Air Bike Program 1-Week Sample
Program Details:
- A 12-week air bike plan with 3-to-5 days a week training included.
- A downloadable pdf so you can plug your plan into your schedule ahead of time and make it work for you.
- Intensify your focus on your aerobic capacity and your technique on the air bike.
- Build your stamina and master your awareness of pacing, so you can intuitively utilize different paces for different workouts in the gym.
- May be completed on Assault Bike, Rogue Echo Bike or Schwinn Airdyne.
- 12 Bonus Mixed Modal Workouts included.
Week 1 Session 1
10 Rounds
Bike 1 minute
Rest 1 minute
Bike the first 10/8 calories of each working minute at max pace [Max RPM], then continue at fast pace [-2 to +2 RPM]
Set your workout timer to 1 minute of work/1 minute of rest for a total of 10 rounds.
Sprint the first 10/8 calories of each minute before settling into a challenging pace, around your average 10-minute max calories time trial test [Avg 10-Minute TT] pace if you’ve completed it.
The first number represents suggested calories for males, second number for females. You should be completing the sprint portion of each minute within the first 30 seconds.
Week 1 Session 2
4 Rounds
Bike 2 minutes at very slow pace [-12 to -14 RPM]
Bike 2 minutes at slow pace [-8 to -10 RPM]
Bike 2 minutes at moderate pace [-4 to -6 RPM]
Bike 1 minute at recovery pace
No rest between rounds
Aerobic threshold workouts are designed to be completed at the slow-to-moderate pace. You should never feel like you’re “redlining” on these types of workouts.
We will slowly increase the duration of these types of workouts over the next 12 weeks of this program.
Week 1 Session 3
4 Rounds
Bike 3 minutes at moderate pace [-4 to -6 RPM]
Bike 90 seconds at recovery pace
No rest between rounds
Maintain a steady pace slightly below your average 10-minute max calories time trial test (TT) pace during each 3-minute interval.
Week 1 Session 4 (Optional)
Zone 2 Training
Bike 35 minutes
(Remain in Zone 2 heart range for the duration of your workout)
This should be a relatively slow, sustainable pace that you could maintain for hours.
If you have access to a heart rate monitor, please use the following formula to calculate your Zone 2 range:
Calculate your HRR (Heart Rate Reserve)
220 – Your Age – RHR (Resting Heart Rate)
Calculate your Zone 2 Heart Rate Range
Minimum: RHR + 0.5 (HRR)
Maximum: RHR + 0.75 (HRR)
Week 1 Session 5 (Optional)
3 Rounds
Bike 4 minutes at moderate pace [-4 to -6 RPM]
Bike 1 minute at recovery pace
Bike 3 minutes at moderate-fast pace [-2 to -4 RPM]
Bike 1 minute at recovery pace
Bike 2 minutes at ast pace [-2 to +2 RPM]
Rest 3 minutes between rounds
As intervals decrease in time duration, your pace should increase. This progression will get tough in later rounds, especially during the 2-minute interval. Try to stick to your RPM paces on rounds 1 and 2. Dial it down slightly on round 3 if you must. Remember, you have 3 minutes of rest after last interval. Stay strong and push hard.
Week 1 Mixed Modal Bonus Workout
EMOM 9 Minutes
Min 1: 15/12 calories
Min 2: 10-15 burpees
Min 3: 50-70 double unders
Rest 3 minutes
EMOM 9 Minutes
Min 1: 15/12 calories
Min 2: 10-15 burpees
Min 3: 50-70 double unders
Pick a challenging number of reps you can maintain for 9 minutes. Rest 3 minutes, then do it again.
May substitute double unders to jumping jacks or single unders. Scale up burpees to the bar facing variation.
Pacing Guidelines
The intensity with which we exercise is one of the most important aspects of training and physical fitness. Not only can we utilize exercise intensity to determine if we’re working hard enough, but we can also use it to determine if we’re not.
Aerobic workouts can generally be paced using the RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) method or the Pace method.
In this program, we use the Pace method. You’ll be given a speed for each interval, along with a range of RPMs for each time duration or calorie measurement. This allows you to determine your precise pace at each interval based on your average RPMs from a 10-minute Time Trial.
For example: “Bike 2 minutes at hard pace [-2 to +2 RPM]”
For someone whose average pace during the Time Trial is 70 RPMs, the suggested pace ranges between 68 and 72 RPMs. As you progress, you may opt to push towards the more challenging number. If you’re not feeling your best, it’s perfectly fine to revert to the easier number.
We understand that not everyone is eager to undertake a time trial or stick rigidly to exact paces. Therefore, we’ve included a straightforward speed scale for each interval that you can find within the full program. You’ll find a pace suggestion—slow, moderate, fast, and everything in between. If you prefer, you can approximate your target speed pacing without a time trial. While less accurate, this method is more accessible for beginners and bypasses potentially intimidating time trials. Over weeks of training, you’ll become more familiar with these speeds and can adjust as needed.
If you would like to know more about different aerobic workout pacing strategies, a detailed explanation of both these pacing methods can be found within the full program or in our How to Pace Your Aerobic Workouts post.