High-Intensity Creative Cueing Part 3: Short Anaerobic Efforts of Less Than One Minute

Short Anaerobic Efforts of Less Than One Minute

There is a big difference in the amount of power one can put out for 30 to 60 seconds, and that of an explosive sprint lasting only a handful of seconds. While both are painful, your coaching cues will be different for each effort. Sprints are among the most miscued and misunderstood technique in indoor cycling classes around the world. For that reason, I am dividing this last category of high-intensity cueing into two articles and will leave sprinting for the next article.

In this post, I discuss short anaerobic efforts below 1 minute that are not all-out sprints. They are known as anaerobic capacity intervals because you are training the highest capacity of your anaerobic glycolytic system.

All-out efforts of 30 seconds up to about a minute will be extremely challenging and take your riders completely breathless. But do not call these efforts “sprints”—they lack the explosiveness of a pure power move like a sprint. In this article, we will cover what to call them, how to describe them, and what creative ways to inspire your riders to surpass their preconceived limits.