25-Minute HIIT Indoor Cycling Training

It is short but sweet to have 25-minute Indoor cycling training. Even it will be a little bit painful, it would be some fantastic miles in the bank. All about working on your ability to ride the short climbs, which would be in the Tour de France over in Tuscany or even in the Ardennes, or whatever you may be. These will help you get more efficient and far more effective on the road. Note that you should make sure you are drinking throughout your 25-minute session. You need all the fluids you can, keeping yourself hydrated.

Warming up

Firstly, a nice three-minute warm up. Nice and steady for about 90 rpm, building you up and getting the blood flowing. Thus, you can get yourself nice and warm. It is the opportunity to take a few sips from your beat on.

After the three-minute initial warm-up, you will move into the advanced warm-up phase, just get yourself ready from a cardiovascular perspective for the efforts that lie in wait. There are five intervals on the climbs mentioned below, so in order to get ourselves ready for those, and you will do two 15-minute high cadence efforts at around a perceived effort level of eight.

So after the above, you start the first one of those in just over a minute. Throughout this initial three minutes, gradually pick up the pace but don’t press on too hard just yet. Again, use about an effort lever of four. So prepare yourself for this first little high-intensity flourish. You don’t want to go too deep, eight out of 10, just above our functional threshold power. The amount of power of power you can sustain for an hour but keep the cadence really high. Now nothing too stressful just yet, just to warm us up nicely. In the last 15 seconds of the 3-minute warm up, the amount of exercise you get in perceived effort level of around eight, 120 RPM, just spin your legs. Try not to rock too much on the bike. It should be uncomfortable but not too much.

After the 15 seconds, relax a little bit by dropping it down to perceived effort level of five. It will be five climbs.



Five climbs

The first one is one and a half minutes, all you need is to ride that as hard as you can. So it will be above your FTP, about 110%, 115% of your FTP. Two minutes off and two minutes on, but actually you can ride in two and a half minutes. And two minutes off and back down to two minutes with two-minute rest. And the final climb, one and a half minutes as hard as you can. And then, the finish line will be in sight. Then in five seconds, another high cadence interval is with 120RPM. Then in this one and a half minutes, it should be pretty painful, just think about yourself out on the road, and picture a climb that you know. Basically, ride it as hard as you can. So in terms of effort level, it should be 10 which means the maximum power you can sustain for a minute and a half. You want to gear up a little bit. Try to replicate the sort of cadence that you use on a climb. People are different but quite often, and cadence is reduced slightly as best as can. Then, replicate the effort, you put out on a climb. Keeping on going, nice and smooth, no waste energy. Ten seconds, all the way to the crest of the first hill with 90 RPM. Work it back down after that, spin your legs with effort lever of three. So basically, turn the pedals with the weight of your legs. You got a two-minute rest.
Then, now the Climb number two, with 90 RPM for two minutes, picking up the pace till it really bites. And the next one is two minutes, so 30 seconds up from the previous effort. Taking the opportunity, you can really rest up between these efforts. And again, as you are pedaling on with your various trainers. Two-minute hard session on the climb with 70RPM, ease off, and then go again. If they are above your FTP, it will actually help improve your FTP overall as well. The two-minute effort is slightly different to the one before. You might not be able to put the same power out for that amount of time. So let’s kind of flat out, and there is a degree of pacing in there, too. If you can, slightly lower cadence around 80 is good. Try and replicate the position on a bike. I know it is hard indoor but maybe ride on the tops or on the hoods rather than the drops. Just focus on your body form, putting in the power through the bike as efficiently as possible. Knock it down with 70 RPM for 2-minutes rest, straight away but keep pedaling. You can mop the brow to relax your body.
The next one is a progressive session, a longest climb-climb three, two and a half minutes. Before you hit the climb, stay focused. The first one minute and a half, you can sustain probably 100, 120% of your FTP. In this time, don’t sprint into it, build into till you feel it bite and you know that’s where you are going to try to sustain. After this, you’ll be well over halfway. After two-minute rest, relax on the back a little bit. You are recruiting different muscles without a saddle, thus giving you glutes a little bit of a rest, also your calves as well, and depending of course on the way you climb. People climb remarkably differently but also you are thinking about saving energy in different ways. You are gently lifting yourself out the saddle, easing your back and your backside and your legs.
Here comes the number four, two minutes long. You should be able to ride it, just a little bit harder than the previous one. If you can’t, think about your pacing strategy. Don’t sprint off from the start, building it up until it bites and holds it. Every pedal rev is getting nearer the top, chipping away at the cold face of pain. And your upper body rocking is wasted energy so try to lock yourself in. you don’t need to pick up the pace too hard. It’s the penultimate climb to really make it count. You are riding about 110% of your functional threshold power. If you are riding to power, remember that the power you can sustain for an hour. Then, after two-minute rest, take one minute 45 of spinning those legs and take a sip. Making sure you keep the environment as cool as possible
Next, the last one is a minute and a half, get your gear dialed in, forgetting about the pain, and pushing through. Don’t sprint off. Cheer up and rush to the final one. Build the pace up, go through the gears, feel the bit and hold, with 120% of your FTP roughly or just about holding that. You come around the final hairpin on the 1,000 razor climb in the Dolomites. You can win if you believe and insist. After that, just let the weight of your legs turn the pedals to cool down.


Riding indoors is a great opportunity without any hazards to practice efficient pedaling styles. Just think of how this will benefit you on the climbs near where you live, anywhere you live. A little difficult to do that, so pace you ride. These sorts of the session are wonderful for learning about yourself and the power you can sustain for set periods of time. So knowing when you get fitter, you understand yourself far more than what you can put yourself through.

If you have a poor time, you might take five or 10 minutes for a kind of warm-up before you start the session. There’s no harm in warming up a bit more, and warming down for a little longer if you feel the need but be strict to manage your time, taking a couple sessions a week indoors. Compliment it with a good couple rides a week on the road, and you’re really going to start going places. It may be a shortcut in relation to time. But if turns the pain, it’s no shortcut at all.

If you wish to develop get stronger on the climbs.