This page may contain affiliate links – they are marked with a *. Making a purchase via my affiliate means I receive a small share of the sale.
Since I got my first turbo trainer for indoor cycling in 2020, I’ve never looked back. I do get asked a lot though, about the benefits of cycling indoors.
I think there are a select group of people who will choose outdoor cycling no matter the weather, but personally, I enjoy getting outdoors more when the weather isn’t harsh.
What Bike To Use For Indoor Cycling
If you’re new to cycling indoors, there are quite a few options for equipment you can use for indoor training.
- Spin bike / stationary bike (e.g Peloton, Echelon)
- Indoor cycling bike (e.g Wattbike Atom, Wahoo KICKR BIKE)
- Indoor trainer (not smart, used with outdoor bikes)
- Smart trainers (e.g Zwift Hub One, Elite Direto X – used with outdoor bikes)
If you have a gym membership, you could also utilise it for indoor cycling classes if they have a cycling studio.
One thing to take into consideration though with cycling indoors, is the initial cost outlay before you’ve even really figured out if it’s gonna work for you.
You have to weigh up the pros and cons for your own individual situation / experience / needs to come to a decision.
Hiring A Turbo Trainer
I shared my whole decision making process when choosing a smart trainer, but there is also the option to hire a turbo trainer. One of the biggest reasons to hire a turbo trainer is the ultimate ‘opportunity to try before you buy’.
Obviously, I can only share my own experiences on the blog, but there are so many makes and models on the market to choose from. Getting the opportunity to test out multiple models to make sure turbo training is something you enjoy, at affordable pricing is a definite bonus of hiring.
Indoor Cycling Benefits
Less Preparation & Kit Needed
Unless you choose the spin / gym option, one of the main benefits of indoor cycling is the fact you can workout in the comfort of your own home.
This personally saves me a lot of time as I don’t need to ‘prep’ my bike, think too much about kit or travel to meet my riding friends. Less prep and less kit = less stress!
Even if you don’t have much time, you can still dial up the intensity with intervals (inc high-intensity interval training) for greater gains in your fitness.
Variety For Your Exercise Routine
There is so much variety to be had on an indoor bike. From spin classes focusing on the music, to an intense workout rising with friends online.
Using indoor trainers can be a great way for newcomers to get to grips with cycling, and to learn about building fitness for the sport. Using indoor cycling apps like Zwift, Wahoo, Strava etc are also great for recording and monitoring training and progress.
Structured Workouts
It can be almost impossible to do structured workouts when outdoor riding due to safety concerns or even having to stop for traffic lights.
Here are 3 structured indoor cycling workouts you can try at home.
When I first got into road cycling, I remember going to indoor cycling classes and wondering why the heck we were doing weights on the bike and pedalling so fast. Well, I get it now. Adding the weights gives you a bit of variety, makes it more of a full-body workout and also gives the legs a short rest so you can finish your class strong.
Add Some Strength Training
Being indoors means it’s super convenient to add some low-impact exercise in the form of resistance training to your indoor cycle. It’s a great option for continuing to work on your lower body strength, as well as upper body and core specific workouts.
It can be as simple as adding 15 minutes of strength work to your workout routine, after completing an indoor cycling session. On non leg days, it means you work a variety of muscle groups. get a whole body workout and improve body composition.
Prep your lunch beforehand and you can fit all of this into a lunch break. Not to mention the sheer convenience of being so close to your kitchen when indoor cycling!
More Strength Training On The Blog:
Health Benefits Of Indoor Cycling
You can pretty much get all the same health benefits from cycling indoors that you can get from an outdoor ride. When I think about the health benefits, this encompasses both physical and mental health.
Cycling is a great way to improve your cardiovascular fitness / cardiovascular health, both increasing your aerobic capacity and depending on what sessions you do, also working in your anaerobic zone.
You can also expect to increase your strength in lower body muscles and being a low-impact workout, it’s less stress on your joints, so less joint pain.
Being low impact means it’s a great sport to enjoy when you’re injured or trying to look after your joints, and you don’t need any experience other than being able to pedal.
Your Indoor Cycling Workout
If you’re newer to indoor cycling workouts, you can start with as little as 20 minutes per session, up to around 45 minutes.
How long you spend each week really will be determined by what time you have available and what other training you’re doing, but you can see a benefit from as little as one 30min indoor cycling each week, mixed in with your other workouts (including cycling outdoors).
Shorter harder sessions will have you working in specific ‘zones’ – for example, threshold of endurance – each with their own fitness benefits. Wearing a heart rate monitor while working out will ensure you hit the zone efforts.
Although most workouts will include an on the bike warm up, you can also reduce your risk of injury and increase mobility / reduce stiffness by doing a dymanic warm up off the bike. These 5 dynamics moves have been my go-to before every indoor or outdoor bike ride, and the majority of my non bike workouts too.
Tips For Cycling Indoors
Over the years, I’ve learnt some things the hard way so I’m gonna share my best tips here for you.
Train with friends or find a community – cycling with others will help add fun to your training and most importantly keep you motivated to continue. The social side of cycling is a key reason many get involved with the sport.
Get a fan – I promise you, no matter how cold it is, or how well ventilated your space is, indoor cycling gets sweaty… quickly.
Bike set-up is important for comfort – whether you’re using your bike indoors or are on an indoor bike, it should always be comfortable – and this includes the saddle. If you’re experiencing any discomfort in areas such as knees, lower back or shoulders then you might need to tweak your set-up.
At the start, a little bit of saddle discomfort is not unusual but this should settle once your body gets used to being in the saddle – padded shorts and chamois cream are your best friends!
Build up gradually – as with any sport, in order to avoid overtraining or injury, you should build your distance and / or time spent on the bike gradually. Following a training plan for your fitness level should help with this as it will also have some built in rest days – but always listen to your body.
If it’s not already clear, I’d defo class myself as an indoor cyclist and I think the benefits of cycling indoors far outweigh the downsides.
There are however some things that you just won’t be able to learn from cycling indoors such as building confidence on the road, group riding skills, or working on core strength (on the bike) and balance.
Also, it can be quite hard to beat the positive effect you can get from a dose of fresh air – but we can get that on a recovery walk too, eh?!
Sometimes, the tech side of things can also be a lot to get your head around, but there are plenty of different platforms to try – so switch it up until you find the one that suits you best.
And there’s usually a women specific social space (e.g on facebook) for each platform where you can ask any questions you have, to get help setting up.
Got any other tips for cycling indoors?!
Elle
p.s this post was written in collaboration with turbotrainerhire[dot]co[dot]uk