike workout training plan is to decide what type of training you want to perform.
If you need to improve your basic resistance, both aerobic and anaerobic, the bike workout interval training for beginners might be the best type of training for you.
Interval training is a great variant of a classic strengthen training, and we aim to show you how an interval training is structured and how you need to build your annual bike workout plan.
Bike Workout Interval Training Facts
The main characteristic of the interval training workout is the continuous alternation between training sessions and break. Basically, you have to perform one athletic activity, such as climbing a slope or running for a determined distance, then take an active break before restarting training again.
The number of sets of the interval training per session varies according to the intensity of the workout, duration of the exercise, and training objectives.
The interval training workout can be either intensive or extensive.
In the first case, you will work on your anaerobic threshold by performing fast and very intensive exercises. In the second case, you will work on your aerobic threshold by performing lighter exercises but with longer durations.
The interval training allows you to train your muscles and gain strength, and it is a more entertaining version of the monotonous routine training that is made of long fast walks and designed to increase the basic strength.
In interval training, unlike the training that only requires you to repeat certain exercises, the break must be active. This means you will have to cycle between the sets. Cycling at a higher speed and using a more agile gear will help you oxygenate the tissues and allow the deactivation of the lactic acid that forms during the anaerobic workout.
During this type of training, it is important to use a heart rate monitor device that will allow you to register the heart rate. During breaks, your heart rate should never go under 120 beats per minute, to keep the level of your cardiovascular activity high and improve your resistance and strength.
Interval Training Workout Advantages
Interval training has physical, physiological, and psychological benefits, and there are numerous reasons why you should consider this workout. Here are some of the main advantages of this type of workout.
- It increases your anaerobic resistance, which means that your body will produce less lactic acid.
- It increases the oxygen consumption, allowing you to oxygenate your tissues with more ease. This fact also increases the anaerobic threshold and will increase the lactic acid depletion rate.
- It improves the muscles metabolism, which results in less stiff and laborious athletic gestures since your energy consumption will lower down and you will be able to perform more tasks.
- It increases the heart rate which triggers a physiological myocardial hypertrophy. In simple words, this means that your heart will increase its cavity to be able to pump more blood into the body.
- It increases your willpower. Due to the intensity of the workout, the interval training requires a solid motivation to be able to carry along with the scheduled plan. As on overall, this improves your general willpower.
- It increases your ability to overcome your limits since a training that exposes you to so much pressure requires a fierce desire to succeed.
- It increases your adaptability to fatigue and your psychophysical stress improves.
- It works on your basic resistance, therefore it can be used to make the monotonous workouts more varied and entertaining.
How To Work Out During Interval Training
The theory is bliss, but by now you might be wondering what an interval training workout involves.
As already mentioned, the purpose of this type of training is to keep your cardiovascular and muscular systems active continuously. For this reason, even during the break periods, the body must be kept active. This keeps your heart and lungs active and exposed to a certain stress.
Due to this stress, your physiological system will trigger some positive changes to its structure and functionality.
The central nervous system, on the other hand, will also change as it will have to adapt to overcome the feeling of fatigue so you can manage to continue the workload.
To train, you must first determine your maximum heart rate. The easiest way to calculate it is to subtract your age from 220. The result is your maximum heart rate. Alternatively, there are many online calculators or apps you can use to determine it.
Regarding the schedule of the training, there are many versions and many plans that differ between the various training coaches. Nonetheless, you can follow the training plan below:
- Choose 4 intensive exercises you like best and do a full cycle of exercises, allowing a time of four minutes to each exercise. This results in an intensive session with a length of 16 minutes. During these exercises monitor your heart rate and make sure that it stays constant at 90% of your maximum heart rate.
- Take a break of 8 minutes during which you should perform other exercises of your choice or cycle, maintaining the heart rate at 70% of the max.
Repeat the intensive bike workout training sessions alternating them with active breaks. The length of the workout depends on your physical shape, but at the beginning, you shouldn’t exceed one hour. For the best advice, it is recommended to ask a physician or coach for a professional opinion.