HIIT Programs For Stationary Bike?

I broke my shins. Fairly severe stress fracture in both and have been told not to do any impact work at all for at least a year. It’s been a few months and I’m cleared to use the exercise bike.

As the bike is pretty much my only option right now, do any of you know of any good HIIT programs? I was thinking of modifying the principles from CTs Running Man but, wanted to know if on a bike there are other better HIIT variants.

I use the Tabata protocol when on the bike. Warm up for a few minutes, then 20 seconds on; 10 seconds off. The ‘on’ portion is all out pedaling, for me that means 130+ rpm. The ‘off’ portion is just enough rpm to keep the display powered up. I keep my level setting, the pedal resistance, as high as I can, but will drop it to make sure my rpm’s stay over the 130 mark during the on portion.

I enjoy this workout as it is gets a nice amount of work done in a fairly short time.

Good Luck and wishing you a speedy recovery

i cycle and i find the “ipod workout” works good…find songs ranging from 80-110 rpm and just follow the song…the slower songs are the ones you back off on…the faster ones kill you…its like a sustained intervals/HIIT program…its hard being a cyclist and a lifter because im trying to add weight but cyclists are tiny…thats why im only sticking to sprints and those races of the strength nature…but try that out and tell me what you think…

What kind of bike is it?

Sam-

Great suggestion with the musis tempo, but a 3-4 minute song is a bit long to sustain high anaerobic output. Try the HIIT recommendations by CT, at 30 second sprint followed by a 90 second coast, repeat for 12-15 minutes. Or, any combination with a 1:3 ratio of sprint to recovery.

TopSirloin

These are all good ideas. Thanks guys. I did look at CTs HIIT article and was hoping he’d have some input on the bike.

The gym has Life Fitness HR9500 bikes if i recall correctly.

I worry about putting too much resistance on the bike now because of the shins. It’s probably OK I’m just a little scared of reinjury right now. Pounding the NYC pavements to and from work everyday already taxes the fractures enough, even in really good sneakers.

I currently limit my bike workout to 12 minutes. I average 115 RPM and burst up to 140 every three minutes for a minute. I’m going for the speed w/o load.

I guess I’ll start kicking in more resistance in the next couple of weeks and pull back on the RPM.

Keep the ideas coming. I’d love to hear more.