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High intensity interval training can improve everyone’s cycling fitness—regardless of ability level. I used to run group fitness classes built around the high intensity interval training structure and the concept is similar on the bike. I’ve worked with athletes that are light on time and we would utilize high intensity interval training to build fitness fast.
Even if you have plenty of time to train high intensity interval training should be incorporated into training plans to build fitness that will make you faster on the bike. One of the biggest questions I have always gotten is where to start with interval training—and how often should it be done.
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We break down what this form of training looks like, the key benefits, and how to make the most of each hard effort—plus a workout to get your high intensity interval training journey started. It’s time to get faster on the bike before the season is over.
What exactly is a high-intensity training cycling workout?
High-intensity interval training a.k.a. HIIT sounds very scientific, but it’s really very simple. It’s comprised of short, hard bouts of cardio exercise—anywhere from 10 seconds to five minutes in length—broken up by brief recovery periods.
How hard is hard? That depends on the interval length, but the key is to go as hard as you can for the duration of the effort. So if you’re doing Tabatas (20 seconds of effort, followed by 10 seconds of recovery), you’re pushing full throttle for 20 seconds. If you’re doing longer, three-to-five-minute intervals, you’re working in your VO2 max zone, or about 95 percent of your max heart rate (or a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 for rate of perceived exertion) for the duration of the interval.
How much recovery you take between intervals depends on your goals. Short intervals are usually paired with equally short or even shorter recovery periods so your body can adapt to repeated maximal efforts. And because your heart rate stays elevated during the recovery periods, your aerobic energy system (in addition to anaerobic) gets a training benefit, as well.
In other cases, such as super high-intensity sprints, you want each effort to be done at max, so you need to let your body fully recover for four or five minutes between bouts.
What are the benefits of high-intensity training cycling workouts?
New studies on the benefits of HIIT make the news on a regular basis. For example, a meta-analysis of 10 studies, published in 2022 in Experimental Gerontology, found that HIIT can reduce blood pressure in older adults. Another meta-analysis published in 2022 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, including 14 studies, found that HIIT can support those living with diabetes by helping with blood sugar control, blood pressure, and potentially inflammation.
As for HIIT’s effects on performance, a study in the November 2018 issue of American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology found that just two minutes of sprint interval training (in this case, four 30-second max-effort sprints followed by four and a half minutes of recovery for a total of 20 minutes) improved mitochondrial function, just as well as moderate exercise. Mitochondria helps convert fuel to energy quickly, and it’s function is a benchmark for good health and exercise performance. In other words, busting out two minutes of really hard work can give you the same fitness benefits as slogging through 30 minutes at a steady, moderate pace.
What’s more: A systematic review published in 2023 in Sports Medicine which examined 230 female athletes, found that HIIT positively influenced VO2 max, repeated sprint ability, speed, and explosive strength.
It’s no surprise HIIT training is also outstanding for your cardiovascular system. Research shows, depending on how fit you are when you begin, HIIT can boost your VO2 max (how much oxygen you can use) up to 46 percent in 24 weeks, increase your stroke volume (how much blood your heart pumps out per beat) by 10 percent after eight weeks of training, and significantly lower your resting heart rate. It’s also safe for cardiovascular disease patients and can be more effective at improving cardiorespiratory fitness in this population, compared to moderate-intensity continuous training, according to another 2022 meta-analysis.
HIIT workouts do more than benefit your body. They’re also good for your mind. Research shows that high-intensity workouts improve cognitive function and increase levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) more than easier exercise. BDNF is essential for learning, memory, and mood regulation, and your brain uses it to repair and maintain brain cells. Another study, also from 2022, involving 82 participants with depressive disorders, found that HIIT can improve sleep quality, depression symptoms, and cardiorespiratory fitness.
The best part is that HIIT provides all of these benefits as well as—and in some cases better than—traditional longer bouts of moderate cardio exercise in far less time. And research continues to back that up, even saying it might be more enjoyable than moderate-intensity, continuous activity.
How does HIIT benefit cyclists, specifically?
Most of us already ride a lot because as endurance athletes, that’s our thing. But even if you’re already fit, you can still reap measurable benefits from adding HIIT to your training regimen, says exercise physiology professor and coach Paul Laursen, Ph.D., endurance coach, author of The Science and Application of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and cofounder of HIIT Science.
For cyclists who like to go long, HIIT can be part of a smart base-building strategy. “Your base comes down to your mitochondrial capacity,” Laursen says. “Longer, lower-intensity exercise increases the number of mitochondria in your cells, which is why people perform long, steady endurance exercise to build a base. But high-intensity training makes those mitochondria more powerful,” he says, noting that research also shows that high-intensity exercise performed regularly can stimulate the production of mitochondria, as well.
“Our research found that when well-trained cyclists performed two interval sessions a week for three to six weeks, their VO2 max, peak aerobic power output, and endurance performance improved by 2 to 4 percent,” Laursen says.
How do you perform HIIT workouts properly?
Laursen says you’ve got three main weapons to choose from in the HIIT arsenal: Long intervals, like the VO2 intervals that range from one to four minutes; short intervals done at about 120 percent VO2 max that can last from 10 to 60 seconds with equal recovery periods; and sprint intervals, which are done “all out” and can be either very short (three to six seconds) or longer (20 to 30 seconds).
You can take the shotgun approach and rotate through all three. Or choose the format that best works your weak spot. “If you fade out during longer efforts, do longer HIIT training intervals. If you’re lacking in the short 10- to 30-percent power range, then do sprints,” Laursen says.
For general endurance benefits, interval durations ranging between 30 seconds to five minutes at a very hard intensity build your aerobic system while also recruiting some fast-twitch sprint fibers, which makes your power-producing fibers more fatigue resistant over time, Laursen says. “Performing three to six of these efforts, allowing one to two minutes of recovery between, can have impressive effects,” he says.
You can perform HIIT intervals in your primary sport, or you can do them when you cross-train to get a metabolic boost while giving your body a break from your usual activity, Laursen says. “This works well for runners and team sport athletes who occasionally need to reduce their impact while nursing a little injury or niggle,” he says. “They can do a HIIT session on the bike to maintain their cardiovascular load, while lessening the impact on their neuromuscular system.”
You can also adjust HIIT workouts to fit your fitness level. For example, if you’re new to them, focus on doing a lower number of reps or shorter durations and keep recovery periods longer. If you’re more advanced, you may want to aim for reduced recovery, higher intensity, or more interval rounds.
How often should you do HIIT workouts?
HIIT is like medicine: The right dose works wonders, but too much can have ill effects. If you’re not racing or doing big events on the weekends, you can do up to three HIIT workouts a week to stay fit, so long as you allow ample recovery, ideally a day or two of easier activity, between sessions to allow your body to bounce back.
Once you’re out there putting in longer miles and/or pushing it hard with weekend outings, you can dial back your HIIT workouts to just once or twice a week to stay sharp between events.
The Best High-Intensity Training Cycling WorkoutsQuick and Dirty 30s
Why it works: Thirty seconds is the ultimate HIIT duration—just long enough that you can really ramp it up full throttle, but not so long that you fizzle out before it’s over. This workout builds short-term power and improves recovery between hard efforts. It’s perfect for riders with a criterium or group rides on their schedule.
Experienced riders can follow the Dirty 30s as outlined here; beginner cyclists should extend the rest interval to 90 seconds. (Advanced riders can also shorten the rest interval to 30 seconds.)
Colin McSherry
Selene Yeager is a top-selling professional health and fitness writer who lives what she writes as a NASM certified personal trainer, USA Cycling certified coach, Pn1 certified nutrition coach, pro licensed off road racer, and All-American Ironman triathlete.
Coach David Lipscomb is the founder of CIS Training Systems, creator of THE SYSTEM 6×6 Framework, and a 1st-degree Black Belt who’s spent over three decades helping cyclists of all levels transform their performance through data, discipline, and purpose.