Elevate your indoor cycling motivation with engaging online group classes. Experience the power of encouraging instructions, energizing music, and varying intensity levels to keep you motivated throughout the heart-pumping session. Get started with these 10 free YouTube video workouts.
Before you start your first cycling class
- Read your stationary bike setup guidelines before you start the class. Your seat should be about hip-high to allow your knees to bend at a 90-degree angle. As your leg extends in the first phase of the pedal stroke, there should still be a soft knee bend. If the seat is too high, you may hyperextend your knees. Adjust the seat backward or frontward so that the knee stays right on top of the ball of your foot. Most cyclists keep the handlebar at the saddle seat or a little higher. The position on your indoor bike should allow you to maintain a slight bend in the elbow without bending forward too much.
- To improve your indoor cycling safety and performance, you might want to invest in cycling shoes. Cycling shoes ensure smooth contact with the pedal when you apply pressure preventing your foot and ankle from moving and reducing the risk of injury. The stiffness of your shoe directly impacts power transfer to the pedals, amplifying your ability to generate force and becoming a more formidable rider. Ultra-breathable material will cool your feet down during the training and prevent skin irritation from sweating. You should consider cleat and pedal compatibility so check your bike’s specs before buying them.
- The frequency of your indoor cycling rides depends on your goals, fitness level, and type of training. It is recommended to do no more than 2-3 HIIT sessions per week, and you can also add some low-intensity steady-state cardio training on your rest days in between.
An easy 15-minute Sprint Interval Training cycling session
This is a gentle and short cycling workout from the Global Cycling Network perfect to ease into your first cycling class. Beginner riders can get an introduction to sprint interval cycling and start to gradually increase the effort level of their sessions.
Global Cycling Network is one of the largest online cycling communities with more than 3 million subscribers. GCN training is one of their Youtube channels where you can find a mixture of HIIT bicycle workouts, fat-burning training, and endurance sessions. They post a new free cycling class video every week so you can subscribe to stay tuned.
During the workout, you’re advised to adjust the intensity with 1 being the minimum and 10 being the maximum. The training has the following structure:
3 mins – Warmup – 3 min (1/10)
Main set
1 min – Easy pedaling (1/10)
2 mins – Comfortably hard pedaling (5/10)
1 min – Easy pedaling (1/10)
1 min – Comfortably hard pedaling (5/10)
2 mins – Increase effort (6/10)
30 sec – Easy pedaling (1/10)
30 sec – Sprint (9/10)
2 mins – Recovery (1/10)
1 min – Comfortably hard pedaling (5/10)
1 min – Cool down (1/10)
20-minute full-seated beginner indoor cycling workout
This is another workout for beginners that is very easy to follow. When you get started with indoor cycling, it’s best to train fully seated first and then add in standing as you progress.
This workout consists of:
4 mins – Warmup
6 Rounds of 1 min on / 1 min off
4 mins – Cool down
30-minute High-Intensity Tour de France cycling class
Immerse yourself in the breathtaking landscapes of real cycling routes while pedaling on your stationary bike. Choose from a vibrant selection of scenic videos on the Global Cycling Network’s official YouTube channel. In this video, experience the beauty of Mont Ventoux, a legendary segment of the Tour de France, with its snowy hills and captivating vistas as you navigate the mountain road.
This exhilarating 30-minute workout is designed for individuals with a high fitness level. If you want to exactly replicate the Tour de France route, you will need to set the following conditions:
Distance: 21.4 km
Gradient: 1639 m
Height top: 1912 m
Height start: 283 m
Average incline 7.6 %
If this is too challenging for you, you can adjust the incline to an easier level.
20-minute stationary bike ride with a pop soundtrack from the '90s
The right up-tempo soundtrack is crucial for staying motivated and maintaining intensity throughout your workout. Gabriella Guevara curates invigorating music selections from various genres for her stationary bike workouts, including hip-hop, reggaeton, and Latin mixes. However, her most popular workout, with over 1.5 million views, is the ’90s pop ride. These iconic hits are guaranteed to get you moving faster.
20-minute fat-burning workout from Global Cycling Network
This HIIT indoor cycling class is the most popular Global Cycling Network workout for a reason. It brings amazing weight loss results that are confirmed by multiple comments below the video. It consists of 6 intervals with high-intensity exercise time varying from 15-45 seconds. While you will likely end up drenched in sweat, the lost pounds are definitely worth it.
Tabata Indoor Cycling Class
Tabata is a popular variation of HIIT workouts with fixed timing. Exercise time is broken into a 20-second high-intensity effort and a 10-second rest. A Tabata consists of 8 rounds and takes 4 minutes to complete. After that, you get 1 minute of rest and can continue to the next Tabata.
This training is very beneficial and can help increase cardio endurance and strength, improve both aerobic and anaerobic capacity, boost metabolism, and burn calories, all in a short amount of time.
20-minute weight-loss riding session for women
Women tend to burn fat slower than men. Athlean-XX for Women offers cycling classes tailored specifically for females that take this gender difference into account.
This 20-minute weight-loss workout is another variation of HIIT with 15-second intervals that gradually increase resistance levels.
This training is very beneficial and can help increase cardio endurance and strength, improve both aerobic and anaerobic capacity, boost metabolism, and burn calories, all in a short amount of time.
27-minute full-body cardio strength indoor bike workout with weights
If you feel confident about your fitness level, you can combine cardio with strength training during this 27-minute full-body cardio strength workout. You will need a pair of light dumbbells on top of your indoor bike. Cycling puts most of the pressure on your lower body, so this is a great combination to balance the upper-body muscles at the same time. You will complete 3 sets of 6 standing climbing intervals alternated with 3 upper-body circuits.
35-minute hill training
Hill training can be extremely rewarding for your endurance and muscle building. Designed to replicate a good session of big hill climbing, this 35-minute workout is a demanding exercise for your legs and core. It consists of 5 rounds with 3-5 interval hill climbing in each.
30-minute zone ride
Studio Sweat onDemand provides some of their online classes for free on YouTube. This is a free 20-minute part of their full 42-minute Zone ride class available on their website.
This cycling class focuses on heart rate zones and is great for improving your cardio fitness and endurance. You will go through 7×6-minute rounds increasing revolutions per minute (RPM). You will keep your heart rate at 60-75% of your maximum capacity as you start pedaling and go up to 90% at the peak point of the workout.
Post-cycling stretching
This video is a bonus for your post-exercise routine. It’s important to do proper post-exercise stretching to prevent injuries and increase flexibility. This workout focuses on your entire body from the neck muscles to shoulders and arms to core muscles to hips, hamstrings, and calves. It’s a great addition to your cooldown allowing your heart to slowly get back to its natural rhythm.
Discover a variety of indoor cycling classes on YouTube tailored to diverse fitness goals, personal preferences, and training levels. These curated options are perfect for kickstarting your regular pedaling workouts, while advanced riders can subscribe to these channels for more exhilarating and intense training sessions. compared to regular cardio.
REHIT—the most efficient alternative to a group cycling class
You don’t have to spend 30 minutes to get visible results from your workout. Reduced Exertion HIIT (REHIT) is a scientifically optimized HIIT workout offering the shortest, most effective way to exercise. It is based on research that has shown that 2×20-second all-out sprints are enough to deplete up to 30% of the body’s glycogen stores and trigger metabolic changes that increase calorie afterburn and significantly improve aerobic fitness.
REHIT packs the cardiorespiratory and fat-burning benefits of interval training into just a 5-minute training session. This training has a very simple yet powerful structure:
- 2 mins warm-up
- 20-second sprint
- 1-3 mins recovery
- 20-second sprint
- 3 mins cool down
The 2×20-second sprints are performed at maximum intensity pushing your body beyond purely oxidative metabolism and thus activating a more intense calorie burn process. The majority of calories are burned after the training during the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.Moreover, according to research, in just 8 weeks you can achieve a 12% increase in cardiorespiratory fitness and reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by 62%. Training for just 15 minutes per week gives you superior health and fitness benefits of regular exercise—in 90% less time.
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