Power Intervals

Short, savage, repeatable — 30-second efforts with full recoveries, where the last one should match the first

Indoor cycling
Intermediate
45 min
Works for 8–25
1 instructor
Effort 5/5
Spin studio
intervals
power
sprints
advanced

The ClassPlans programming teamLevel 3 group-fitness qualified · 10+ yrs teaching

Kit: Bikes, towels, water. Console metrics useful but not required.

Warm-up8 min

Priming the Engine

5 min build + 3 × [15s practice / 1min easy]RPE 3 → 6

Setup: Flat road, light resistance. Warn them at the door: tonight is quality over quantity — twelve efforts, every one of them excellent.

How it works: Five minutes of easy building, then teach the standard: a power interval is 30 seconds at the biggest effort you can repeat twelve times — not your biggest effort full stop. The difference is the whole class. Finish with three practice efforts at 15 seconds, each one harder, with a minute easy between, so every rider calibrates before it counts.

What to say

“Your number twelve must look like your number one — choose your effort for that.”
“Big gear on before the effort starts, never during it.”
“Recovery is where power is made — treat easy minutes as sacred.”

Easier

Two practice efforts, both at a strong-but-comfortable push.

Harder

Third practice effort standing, to rehearse the standing starts in set two.

Workout10 min

Set One — Seated Power

4 × [30s max repeatable / 2min easy]RPE 9 efforts, RPE 2 recoveries

Setup: Heavy road pre-set before each effort. Calm track for recoveries, hard track stabs in for the efforts.

How it works: Four efforts: 30 seconds seated at repeatable-maximum, then two minutes of properly easy spinning. Seated power comes from the gear, not the cadence — cue them to push a big road at a controlled leg speed, hips glued to the saddle. After each effort, ask one question into the recovery: could you do eleven more exactly like that? If the answer is no, the next one is smaller, and that is intelligence, not weakness.

Rounds: Set 1 of 3

What to say

“Hips heavy, heels heavy, drive the big gear through the floor.”
“Thirty seconds of excellent beats forty of ragged.”
“If the answer to 'eleven more?' is no, adjust — that's a professional decision.”

Easier

Efforts at 20 seconds with the same two-minute recoveries.

Harder

Recoveries at 90 seconds — only for riders whose efforts aren't fading.

Workout10 min

Set Two — Standing Starts

4 × [30s standing start / 2min easy]RPE 9 efforts, RPE 2 recoveries

Setup: Heavier road again. Each effort begins from a near-stop: legs slowed right down, then explode.

How it works: Four efforts of 30 seconds, two minutes easy between. This set starts each effort standing from a heavy, slow grind — five pedal strokes of pure strength to get the gear moving, then sit and spin it up for the rest of the 30. It mimics a sprinter's jump and it is the most demanding thing in the class, so form rules are strict: any knee wobble or collapsing upper body and that rider finishes the set seated.

Rounds: Set 2 of 3

What to say

“First five strokes are the whole lift — drive the pedal, not the bars.”
“Stand strong or sit strong; nothing in between survives this gear.”
“Sit at stroke five even if you feel heroic — the spin-up is where the power shows.”

Easier

Start seated at the same heavy-slow road and build through the 30 seconds.

Harder

Stay standing for the full 30 on efforts three and four.

The rest of this class plan is free — along with 3 more this week.

ClassPlans programming team

Free on ClassPlans — new class plans weekly.