December 01, 2022 8 min read
Indoor cycling enhances your training with data, precision, and personalisation. Our guide to indoor cycling pedals you through the benefits, and how a smart bike can benefit your training and performance.
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Indoor cycling has many training, performance, and fitness benefits. Cycling at home with anindoor bike trainer makes getting your miles in even easier. Indoor cycling can even be better than getting outdoors on the road, with studies suggesting that an hour spent indoor cycling could equal up to two hours of your outdoor ride. As coach Matt Rowe suggests, this is because of the various factors which may impact your real-road experience, rather than the consistent power applied when on an indoor trainer.
The benefits of indoor cycling include:
Though we know there’s a refreshing feeling to getting out in the cold, pedalling through the day, indoor cycling enhances your training with its many benefits.
To see the benefits of indoor cycling, you need to ensure you have the right smart bike to guide you through. TheWattbike Atom features unparalleled accuracy, data insights, and features to help improve your cycling performance.
Indoor cycling can improve your performance, and you’ll need the best equipment you can in order to meet your targets. While you may not need so much preparation as outdoor cycling, here’s what you’ll need to get started:
Wattbike workouts on your indoor cycling bike mean you can create structured, tailored plans for each session. Rather than relying on the perfect route to help you tackle every aspect of your performance. Indoor cycling allows you to target key areas of yourtraining plan and make the most of every session.
With theWattbike Hub, you can find cycling workouts designed to help you train the various aspects of cycling performance, from aerobic efficiency to cardiovascular fitness:
Endurance indoor cycling workouts will help you push yourself harder, for longer. Prepare for longer events, train for sports matches, and help your body become more aerobically efficient.Improving your cycling endurance means your body can supply your body with what it needs more effectively over a sustained effort.
Recommended workout: Aerobic Efficiency
For a shorter session,high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts feature repeated short-burst efforts, to help improve your power over a shorter period of time and distance. This type of training also has a positive effect on endurance performance. Great for those on a busy schedule, who want to maximise their indoor cycling with limited time.
Recommended workout: Power Up
Improve your endurance and aerobic efficiency by improving VO2 Max. These workouts include theVO2 Ladder designed by All Blacks coach Nic Gil, which involves 5 levels, where each level gets shorter but more intense.
Recommended workout: VO2 Max Decliners
Sprinting workouts ensure you’re prepared for the final leg of an event or race, ready to work hard to the finish line. Our workouts for improving this area of indoor cycling help youstart sprint training. You’ll know when to pick up the intensity when it counts - burn calories, improve cardio efficiency, and optimise your leg speed.
Recommended workout: Sprint Stage
Improving your cycling climbing is made easier than ever thanks to indoor cycling with our Wattbike Hub workouts. Access iconic climbs from around the world from the comfort of your home. Tackle Scottish Borders, the Buttertubs of Yorkshire, or the hills of Snowdonia. Combat the Chappies in Cape Town, or the Pyrénées, France. No matter where you want to visit, indoor cycling will get you there.
Recommended workout: Cyclist Climb Workout
Indoor cycling, despite its many benefits, can feel a little lonely sometimes. Unlike whipping along paths between trees with your riding buddies, or soaring with the peloton in a race, you’re on your own, focused on your training. Companion apps can help you connect your training to something virtual.
The Wattbike Atom works seamlessly with a number of cycling training apps that can push you closer to your targets and keep you in line with your goals. Celebrate your achievements and tailor your indoor training with compatible cycling apps, such as:
Whether you’re looking for an app with realistic courses, or sharing your performance with a friend. The best apps for indoor cycling are ones that help motivate and push you on to your next session.
When it comes to indoor cycling, a smart bike is the essential kit to get your heart racing and your performance tested. While other indoor setups, such asturbo trainers, may offer the opportunity to cycle indoors, you’re likely to face inconveniences that may hinder your motivation to ride.
When comparing different types of indoor bikes, there are clear benefits to indoor cycling on a smart bike:
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