On Yer (Stationary) Bike II: Strength

Great, you read Idea 16, On yer bike I, and it helped you idown that copy of Hello! and work harder than you ever thought possible on a bike that doesn't go anywhere. Now what?

There are two key parts to this: cadence, which really means how fast you're managing to spin those pedals, and resistance, which is how hard the machine is trying to stop you from spinning those pedals. In the quest to become a rounded, multi-skilled, renaissance kind of a gym bunny (and because we get bored easily) we're going to work on both.

Cadence cadenza

You've probably heard of spinning classes. In cycling tenns 'spinning' is a technique in which you choose a gear that means there is little resistance as you turn it, but you keep the speed up so that you're spinning the pedals at high speed (100 r.p.m. and more). For long-distance racing cyclists spinning equates to high speeds over a long period, for time-pressed gym users it can mean harder, but more interesting workouts... such as this one:

Start off with a warm-up for five to ten minutes, then make sure you can see the r.p.m./rev readout on the bike's computer. On some models r.p.m./rev may be displayed as part of a rotating selection of information. Make sure you've switched it to r.p.m./rev or 'locked' it on that info because you'll turn the air blue if it flicks over to some other reading just as you're trying to hold an r.p.m. for a fixed time.

Take a good look at what your comfortable cadence is. If it's slower than 90, then try bringing it up to 90 for a couple of minutes to see how that feels.

Now speed up until the rev counter reads 120 (no if that's too hard) and don't let it drop below that for two minutes.

Drop back to your comfortable cadence for a minute.

Without jerking your feet around or plunging the pedals downwards as if trying to stamp something to death, try accelerating smoothly up to the highest rev reading you can reach. Hold it there for 10-15 seconds, before coming back down equally smoothly to your comfortable cadence.

Out of breath? Good, time to do it all over again. Five times to be exact.

As you get better at this you'll find that you can either reach a higher rev count at the peak, or hold your original high point for longer. Try holding your original max for longer. If you can hold it for 30 seconds to a minute, then it's time to set your sights higher.

Resistance (is futile?)

Most stationary bikes these days have a whole smorgasbord of settings and odds are one of them will be called something along the lines of 'hill climb'. Hill climb programmes on gym bikes vary, but there's usually a choice between a single long steady up and down and a series of short sharp ups and downs. If you have an option that gives you a series of peaks, then go for that; if not, opt for manual and make your own peaks.

The idea is that the resistance level should leave you feeling comfortable pedalling at the bottom of each 'hill', then working harder as you go up. Right at the top (which should be held for 1-2 minutes) you should feel better if you get up out of the saddle and stand up to pedal. Bingo. Because it's at that stand-up moment that we pull one last little trick on those poor legs. As you stand up to pedal try to 'lock' your whole body absolutely steady so you don't bob up and down at all (it helps if you're opposite a mirror at this point). If your body is rigid and unmoving, then you aren't using your bodyweight to power the down stroke and, boy, should you feel that in your thigh muscles (quadriceps). Try to hold that position for a minute or two, then drop back down (and lower the resistance if necessary). A series of four or five hills each with a standing 'peak' should give you a workout you'll remember on the way home.