Indoor cycling for beginners: The best ways you can get started today

Are you wondering how to start indoor cycling but need help figuring out where or how to start? 

Maybe you’ve also got these questions: 

“What indoor cycling benefits will I see when I cycle at home?”

“How do I start cycling at home?”

“What kind of indoor cycling workouts should I do? And for how long?”

You’re in the right spot because those are the questions this post is here to answer.  

So by the end of this post, you’ll walk away with indoor cycling tips on:

• The 4 indoor cycling benefits that might inspire you to get on your bike more often
• How to set up your indoor cycling space
• How to get started with indoor cycling workouts
• And the 20-minute indoor bike trainer workouts for beginners to help you get cycling

Let’s get started on everything you need to know about indoor cycling for beginners.

Affiliate Disclosure: I’m here to help you grow as a rider and runner. So to keep things running smoothly and the content free, I participate in the Amazon Services program and select affiliate networks. So, when you click on those affiliate links, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

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4 TOP INDOOR CYCLING BENEFITS YOU NEED TO KNOW ¹

1| Riding your bike can keep you young. ² A study of men and women who’d started running, cycling, or swimming and kept at it for 50 years showed they had:

• Muscles similar to healthy 25-year-olds
• Higher aerobic capacities than people their age, making them roughly 30 years younger than their chronological age

This study can’t tell us if other factors such as habits, genes, income, diet, and lifestyle played a part in the health of these participants. But the suggestion is that exercise—whether running, cycling, swimming, or any other form—can help us build cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, and slow physical aging.

2| Riding your bike can cut your risk of disease and cancer. Regular indoor cycling sessions can reduce your likelihood of heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, colon*, and breast cancer. 

 ³ Less than an hour of moderate-intensity indoor cycling can cut your risk by about 20%. If you ride for 90 minutes, you could reduce your colon cancer risk by 45%. And if you ride for over 2 hours, you could slash your cancer risk even more. 

3| Indoor cycling can help you sleep better and improve your mood. ⁴ 

4| Indoor cycling can prepare you for outdoor bike rides. When you start indoor cycling, you may soon be asking this question, “Why does indoor cycling feel so hard?”

It’s not just you—indoor cycling feels hard because you’re constantly moving. 

When cycling indoors, you won’t experience downhills or tailwinds to help you along, and that means you’ll be pedaling the whole time you’re cycling indoors. But the good news is you’ll build endurance for longer outdoor bike rides. 

Ready to take it outside? Be prepared to ride your bike both uphill and downhill with these cycling tips on how to ride your bike uphill and how to ride your bike downhill.

INDOOR CYCLING FOR BEGINNERS | HOW TO START CYCLING AT HOME

Setting up an indoor cycling space can get expensive, and it’s why this list is here to help you narrow it down to the indoor cycling essentials. 

Find your indoor cycling bike. Do you want a stationary bike such as an Echelon, Peloton, or Nordictrack? These can be pricey, but you’ll get a studio cycling experience.

Or do you only need an indoor bike trainer because you own a road bike? You’ll attach your rear wheel to a bike trainer so you can ride your bike at home. Some indoor bike trainers are noisier than others. So if you plan on listening to music or anything else, you’ll have to crank up the volume to hear over the trainer. 

Whether you choose a stationary bike or an indoor bike trainer, you must find the right saddle height to avoid knee pain. 

To find the right saddle height for you,

• Place your bike on the trainer.
• Then pedal until your right foot is at the bottom of your pedal stroke, at the 6 o’clock.
• Can you straighten your leg when the ball of your foot is on the pedal? If reaching your pedals feels like a stretch, lower your saddle. But if you can’t fully extend your leg, you’ll need to raise the saddle. 

Indoor cycling space. You don’t need a large footprint for cycling at home, but I’d recommend you leave your bike set up in place—especially if you’re using an indoor bike trainer—to make it quick and easy to squeeze in an indoor cycling session. 

Floor mat. Place a large floor mat under your bike to protect your floors and prevent your trainer from shifting.

Indoor cycling fan. A small, simple fan will do, but you might like the convenience of a remote-controlled fan. 

Bike shorts. Bike saddles aren’t the most comfortable to sit in for long, and padded bike shorts will give you support and comfort throughout your indoor cycling sessions. Bike shorts are designed without seams to prevent chafing and to fit snugly against your body, so you won’t need to wear underwear with these shorts. 

Rolling cart to keep your water bottles, towels, phone, and more within arm’s reach. 

And finally, cycling shoes and clipless pedals. As a beginner, this isn’t essential, but it is nice to have. That’s because this system—cycling shoes and pedals—keeps your feet in the pedals, so you won’t waste energy trying to keep your feet in place. 

You’ll attach cleats to the bottom of a stiff-soled cycling shoe which you’ll use to secure your foot to the bike pedals.

HOW TO START INDOOR CYCLING FOR BEGINNERS

Start with 10 to 20-minute indoor cycling workouts three times a week

Though I’ve suggested 10 to 20 minutes of indoor cycling three times a week, it’s only a guideline. Because trying to squeeze another thing into your overpacked schedule can be almost impossible. 

Before you even get on your bike, you have to:

• Decide when you’ll make time to workout.
• Gather your energy and motivation to do an indoor cycling workout
• Stress your muscles in ways you haven’t before
• And then decide to do this all over again sometime soon.

The key with indoor cycling for beginners is to get going and build momentum (and this indoor cycling plan for beginners will walk you through it), whether that’s one day a week or three; or for 10 minutes or 20. 

Try a variety of workouts, but for the most part, keep it easy

A variety of indoor cycling workouts will keep things interesting, but don’t push yourself to do cycling sprints every time you get on the bike. 

Your muscles need time to adapt to this added physical stress and overloading your system with fast indoor cycling workouts can increase your risk of injury. 

Don’t rush developing your fitness; you’ll get fitter every time you do an indoor cycling session. 

Give yourself time to recover

Any time you do a workout, you’re stressing your body and creating microtears in your muscles. 

Microtears in your muscles sound alarming, but it’s how you’ll develop stronger muscles. Your muscles have to break down to rebuild stronger ones.

So any day you do an indoor ride, the next day should be a rest day to allow your body to repair and recover. 

You’ll get the most out of every workout when you let your body rest.

Today, we talked about indoor cycling for beginners, from creating your indoor cycling space to doing short indoor cycling workouts.

Are you ready to get started? Grab this free download that will walk you through your first week of indoor cycling.