HIIT training is a modern and really effective way to burn calories on the
bike and also improve your top-end fitness. In this video we're going to
show you how to do a HIIT session on the bike and coach Ken from BPC has
designed the session. So Ken what are the benefits of HIIT training?
HIIT training is great for burning calories in a really effective manner so you're not
going to be spending all day on the bike, you're not going to be out for 4-5 hours
We're trying to get the same amount of work done in as short a time as possible
So because we're trying to get you working as close to your maximum power
output as possible for as long as possible throughout the session you also
maintain muscle mass and recruit all those big muscle groups as well
One of the other benefits of HIIT training is that it's been
scientifically proven to burn more calories and be more effective at
burning fat than just going out for long steady hours out on the road
So it's quality over quantity for this session? Exactly, lots of hard work. So this HIIT
session I've designed to you is going to have three ten-minute blocks of
sprinting. The first one is going to be 10 seconds as hard as you can go,
followed by 50 seconds recovery and make sure that you're still pedaling
throughout the recovery period. Don't just stop completely. The second one is
going to be a 20 second sprint followed by 40 seconds recovery and the third one
is a 30 second sprint followed by 30 seconds recovery. So we're sprinting once
a minute for 10 minutes. We're going to have two 5 minute rest periods in
between each of the three blocks and of course we're going to be warming up
thoroughly beforehand and cooling down afterwards as well
What sort of intensity is required for each of the blocks? So you're gonna start each of the
sprints as hard as you can go. So get out of the saddle 5 to 10 seconds as
hard as you can possibly go. With the longest sprints you'll probably want to
get back in the saddle in order to maintain that high power output, that
high cadence, and keep going whilst your legs are burning, almost everything's
hurting and get all the way to that 30 seconds
So how to do this HIIT session? Well, one of the great things about smart trainers such as the Tacx Neo
and Tacx Flux is the ability to pre program the training session into the
Tacx app or other third party apps such as Zwift and TrainerRoad. And what this
enables you to do is perform the session and the trainer will automatically
adjust the resistance depending on the interval that you're on in the session
So this is really great because you don't have to concentrate as much and
you can just focus on turning the pedals. Exactly, you can close your eyes and pedal
It's a really great thing about a smart trainer and a controllable trainer,
you don't really have to think about it, you can program the session in advance
and then just get on with it. With this particular workout
high intensity interval training, because the power output is so high you're gonna
need a trainer that provides really high levels of resistance. So the Tacx Neo goes up to 2200 watts
I think we might need a more powerful one, I don't think that's enough for me
I think that might just about cover it. Unlike some other turbo trainers you can actually
get out of the saddle and put the power down and they feel stable and another
really good thing is that they're direct drive which means that you don't get
wheel slip on the back wheel when you're really putting down the high torque effort
Yeah, that can be really frustrating in this particular type of
session where you're sprinting as hard as you can go. The other thing because
it's got a really accurate power meter built inside the turbo trainer, it's
going to give you some really great feedback in terms of your peak power so
then when you repeat the session in the future you've got a number there that
you know is reliable and consistent that you're trying to beat for next time, and beat your mates as well
Yes, it gives you motivation, enables you to track your
progress as well, your improvement. Yeah, so another option for this session
instead of the pre-programmed workout mode would be to put it in manual or
slope mode so that you're more in control of the exact precise power
output so you can squeeze every last watt out of your legs
It's not gonna be many.
If you enjoyed this video and found it useful then be sure to check out the
other specific training videos in this series and subscribe to the Cycling Weekly channel.