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On most rides, you should keep the pace easy and relaxed—emphasis on most. But when you’re not enjoying zone 2 miles, you should challenge your body on the roads and trails with more intense efforts—workouts that push your effort level to test both your power and endurance.
That’s where high-intensity interval training (HIIT) comes into play, turning the days you’re not riding easy into beneficial, fitness-boosting sessions in the saddle. HIIT workouts that pair challenging segments with recovery periods should make up an important chunk of your training program, helping you unlock performance gains like improved speed, better power, and increased endurance on all your rides. And that’s not to mention the vast health benefits that can come with consistent interval training, from enhancing your cardiovascular system to improving your mental health.
Our latest Guide to Interval Training provides you with all the tools you need to adopt HIIT as part of your cycling regimen, including four follow-along workouts that you can easily fold into your training plan. But how often should you implement the interval workouts into your training—and how long should those HIIT sessions last—to successfully work toward your cycling goals?
How Long Should Your HIIT Sessions Last?
At its core, HIIT training is relatively simple: Alternating segments of intense efforts and recovery periods, with the high-intensity intervals pushing into the upper echelon of your heart rate zones. But HIIT workouts are also adaptable, meaning the interval and recovery time can vary in length, depending on the session and your current level of fitness.
“HIIT workouts are flexible. Some interval sessions are short and punchy, lasting less than 20 minutes,” explains host Chaz Turmon in Bicycling’s Guide to Interval Training. “Others may include longer intervals and more recovery, adding up to closer to an hour.”
Because of HIIT’s versatility, you don’t have to carve out hours of your day to reap the rewards of consistent interval training. Even if you have just 30 minutes available in your busy day, you can fit in a full interval workout outdoors or on your indoor trainer that leads to real results, like increased VO2 max. That makes interval workouts such efficient, bang-for-your-buck training tools for elevating your cycling game—without crowding your schedule.
Each interval length also comes with a specific purpose. For instance, 20-second intervals at a pace equal to a 9 out of 10 on the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale aim to develop meaningful cycling power, while a progressive workout with longer intervals at tempo, threshold, and VO2 max pace looks to increase your speed and efficiency over sustained efforts.
Depending on your experience level, you want to tailor your interval training to best meet your fitness level and leave room for improvement. Cyclists new to HIIT may benefit more from focusing on shorter, 20- to 30-second intervals before gradually increasing segment lengths, or even shortening recovery blocks, as their fitness and stamina improve.
🚴🏻♀️ To create your HIIT routine, follow along with our workouts featured in our Guide to Interval Training. All of our sessions take just 30 minutes or less, but you can adapt them to meet your training goals by tweaking the duration or intensity.
Guide to Interval Training Workouts
Quick and Dirty 30s
Ramp Jump
1-to-1 Ratio Intervals
Tabata Power Intervals
How Often Should You Complete HIIT Workouts?
Cycling too hard and too often can set you up for overtraining, burnout, and other negative training effects.
Finding the HIIT training split that works best for you depends on your specific cycling goals, whether you’re aiming for a performance-based ambition or simply want to improve your health. But, generally speaking, one to three HIIT sessions per week will help you see fitness benefits—without entering into the overtraining territory.
“Like most things in life, you shouldn’t overdo [HIIT training],” Turmon says in our Guide to Interval Training. “Even one or two interval sessions per week can make a difference when combined with easier endurance rides.”
HIIT workouts should act as just one component of a balanced training plan. In between your interval days, prioritize easy, zone 2 rides to recover and boost your aerobic endurance. You should also utilize regular rest days to aid your recovery, and turn to cross-training exercises like swimming, yoga, and mobility work for lower-intensity exercise. HIIT can lead to some pretty powerful speed and endurance boosts—but that doesn’t come without all of the other small-yet-mighty aspects of a complete cycling routine.
The bottom line: You can see riding improvements without spending hours on the bike completing intervals. Before you cue up our workouts and start spinning, know that adding a simplistic HIIT approach into your routine can help you unlock greater fitness on the bike, and even just a handful of interval sessions a week go a long way.
Ashley is Editor of Content Hype at Hearst’s Enthusiast & Wellness Group. She is a former collegiate runner at UNC Asheville where she studied mass communication. Ashley loves all things running; she has raced two marathons, plus has covered some of the sport’s top events in her career, including the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials and multiple World Marathon Majors.