HIIT workouts consist of short, brutal bouts of cardio exercise broken up by brief recovery periods. They can be more effective than prolonged bouts of traditional cardio exercise, increasing your VO2 max faster.
Adding HIIT workouts to your training program is an easy way to boost your fitness, but it’s essential to understand how they work before getting started. This article will cover the key factors to consider when incorporating HIIT into your mountain bike training:
Intensity
Because HIIT is so intense, it’s recommended that you start with one or two sessions per week and only increase the number once your body has become accustomed to the work. The workouts should be challenging enough that you feel your heart rate rise and lactic acid accumulate but not so hard that they push you into complete fatigue or leave you lightheaded or dizzy. If you need help gauging this intensity, use the rated perceived exertion (RPE) scale to understand how hard you’re pushing yourself.
For MTB XC racing, the most effective HIIT workouts are longer intervals that train the ability to tolerate elevated levels of blood lactate and high heart rates over prolonged periods — precisely what’s required for the demands of XC racing. These intervals will be anywhere from 45 to 90 seconds long and can be done on your MTB, road bike, or indoor trainer.
Time
Unlike traditional Mountain Bike Training, which aims to accumulate 30-45 minutes at a specific intensity (such as a threshold or tempo session), HIIT sessions often have shorter work periods with more recovery between each effort. It allows for more frequent and higher-quality workouts, which can help improve fitness and performance.
It’s essential to start with a good warm-up and cool-down before performing these high-intensity interval workouts. It will ensure you have the energy needed to push yourself during the intense periods of the workout and that you can recover between them.
These workouts are perfect for mountain bikers because they can be done on the trail or with an indoor trainer. It’s also easy to add them to a longer ride when your fitness is higher and you have the time to do so. Remember to use your judging skills and ensure you are going smoothly at the beginning of each interval set, and overtrain yourself.
Distance
HIIT workouts include quick bursts of intense effort and equally quick rest intervals. Strength training for mountain bikers is to prepare them to withstand prolonged periods of higher blood lactate levels and high heart rates—exactly what you encounter during a race.
The key to practical HIIT training is the work-to-rest ratio, which determines the intensity and duration of each interval. A typical workout starts with a warm-up of 5 to 10 minutes at a leisurely pace, then consists of four lots of 30 seconds of all-out sprinting (or similar exercises such as stair-climbing) followed by 1 minute of recovery. Repeat the intervals seven times, then cool down for 5 minutes leisurely. This workout takes about 20 to 30 minutes to complete.
Recovery
Proper recovery time is critical for the effectiveness of HIIT workouts. The key is to do only a few of these hard workouts in a row, which can lead to fatigue and compromise performance.
Incorporate one HIIT session per week in your build training period. You can include a HIIT session within a short ride as part of a warm-up or cool-down, or you can incorporate a couple of these sessions into your longer rides.
A typical HIIT workout might consist of 4 lots of 3-4 minute intervals on a steep, technical trail, a tarmac road, or a turbo trainer. In each interval, you ride at an intensity just above your threshold (zone 5 or power L5 or VO2 max pace). In between each interval, you’ll ride at a very easy or endurance-type effort with light pedaling for active recovery. It allows you to spend more time in your training intensity zone per workout, promoting more remarkable adaptation and a more robust super compensatory response.