Ready to get started on a cycling journey? A cycling challenge is a fun and effective way to get more comfortable on your indoor cycle bike and build your fitness!
If you’re a beginner, or just looking to get back into a regular cycling routine this 30-day cycling challenge was designed just for you! Keep reading for everything you need to crush your first cycling challenge.
5 Benefits of Participating in a Cycling Challenge
There are many benefits of participating in a cycling challenge. Below I’ve collected just a few of my favorite reasons why a cycling challenge is exactly what you need!
1. Find Motivation to Move
If you’ve found yourself uninspired or a little lazy with your regular workout routine, a cycling challenge is the motivation you need to get moving!
2. Burn Calories
Cycling is a great way to move your body, get your heart rate up, and burn calories. If you’re looking to up your burn, cycling is a great low-impact way to do so.
3. Establish Regular Exercise Habits
If you’re looking to get back on the grind, cardio is the perfect place to start. It’s fun, challenging, and gives you a feel-good endorphin boost! By the end of this challenge, you may just find you’ve developed a regular exercise routine that’s here to stay.
4. Receive Fitness Instruction
Riding on an indoor stationary bike is great, but it’s even better when you have a certified cycling instructor to help you along the way! With the videos in this program, our instructors will be with you every step of the way.
5. Get Social
A fitness challenge is a great way to get social and connect with others in the fitness community with the same interests. Why not get plugged in and find some accountability.
30-Day Cycling Challenge for Beginners
This 30-day cycling challenge is designed for everyone. Whether you’re a true beginner, just coming back to fitness after a break or someone more advanced who’s ready to take each class above and beyond there’s a place for you here.
The workouts in this program are relatively short, all 30-minutes and below. The beginning of the challenge starts with some of the shorter or easier classes which incorporate more rest and instruction, building up intensity over 30 days.
While some workouts may be repeated, I expect you to challenge yourself to push harder on that session than you did the last time you took the class. Remember that repetition is always an opportunity for growth.
With this challenge, perfection is not the goal. My goal for you is that you show up and give each session your best effort. As always, use your instructor's cues as a suggestion and adjust as needed. That means, listening to your body, and adjusting each workout, intensity, and resistance appropriately for you.
How to Do the 30-Day Cycling Challenge
All you need to get started with this challenge is an indoor cycle bike, some motivation, and the workout calendar below.
Before getting started, I recommend having a base level of fitness - which means you’ve been completing a minimum of 1-2 workouts a week for the past month.
Once you’ve established a base level of fitness, you have everything you need to hit the ground running and push yourself in this fun 30-day cycling challenge.
30-Day Cycling Challenge Workout Calendar
To get started on your cycling journey, simply follow along with the cycling challenge calendar below. You can complete this challenge anywhere whether from your home gym, or the gym. So, hop on your cycle bike, and let’s ride!
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Tips for Completing Your First Cycling Challenge
Of course, you can hop right into the cycling challenge and do just fine. However, like all good things, with some tricks up your sleeve, each session can be a lot more intentional and successful. Below, I’ve listed some of my top tips for getting comfortable and finding your groove on your cycle bike!
1. Bike Set-Up & Form
Getting the right cycle bike set up and exercising with good form will ensure maximum efficiency and power of each pedal stroke and put you in the best position to increase performance while reducing your risk of injury. Watch the video to learn how to set up your bike, and ride with proper form!
2. Warmup & Cooldown
You hear it time and time again, a proper warmup and cooldown are essential for the longevity of your workouts. But a warmup and cooldown are what you’re probably most likely to skip.
Here’s the deal, with a good warm-up your body will be warm and ready to perform its best from the beginning of your workout; whereas if you don’t, you’ll spend your first few sets of intervals or work, just getting your body to that point. Need a good warmup? Give this routine a try!
Cooldowns also deserve their space in your workout routine. After working out, it’s important to slowly bring your heart rate back down to resting levels and give the muscles that you worked so hard some love with some gentle stretching. Ready to cool it all down? Just press play on this cooldown with Sunny Trainer Ashton.
3. Cycling Terminology Quick Guide
The hardest part with getting started on a cycling journey is learning the terminology. Cadence? Resistance? Position 3? Confused yet? Below, I’ve given you a quick breakdown of the most common cycling terms.
A. Cadence (RPM)
Cycling cadence or ‘revolutions per minute’ (RPM) is interchangeable in the cycling world. Cadence is basically how fast you are pedaling, measured in RPM. One revolution occurs when the pedal makes a complete 360-degree cycle.
Cadence should always be directly related to the resistance and position you’re working with. For example, with a flat road (less resistance) you may find you’re able to hit top speeds like a sprint at a 110+RPM. But with a climb (heavy resistance) your cadence will likely be lower anywhere from 60+RPM.
B. Resistance
Throughout your ride, you’ll hear your instructor call out to increase or decrease resistance, or refer to resistance as light, medium or heavy. Adjusting your resistance makes pedaling harder or easier.
On most Sunny bikes, you’ll find a micro-adjustable tension knob, which is great because it means you’ll be able to turn the resistance up or down based on your feel and fitness level.
During a typical workout, you’ll find yourself adjusting your resistance frequently as you just through different intervals or positions throughout your ride. Your instructor will guide you on when resistance needs to be applied or taken away.
Your job? Listen to your body and know if you need to make changes as you go that those decisions are available to you. After all, it’s your ride.
C. Flat Road
A flat road is the lowest you’ll want to go as far as resistance on your bike. With a flat road, you’re working with some resistance, and it’s supposed to mimic the feel of cycling outdoors on a flat road.
Think about it, when pedaling outdoors you have to push to get moving. If we take the gear down, we aren’t moving anywhere. When we’re on our cycle bike, we always want to be moving somewhere.
For true beginners, if you feel like you need that real rest, to take that resistance down and pedal slow below a flat road, that’s fine. Just know we should never be moving at top speeds or out of control on our bikes, so if you plan to pick up the speed, there must be a solid level of resistance on your bike where you feel in control.
Advancing to a level where you’re able to hold at least a flat road minimum throughout your ride should be the goal.
With a flat road, you’re not always resting. Flat roads are great for warming up, cooling down, and you might even see pushes on a flat road. Over time, you’ll learn where to push and where to hold back on a flat road to achieve your goals.
D. Sprint
Everyone loves a good sprint! On the bike, you’ll see a lot of sprints whether from a seated position or a standing position on your bike. This is your chance to take it up to top speed.
During your sprint, we want to focus on control. So again, just like on a flat road, we want to focus on high-quality movement, never out of control or rocking in the seat. So, keep in mind your resistance may need some adjusting.
To help maximize your sprints, hold your upper body in good posture, and engage your core. With a strong midsection, you’ll be better able to transfer power to your legs.
E. Climb
Finally, climbs: arguably the hardest work you’ll put in on your bike. With a climb or a hill, you crank the resistance up to mimic pedaling uphill. You can do a climb either from a seated or standing position.
When climbing on your bike, you don’t want to crank the resistance to the point where you can’t hold your cadence at 50 RPM or above. With this amount of heavy resistance, you need to push so hard to keep your pedal stroke up, many riders will sacrifice their form to keep their legs moving, putting themselves at risk for injury.
It’s always better to prioritize good form on your bike first and resistance and speed come second. So, if you need to lower that resistance on a hill, feel free, and know as you advance in your cycling journey, you’ll gain the strength to handle higher resistances over time.
In Closing
A cycling challenge is a great way to boost your motivation and get you moving on your cycle bike. With a little guidance, you’ll be up and running on your indoor cycle bike in no time.
Give this 30-day cycling challenge a try, you never know where you could be 30 days from now until you try. Let’s ride!
2 comments
Hey there, I’m Stefan, and I just read your blog. It’s really impressive and helpful. I found a good piece of information on the benefits of planking exercises on your blog. . I really appreciate the knowledge you shared with us. Keep updating such informative content.
Okay im in for the challenge .
Beth,