A Guide to Perfecting Your Indoor Cycling Form

Indoor cycling is a low-impact cardio workout, which can help you improve your cardiovascular health and build your lower body strength. But to get the most out of your indoor cycling sessions, and to avoid injuries, it is important that you are using the correct cycling form.

From the positioning of your feet to engaging your core, this guide will provide you with effective tips for perfecting your form and help you get the most from your workouts.

Getting Set-up

Before we discuss how to improve your indoor cycling technique, you need to make sure that your indoor bike is set up correctly, and you are up to speed with the basics. Check out our beginner’s indoor cycling guide to help you get started.

Cycling Form Top Tips

Once your bike is set up correctly, and you are confident with how to use it, it is time to start working on your cycling form.

Good Posture

Regardless of whether you are sitting or standing on your exercise bike, having a good posture is key. You must ensure that you have a flat back, an open chest and that you are facing forwards, as this form will prevent you from putting unnecessary tension on muscles and risking injury.

Correcting Seat Height

If the height of your seat is incorrect then it can throw your whole form off, affecting your performance and the likelihood of injury. The bike seat should be adjusted so that it is in line with your hip joint. To find your hip joint, you should stand next to your bike and lift the leg which is nearest to the bike to a 90 degree angle, with your knee bent. From here you can adjust the seat to the correct height.

After adjusting your exercise bike seat, you should hope on and see whether this height is comfortable. If you are not happy with the seat height, then you can also adjust the position based on the bend in your legs. When your leg is extended in the down stroke it is important that it is neither fully straight nor significantly bent, instead, you want a slight bend.

Foot Positioning

For max performance and to ensure your leg muscles are being used effectively, you should be pedaling with flat feet. By cycling with a flat foot, even when you are stood out of the saddle, it also for weight to be evenly distributed, and will avoid pressure being placed on the arch of your foot or ankle.

Adding Resistance

It is important that you have enough resistance on your bike when you are pedaling to avoid bouncing out of your seat. Whilst resistance can be added during your workout to push you harder, it is still important to have some resistance during your base cycle as it provides support and avoids pressure being put on your knees.

Engaging Your Core

Many people believe that a workout on an exercise bike only uses your leg muscles, however, if you are using the correct form then you will realize that you are heavily relying on your core during the session.

To get the most out of your workout you should focus on engaging your core throughout your workout. Rather than relying on just your legs, which can quickly become fatigued, you should focus on using your core to propel you through movements.

Perfect Your Indoor Cycling Form with Echelon

At Echelon, we have a vast selection of live and on-demand indoor cycling sessions available on our exclusive app. Regardless of whether you are a beginner or an experienced cyclist, we will have the perfect class for you.