If you’re looking for 30 of the best Assault Bike workouts for beginners you’ve come to the right place. In this article I will provide 30 high quality workouts, that are designed for beginner level athletes. Fair warning, that doesn’t mean they’re easy! Keep reading for all the details.
Readers of this website know that I’m a big fan of the Assault Bike. I’ve owned one for the better part of a decade, and I’ve found it to be one of the best conditioning tools for a full-body workout . One of the best features is that it can be used for a wide variety of fitness goals.
Aiming for weight loss? No problem, you can do that. Want to build entire body conditioning? Yep, it can do that. Need to increase your VO2 max with high intensity interval training? No worries, you’re covered. Here’s a quick overview of the 30 best Assault Bike workouts for beginners below.
30 Best Assault Bike Workouts for Beginners Overview
- Non-sequential programming
- You choose how many workouts per week
- Develops aerobic, and anaerobic conditioning
- Can be used for fat loss
- If combining with resistance training, separate by 6-24 hours
- Warm ups, and cool downs are important for high-intensity interval training
Unlike my other programs, where I provide a comprehensive training plan, this is more of a DIY conditioning program. I’ve left these fan bike workouts flexible because some of you just want to do these workouts. Others will want to combine them with some weight training.
In the next section I’m going to cover how you should set up your Assault Bike, as well as warm ups, and cool downs. Later on, I’ll provide some good tips on combining these workouts with weight lifting, to maximize your muscle gain. Lifting and cardio is a great way to improve your fitness, and drop some bodyweight after all.
Before we get to these best air bike workouts, don’t forget to join the email list below. I’ll email you an article each week once they’re released.
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Setting Up Your Assault Bike
Before we jump on the Assault Bike, it’s important to set it up correctly. As a coach, I can’t tell you how many athletes I’ve seen sitting on a bike, that is completely wrong for their size! It’s not complicated to set up, but there are certainly a few tips that will make the workouts more comfortable, and efficient.
Assault Bike Seat Height
The first thing you should adjust is the seat height. The easiest way to do this is to sit on the bike and put the ball of your foot on the pedal, when it’s on the lowest portion of the pedal stroke. You should have a slight knee bend, and your toes should be lower than the heel. You don’t want to be flat footed on the pedal. Now let’s move to setting the seat forward and backward.
Assault Bike Seat Position
To correctly adjust the forward and back position, on the Assault Bike seat, you need to push one of the handles to the most forward position. From there, adjust the seat forward or back so that your torso is relatively upright.
Similarly, your elbow should have a soft bend, just like your knee. You don’t want to lock your arms out when using the handles! Next, let’s cover a few tips to work the bike efficiently.
Assault Bike Efficiency Tips
Unlike a traditional stationary exercise bike, there isn’t a whole lot of technique to riding an Assault Bike. The main issue revolves around how much effort you should use with your upper body, and your lower body.
Rather than getting too technical, I recommend thinking of the split as 30% upper body, and 70% lower body. I recommend shifting your weight slightly forward so that you can push strongly down on the pedals.
Think of pushing them down, rather than forward. The legs have the largest major muscle groups in the body, and should be doing most of the work.
The arms should only complement the main force from your legs. Ideally you should feel like the bike is moving smoothly, without any jerking or wrenching the handles around. Now that you have a good idea how to setup up, and use the assault bike, let’s get to the endurance workouts.
30 Best Assault Bike Workouts for Beginners
These workouts only include the main portion. They don’t include a warm up or cool down. I normally recommend 3-5 minutes of warm up. You should start at an easy pace and gradually increase to about 80 percent effort for 30sec – 1 minute, by the end of the workout.
The cool down is also very important. Research shows that a 10min cool down, at 60 watts, helps athletes recover more quickly, and increases muscle mass. I always recommend this style of cool down for any great workout. Now lets get to the high intensity Assault Bike workout sessions.
30 Best Assault Bike Workouts for Beginners.
It’s important to understand that most of these workouts revolve around high intensity interval training. Research has shown that this style of workout is the best way to increase fitness quickly.
I’ve geared them towards beginner athletes, but everyone has a different fitness level. There is absolutely nothing wrong with modifying these workouts to be easier, if that’s what you need.
I would rather you finish the first couple of sessions thinking that you could have done more, rather than questioning your decision to start this program! True fitness is about consistency, not max effort every session.
For most beginner athletes, I would recommend trying 2-3 workouts per week, if this is the only programming your doing. If you planning on adding this to your weight training, then I would start with 1-2 workouts per week. You can increase this as desired, once you notice your cardiovascular endurance, and aerobic capacity improving.
Research is clear that you should separate your cardio sessions by 6-24 hours from your lifting sessions, if possible. If you can’t, then try to do the lifting first, and then do the cardiovascular training.
I would also recommend that you start each session a little conservatively. I can’t tell you how often I start a good workout way too hard, and then end up hating life for the majority of the time! Even though you might be doing some pyramid intervals, or going for max calories, you’ll do better increasing effort throughout the workout.
Lastly, make sure that you stick to the percentages I’ve listed to govern the intensity of your workouts. On Zone 2 days, you should be working at around 60% heart rate, if you’re using a heart rate monitor. Zone 2 pacing is where you can breath through your nose, at a steady pace. This type of easy aerobic exercise is key to developing your overall fitness. Not all training has to be super hard!
In the next section I’m going to cover some programs that would fit well with this, or that you might want to try after you finish this Assault Bike workout program.
Your Next Fitness Program
The good news is that I’ve written several different fitness programs for beginner athletes. The bad news is that they work, which means they aren’t easy. As you’ll come to find out, there is no secret trick to getting fit. You just show up each day and work hard. If you do that long enough you can improve your cardiovascular system, and performance drastically.
Below you’ll find several different programs. Most of them can be done in a basic home gym. One doesn’t need any equipment. I recommend looking at several of them to see which workout routine best matches your fitness goals.
- 4 Week Functional Strength Training Program for Beginners
- The 7 Month Beginner to Intermediate Functional Fitness Program Series
- Free 12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program (PDF)
- BITS Program: How to Smartly Return to Functional Fitness
- The Home WOD Program: No Equipment Required (FREE PDF)
While many of these programs are fairly detailed, they are nowhere near as complete as my premium programs. If you want to try one of my most popular premium programs you can find that below. You can also find a complete list of them here.
Final Thoughts
I’ve used the Assault Bike for many years for a wide variety of purposes. I lost over 20 pounds using it, and I’ve certainly increased my cardiovascular health, and fitness. It’s a great tool for beginners because proper form is almost self evident. It also carries a low risk of injury because it’s low impact.
Remember, this program is non sequential. That means you can pick and choose which ones you want to do. You can also modify the order in which you do them.
At a beginner and intermediate level in your fitness journey, you don’t really need a super complicated program. You just need consistency more than anything. I would also recommend you get the basics right, like sleeping enough, and eating reasonably healthy food. You can check out this nutrition guide as a first step for some simple methods to eating a balanced diet.
If you have any comments or questions about these HIIT workouts, put them in the comments section below, and I’ll get you an answer. Now get out there and get training! Don’t forget to join the email list.
We are not affiliated with any other company . Each workout plan is entirely owned by Tier Three Tactical and we recommend that you exercise under the supervision of a professional coach. It’s also recommended that you seek medical clearance from a licensed medical doctor before starting any fitness program or physical training.
