Quick but brutal 15-minute HIIT indoor cycling workout
A short, tough sprint session that is easy to squeeze in for time-strapped cyclists
James Howell-Jones
Junior Writer
Join GCN's Manon Lloyd for this short, high-intensity workout for burning calories fast. It only takes a quarter of an hour, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. After a warm-up, we’ll alternate between flat-out 10/10 efforts and short recovery periods.
As always with GCN's workouts, there's no need for a power meter as we’ll base it off perceived effort between 1 and 10. 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
Tough, high-intensity training sessions like this one will burn more calories in a shorter period of time than steady-state exercises, so if you want to squeeze calorie-burning exercise into your 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, while noting that this form of exercise is "appealing to most individuals interested in fat reduction" due to time-efficiency.
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, you'd have plenty of time to jump on your bike whenever you wanted. Unfortunately this often isn't possible as life gets in the way, leaving only short snippets of time for exercise.
While it's better to train for over 30 minutes, 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.
The key is to pack in plenty of value into the short timeframe, and a high-intensity sprint session like this is perfect for the job.
Indoor cycling workout details
- GCN instructor: Manon Lloyd
- Indoor workout duration: 15 minutes
- Indoor training type: High-intensity sprint intervals
- Fitness difficulty: The all-out sprint efforts will be seriously tough, but the short time makes it more manageable
- Benefits of this indoor cycling workout: Weight loss and best fitness gains for time-strapped cyclists
Warm up for five minutes
Before we get into the flat-out efforts, we need to warm up. Start with a gentle spin, then build up the intensity until you’re riding at 6/10. Then, bring it back down to a nice and easy 4/10 and prepare for the tough bit of the session to start.
The main session: Flat out sprinting with short recovery
Onto the main session, which alternates between 10/10, flat-out sprint efforts and short recovery periods. Keep spinning your legs in the recovery periods – it might seem like more work, but it’ll help you recover from the sprint efforts.
Cool down for at least a minute and a half
Finally, spin out your legs with a cool down. This is a quick workout so we’d suggest at least a minute and a half to let your legs recover. If you have a little more time, feel free to keep spinning gently for a few minutes longer.
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