8 Tips to Optimize your Cycling Workout
You can never get enough of cycling tips because there is still so much to learn. This is especially true when you are just starting with your indoor cycling routine. Or maybe you’re at a point where you are already mixing both indoor and outdoor rides and want to improve your performance. Here are invaluable insights to get you started and get you going.
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- Feel Out the Motion
What would be a better starting point than familiarizing yourself with the motion of cycling? Denis Faye is a member of the club, Big Orange Cycling, as well as a former Beachbody Executive Director of Nutrition. Faye recognizes that it can indeed be tempting to just immerse yourself into the hullabaloo of speed, distance, and elevation.
However, focusing on the motion of cycling allows you to observe how your body responds to cycling or what typically happens when you push it further. This does not mean though that you’ll just go ahead and cruise around without much effort. Faye races amateur level on mountain bikes, cyclocross, and road. He proposes that the first rule in being better at cycling involves riding your bike more often. Like any other endeavor, you get better at it when you do more of it.
- Cross-training for the Win
Certainly, punching in cycling time is crucial to your workout and more specifically, on your performance. However, it is also important that you get into a variety of workouts to ensure that you don’t use the same muscles over again resulting in overuse. Faye agrees that cycling alone will work the same muscles repeatedly so it is best to do other forms of exercise.
Fortunately for you, Beachbody has lots of options available for fitness programs that target flexibility, mobility, and full-body strength. More than anything, cross-training complements injury prevention so while building on cycling performance, don’t forget to get off your bike and do other exercises.
- Make Sure It Fits
Not all bikes are the same and Schwinn-certified trainer, Bianca Beldini, D.P.T. shares how bikes have to be custom-fit. You can’t ride safe and smooth if they are too small or too big for you. As such, you have to assess your fit with your bike in the same way you would do with your shoes. Bike frames tend to differ greatly between manufacturers and you need to find the right fit. This holds true for both indoor and outdoor cycling.
For outdoor riders, Beldini recommends that you get advice and professional fitting at a cycling store. As for indoor riders, research as much as you can to explore your options and choose the one with impressive reviews. You can check out Beachbody’s Bike by MYX as well.
- Conquer your Fear of the Hills
The uphill climb can seem scary at first, but hills provide the most challenge and excitement for any cyclist. Beldini admits how climbing hills can be hardest as a challenge – what with the muscular intensity required together with a solid cardiopulmonary system. Needless to say, a strong mental fortitude is crucial to sustain you and push you upward. This applies for both indoor and outdoor cycling activities.
Start with a small hill and then climb it. Indoors, you can select a program that requires small elevation to start. Keep doing the hill climb until you fear no more and feel more confident in conquering the next challenge. Increase the hill gradient gradually and also lengthen the duration of time. Conquer the hills and the flats will be a piece of cake!
- The More You Dread, the More You Do
What doesn’t break you makes you stronger and in cycling, you harness anything and everything – including those you dread. The fact that you have dedicated yourself to such a demanding sport speaks of your motivation towards facing challenges. So yes, a major part of this challenge includes harnessing your dread.
Remember how you would cringe at the sight of an uphill climb looming ahead? Or how you would get nervous taking a peek at the high intensity cycling workout in your indoor program? Like most people, you can probably 
relate to that. However, Faye urges that the more you dread something, the more you should be doing it. Think about that one thing that you don’t like doing because it is probably that same thing that you critically need to do. Metaphorically speaking, what you dread is what will give you the most satisfaction especially at that point when you have already overcome it.
- Mix It Up
The first thing to mastering anything is practicing it and repeating it until you are able to create a routine out of it. The consistency is typically what helps you achieve your targeted goals. With indoor or outdoor cycling it is easy to just flow into a rhythmic pattern. Over time however, you can experience a rut which could also mean halted progress for you.
If you want to get the most of your cycling program, a good strategy would be to combine your workouts. Infuse some new routines here and there, especially those that emphasize varying skills such as short interval sessions or longer tempo rides. Think stamina, endurance, aerobic capacity, and intensity – then mix them up.
- Get into a Group
Support groups are famous for the invaluable defense they provide when your resolve starts to ebb and it is the same way with your cycling workout. When your motivation begins to wane or if you seek to push yourself further, cycling with someone or a group of people can really back you up and give you the boost you need. This could mean joining in an online cycling program where a trainer would usually lead or doing live classes at the gym.
If you’re up for it, you can even invite others in your locality for some extra fun outdoor ride. Faye says that you can contact local cycling stores and visit their Facebook pages for some recruits. Of course you can still ride by yourself for some me-time or to achieve your personal goals. But if you’re the competitive or sociable type, a group ride can indeed fuel you and motivate you to go faster and harder.
- Remember to Have Fun
That adrenaline rush and feelings of freedom could be what has gotten you into cycling in the first place. Cycling can indeed be a place of happiness and to get the most from your workout, you can remind yourself how fun riding is for you and how it makes you happy at the end of the day. USA Cycling certified coach Garret Seacat, C.S.C.S. acknowledges the importance of progress and goal achievement but also emphasizes how stress relief and enjoyment should be on the same level.
Since 2020 onwards, a lot of athletes have faced little to no events and most people have struggled with staying motivated and working extra harder in the process. Seacat sees this as an opportunity though that instead of buckling down, you have to take it as a sign to lighten up. He encourages athletes to remember their childhood and how riding on a bike meant unlimited explorations of unknown worlds and completely losing track of time.
So remember to add fun in your rides and tap into that child-like enjoyment once more. Go explore again, have fun, and take in the beautiful scenery. Certainly, it will remind you why you took up cycling in the first place and also re-ignite your passion for it.
