Intense interval blast: Hank's 15-minute indoor cycling workout

Get your legs spinning (and burning) with these 30-second sprints! Hank guides you through two main sets of intervals: one gentler, and the other pushing you to work at your limits. This session only takes 15 minutes, so if you want a quick blast of exercise, this is for you. Just because it's short doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, though. After a warm-up, we’ll start with four medium-intensity efforts, then finish with four leg-burning 9/10 sprints.

As always with GCN's workouts, we’ll base it off perceived effort between 1 and 10, so you don't need a power meter. Just make sure you’ve got some water, a towel and, of course, a turbo trainer or exercise bike.

Explore GCN's best indoor cycling workouts

The benefits of HIIT sprint training for weight loss

High-intensity training sessions aren't easy, so why we do put ourselves through them? Well, sessions like this one burn more calories in a shorter period of time than steady-state exercises, so if you want to squeeze calorie-burning exercise into a busy schedule, HIIT training is the way to go.

A study by the University of South Wales, Australia, found that high-intensity can be effective for those wanting to lose weight. In part, that's because high-intensity efforts use a lot of energy, but it's also because these sessions initiate afterburn. Basically, your muscles keep burning calories after you've finished the session, so the calorie-burn effect lasts hours, even if the session takes minutes.

Read more: GCN's ultimate guide to indoor cycling

Will you get any benefits from a sub-30-minute cycling workout

In an ideal world, training for over 30 minutes is best, but life gets in the way. Thankfully, shorter sessions can still be really effective for time-strapped cyclists. In fact, some research has shown that regular shorter sessions rather than more sporadic longer ones are a more effective way to train.

If it comes down to a choice between doing a quick session like this or nothing at all, then of course, even the shortest of sessions is so much better than being completely inactive.

Indoor cycling workout details

• GCN instructor: James 'Hank' Lowsley-Williams
• Indoor workout duration: 15 minutes
• Indoor training type: High-intensity sprint intervals
• Fitness difficulty: The 9/10 sprint efforts will be seriously tough, but there are only four of them
• Benefits of this indoor cycling workout: Weight loss and fitness gains for time-strapped cyclists

Read more: How to get started with indoor cycling training