"Spice up" an indoor bike workout this New Year

The New Year has come and gone, packing the local gyms with good intentions and highly motivated individuals. However, many workout fanatics simply do the same thing day in and day out. This consistency is great, but with every workout comes an opportunity to “spice it up” and challenge your body. While the below workout is intended for a stationary bike or bike-mounted trainer, the same principles can be applied to treadmill running or elliptical workouts.
Complete a 10 minute easy warm-up. Then spin hard for 1 minute and take 1 minute recovery in the same gearing. Add a little more resistance (or change gears) and spin hard for 1 minute and take 1 minute recovery in the same gearing. Continue this “1 minute on & 1 minute off” for a total of 20 to 60 minutes (depending on your fitness and time available), with a 10 minute easy recovery spin afterwards. Every cycle of 1 minute hard & 1 minute recovery, adjust the gearing to add resistance. Once a point is reached where cadence falls below 50 revolutions per minute (the amount of revolutions 1 leg makes in a minute) bring the gearing back down in the same “1 minute hard & 1 minute recovery intervals.” This way, the workout will have a varied cadence which helps stress the cardiovascular system and the leg muscles.
So instead of trudging through another boring workout, spice it up. Take the “1 minute hard & 1 minute easy workout” to the gym. It will make the time fly by and challenge the body. This will result in burning extra calories as well as adding some “spice” to an individual’s normal workout routine.