7 Indoor Cycling Workouts You Can Do in the Gym or at Home

When it comes to cardio equipment, stationary bike workouts are sometimes overlooked. Riding a stationary bike, known as indoor cycling, is a convenient way to meet some or all of your aerobic exercise goals from the comfort of your home or a gym. Stationary bike workouts provide benefits like keeping your blood pressure or cholesterol levels in check.

Before starting any new exercises, always talk with a healthcare provider. They can advise you on appropriate and safe activities for your fitness needs and how long you should do them.

Whether a biking newbie or an avid cyclist, experience the spin benefits first-hand with one of seven expert-designed cycling workouts. Just make sure you grab a timer to clock all the intervals.

• All levels welcome
• Cardio and strength for higher levels
• Intro to hill and speed intervals
• Cycle fartlek
• 25-minute intermediate intervals
• Power intervals
• Advanced conditioning

This 53-minute, beginner-friendly stationary bike workout is primarily aerobic. It incorporates short, challenging intervals to build fitness and burn calories, Kate Ligler, NASM-CPT, CES, PES, a MINDBODY wellness specialist and designer of the workout, told Health.

How to do the workout:

• Start with an easy 10-minute warm-up.
• Move into three to five rounds of six-minute work sets that get progressively more intense.
• Gauge the intensity of your work and rest periods based on your RPE.
• Finish with a three-minute cooldown.

You’ll use a scale of 1 (very easy) to 10 (maximum effort) for RPEs and work at a pace that works for your fitness level. That’s why you won’t see RPMs listed here—listen to your body and get a feel for the bike.

Keep these modifications in mind:

• Beginners: Stick with three rounds of the main work block to get a 45-minute workout.
• Advanced exercisers: Do all five to bring it up to an hour.

This 34-minute routine builds three key elements all indoor and outdoor cyclists need to perform their best: cardiovascular fitness, leg strength, and an efficient pedal stroke, said Emily Booth, national education manager of indoor cycling for Life Time.

How to do the workout:

• Start with a 10-minute warm-up.
• Move on to the main event, focusing on nailing each skill during three-minute work sets.
• Repeat the main workout for two to four rounds.
• Finish with a three- to five-minute cool down.

Thanks to the length of the working sets, this regime is ideal for intermediate and advanced cyclists, said Booth.

This 44-minute workout is perfect for beginner-to-intermediate riders, said Lauren Kanski, NASM-CPT, a New York City-based trainer. You’ll take your heart rate through different zones as you work on three intervals of various work-to-rest ratios.

How to do the workout:

• Start with a 5-minute warm-up.
• Cycle through a 15-minute interval with a 10-minute, 30-second on-and-off segment and a five-minute recovery period.
• On the next 15-minute interval, alternate between three-minute climbs and two-minute recovery periods.
• Do a final eight-minute, 30-second on-and-off segment with high resistance and speed.
• Finish with a five-minute cooldown.

The result: boosted fitness and tons of torched calories—all while going easy on the joints. Instead of focusing on exact speed or RPM, aim to hit your all-out effort on the work intervals.

Fartlek training is a fun way to mix HIIT with steady-state cardio, said Kristian Flores, CSCS, a strength and conditioning coach in New York City. While many people associate Fartlek training with running, you can apply the “speed play” principle to nearly any activity you choose—including this 30-minute stationary bike workout.

How to do the workout:

• Start with a five-minute warm-up.
• Cycle for 15 to 20 minutes at your level of effort.
• Finish with a five-minute cooldown.

Part of the appeal of Fartlek workouts is that they’re often unstructured—you go as hard as you can for as long as you can and recover until you’re ready to go hard again. How you do the main portion of the workout is up to you.

This also makes Fartlek workouts great for all fitness levels, as your effort and work-rest intervals are based on your current ability. No matter your experience level, Fartlek training can help you build endurance and power, said Flores.

This 25-minute routine is structured according to effort level. While you don’t need to be a cycling pro to do this workout, it’s best to have some experience on a bike—especially doing intervals. That way, you’ll understand what different effort levels feel like for you, according to Jess Cifelli, master instructor at CYCLEBAR.

How to do the workout:

• Start with a five-minute warm-up.
• Complete the first interval, around 10 minutes, switching from cycling seated to cycling while standing throughout.
• Do two 15-second bursts of seated cycling. Repeat this interval for five sets, followed by two minutes each of low-effort and high-effort riding.
• Move to the next interval of alternate maximum- and low-effort riding while standing. Repeat for five sets, followed by one minute of medium-effort riding.
• Do 30-second alternate maximum- and low-effort riding while seated. Repeat for five three sets.
• Finish with a five-minute cooldown.

Here’s how to gauge your effort levels as you take this workout for a spin:

• Low: This effort requires light resistance; you should be able to converse with the person next to you.
• Medium: Crank up the resistance a bit; you should still be able to carry on a conversation, but it shouldn’t feel effortless.
• High: You shouldn’t be able to continue a conversation any longer, but you can handle the work; standing up in the saddle is usually ideal.
• Maximum: You can’t speak at this intensity and also can’t imagine working longer than 30 seconds.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts like this pack a punch in a relatively short time, says Lauren ‘Lolo’ Wilson, senior master instructor at CYCLEBAR, who created the workout. This 48-minute routine can improve aerobic capacity, build muscle tissue, and help you burn fat.

How to do the workout:

• Start with a 10-minute warm-up, riding from 80 to 100 RPMs.
• Complete four sets of 30-second sessions. For the first 30 seconds, you should ride for 105 to 120 RPMs; the second 30 seconds is recovery time.
• Complete 20 sets of 30-second sessions. The first 30-second ride should be 90 to 100 RPMs, while the second 30-second ride is for recovery.
• Finish with a 10-minute cool down at an easy pace.

HIIT sessions like this work best for someone who’s been exercising consistently three to five days per week for at least six weeks, said Wilson.

Keep these modifications in mind:

• If you’re new to HIIT, or you’re not sure you’re ready for the entire workout, start with 10 power intervals and add two intervals to each workout until you reach 20 total intervals.
• Wilson recommended dialing back your intensity during the first few intervals to avoid running out of gas during later rounds.

This 60-minute routine is for experienced cyclists confident in working at near-maximum intensity. After a gentle warm-up with a series of mobility drills designed by Meghan Hayden, NCSF-CPT, a founding trainer at Performix House in New York City, you’ll jump right in with short, intense bursts.

How to do the workout:

• Start with a five-minute warm-up.
• Dismount the bike and do a circuit training session that includes exercises from downward dog poses to quadruped circles.
• Return to the bike and repeat 20-second work periods and 40-second rest intervals for seven sets before you hit your three-minute recovery. Each modest rest period will help you recover between sprints and build your anaerobic fitness.
• After you recover, move into a 20-minute moderate-intensity ride to help you work your endurance.
• Finish with a five-minute cooldown.

Treat that recovery time as meditation and focus on your breathing—you have a lot to gain with this workout.

Indoor cycling is a great cardio option. Research has shown that it helps individuals improve their aerobic capacity, which refers to how much oxygen intake a person has during high-intensity activity. Indoor cycling has also been shown to:

Many people can benefit from using a stationary bike. For example, a meta-analysis found that stationary cycling can help relieve pain and improve function for people with knee osteoarthritis. Another research study determined that using a stationary bike can decrease fatigue levels among healthy adults.

Consulting a healthcare provider is especially important for individuals with health conditions, pregnant people, and older adults. They may need to limit their time on a stationary bike or use it with modifications.

Who Should Limit or Avoid This Exercise

However, people who should avoid strenuous exercise like indoor cycling include individuals with the following conditions:

• Low back pain due to conditions such as cancer, fractures, or infections
• Severe arthritis
• Severe neurologic or cognitive disorders
• Uncontrolled arrhythmias, diabetes, heart failure, or hypertension
• Unstable heart disease

Doing a stationary bike workout is a good way to get your heart pumping. The exercise also offers potential health benefits like reducing blood pressure and increasing HDL cholesterol levels, but indoor cycling isn’t for everyone. If you can do this type of workout, there are many different challenging options available for all fitness levels.