The best assault bike workouts are short, hard intervals: Tabata (20 seconds on, 10 off, 8 rounds), pyramid sprints, a 21-minute max calorie session and a 6-minute HIIT finisher. Below are eight assault bike workouts we use for rugby conditioning, with the work, rest, rounds and total time for each, plus a beginner plan, a VO2 max session and what the research says. They work on any air bike or fan bike, not just the Assault brand.
Rugby rewards fitness you can repeat: sprint, tackle, get up, do it again. The air bike is one of the best tools for building it, because your arms and legs work together, there's no impact, and the harder you push, the harder it pushes back.
Assault bike workouts at a glance
Pick a workout by how much time you have and what you want from it. Warm up for five minutes at an easy pace first.
| Workout | Work | Rest | Rounds | Total time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Max calorie burner | 1 minute, max calories | 2 minutes easy | 7 | 21 minutes | Aerobic fitness, repeated efforts |
| 2. Assault bike Tabata | 20 seconds all-out | 10 seconds | 8 | 4 minutes | Short on time, anaerobic capacity |
| 3. Pyramid intervals | 10 to 50 second sprints | 50 to 10 seconds | 9 (one a minute) | 9 minutes | Sprints and pacing |
| 4. Death by assault bike | 2 calories, plus 2 more each minute | Whatever is left of the minute | Until you miss the target | Open-ended | Testing yourself, mental toughness |
| 5. Calories and DTs | 15 calories, then 1 round of DT | None set | 5 | For time | Strength endurance, CrossFit-style |
| 6. Chase the calories | 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 calories | Equal to the work (1:1) | 6 | For time | Repeated sprints |
| 7. 10 up assault | 10 calories, then 10 push-ups | None set | 10 | For time | Warm-up or finisher |
| 8. HIIT finisher | 5 to 10 second sprints | 50 to 55 seconds moderate | 6 | 6 minutes | Beginners, end of a gym session |
What is an assault bike (or air bike)?
You've almost certainly seen one at your gym. An assault bike, also called an air bike or fan bike, looks like a stationary bike, but with a big fan instead of a front wheel and handles that move with the pedals. "Assault" is a brand name; air bikes from other makers, such as the Schwinn Airdyne and the Rogue Echo Bike, work the same way, so every air bike workout on this page works on any of them.
Don't be fooled by how it looks. As soon as you try one, you'll realise you have to pedal while pushing and pulling the handles at the same time, so you're working your whole body on one machine.
And here's what most athletes see as its best feature: the harder or faster you go, the harder it gets. The fan's resistance rises with your effort, so the bike always matches you.
8 assault bike workouts to boost your performance
Try these workouts to improve your fitness for the rugby pitch. Warm up for five minutes at an easy pace first, and write down your calories or distance so you can beat them next time.
Workout 1: Max calorie burner (21 minutes)
A tough all-round aerobic session.
- 1 minute on, aiming for as many calories as possible
- 2 minutes off (easy pedalling)
- Repeat 7 times
Workout 2: Assault bike Tabata
Tabata intervals are always a good choice, and many air bikes have them pre-programmed. The original Tabata research was done on a stationary bike (see the VO2 max section below).
- 20 seconds all-out
- 10 seconds rest
- Repeat 8 times (4 minutes)
Workout 3: Pyramid intervals
Build up to a 50-second sprint, then work back down.
| Minute | Sprint | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 seconds | 50 seconds |
| 2 | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| 3 | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
| 4 | 40 seconds | 20 seconds |
| 5 | 50 seconds | 10 seconds |
| 6 | 40 seconds | 20 seconds |
| 7 | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
| 8 | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| 9 | 10 seconds | 50 seconds |
Workout 4: Death by assault bike
Once you've tried it, you'll understand the name. Every minute on the minute:
- Minute 1: 2 calories
- Minute 2: 4 calories
- Minute 3: 6 calories
- Keep adding 2 calories a minute until you can't hit the target within the minute.
Workout 5: Calories and DTs
Combining the bike with weights makes for a seriously tough session. "DT" is a classic barbell complex and a CrossFit benchmark: 12 deadlifts, 9 hang power cleans and 6 push jerks with the same bar. Choose a light weight you can move well.
- 15 calories on the bike
- 1 unbroken round of DT
- Repeat 5 times
Workout 6: Chase the calories
This one can be moderate or brutal, depending on your pace.
- 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, then 5 calories
- Rest for as long as each effort took (1:1 work to rest)
Workout 7: 10 up assault
Use it as a warm-up, a finisher or, if you really push, a session on its own.
- 10 calories on the bike
- 10 hand-release push-ups
- Repeat 10 times
Workout 8: HIIT finisher (6 minutes)
A great add-on at the end of a gym session, and the best assault bike finisher for anyone new to the bike.
| Minute | Moderate | Sprint |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55 seconds | 5 seconds |
| 2 | 54 seconds | 6 seconds |
| 3 | 53 seconds | 7 seconds |
| 4 | 52 seconds | 8 seconds |
| 5 | 51 seconds | 9 seconds |
| 6 | 50 seconds | 10 seconds |
Assault bike workouts for beginners
If you're new to the air bike, the biggest mistake is going all-out in the first 30 seconds. The fan rewards effort instantly, so it's easy to empty the tank before the session has really started. Go at about 7 out of 10 for your first few sessions and learn what a sustainable pace feels like.
A good beginner assault bike workout:
- Workout 8 (the 6-minute HIIT finisher), because the sprints are only 5 to 10 seconds long
- Or Workout 1 cut down to 4 rounds, at a hard but steady pace rather than flat out
A 4-week assault bike workout plan
Two or three sessions a week, on top of your normal training. Leave at least a day between hard bike sessions, and don't do them the day before a match.
| Week | Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Workout 8 | Workout 1, 4 rounds | 15 minutes easy |
| 2 | Workout 8 | Workout 1, 5 rounds | Workout 3 |
| 3 | Workout 2 (Tabata) | Workout 1, 7 rounds | Workout 3 |
| 4 | Workout 2 (Tabata) | Workout 6 | Workout 4 (to test yourself) |
After four weeks, rotate through all eight workouts and repeat the ones you want to beat.
Assault bike VO2 max workouts
VO2 max is the most oxygen your body can use, and it's one of the main markers of aerobic fitness. Two classic studies show what kinds of interval work raise it:
- Tabata intervals. In the original 1996 study by Izumi Tabata and colleagues, men who did seven to eight 20-second efforts at a very high intensity, with 10 seconds' rest, five days a week for six weeks on a stationary bike, raised their VO2 max by about 7 ml/kg/min and their anaerobic capacity by 28%. That's Workout 2 above. The study's efforts were extremely hard, well above what most people manage by just "going quickly".
- 4 x 4 minute intervals. A 2007 study by Jan Helgerud and colleagues found that four 4-minute efforts at 90 to 95% of maximum heart rate, with 3 minutes of active recovery, raised VO2 max by 7.2% in eight weeks, more than steady training of the same total work. That study used uphill running, but the same structure works on an air bike.
Assault bike 4 x 4 (bonus VO2 max session):
- 4 minutes hard, at a pace you can only just hold for the full 4 minutes (about 90 to 95% of max heart rate)
- 3 minutes easy pedalling
- Repeat 4 times (28 minutes, including recoveries)
Workouts 1 and 3 also spend a lot of time near your limit, so they're good VO2 max workouts too. One or two of these sessions a week is plenty alongside rugby training.
Assault bike benefits
Assault bikes are simple machines, but you can use them for anything from an easy recovery spin to an all-out session. Here's why they suit rugby players:
- They build aerobic fitness. It's what lets you recover between efforts and keep working into the last ten minutes. Interval and steady work both strengthen your heart and lungs.
- They're full-body and low-impact. Pedalling, pushing and pulling work nearly all of the big muscle groups, with no pounding on your hips, knees and ankles on top of training and matches.
- They burn a lot of energy quickly, because your arms and legs work together, especially with intervals.
- They test your mental stamina. Hard air bike intervals are a controlled way to practise working through discomfort with little risk of injury.
- They're good for rehabilitation. You control the intensity completely, so injured players often use them to keep their fitness up, as long as their physio is happy with it.
- They keep you cool. The fan that provides the resistance also blows a nice draught at you.
The muscles an assault bike works
An assault bike workout uses almost every muscle you have, including:
- quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves
- hip flexors
- chest, back and lats
- shoulders (deltoids)
- biceps and triceps
- abs and obliques
Is it safe to use an assault bike?
Air bike workouts are hard, and like any exercise they carry some risk. To avoid injury or getting sick on the bike, start gradually and build up the intensity over a few sessions. If you have a heart condition or any other health concern, check with your doctor before doing high-intensity intervals.
Assault bike workouts for fat loss
No workout lets you spot-reduce fat. But as you burn energy and lose weight, you'll lose fat everywhere, including around your middle.
High-intensity intervals are a time-efficient way to burn energy. A 2011 review by Stephen Boutcher in the Journal of Obesity suggested high-intensity intermittent exercise may reduce body fat, including abdominal fat, more than steady cardio. Later meta-analyses have generally found intervals and steady cardio produce similar fat loss when total effort is matched, with intervals taking less time. Either way, your diet does most of the heavy lifting for fat loss.
How many calories does an assault bike burn?
It depends on your size and how hard you go. Air bikes can burn energy fast because your arms and legs work together, and an all-out sprint can briefly hit very high rates. You'll often see claims of 80 calories a minute online, but don't expect anything like that across a whole session; even well-trained athletes only hold rates like that for seconds.
Short intervals add up, though. In a 2013 study (Sevits and colleagues, Physiological Reports), a single session of five 30-second all-out sprints on a stationary bike, about two and a half minutes of hard work in total, raised participants' total energy expenditure for the day by around 200 calories.
If your goal is losing fat, remember that the calories you burn on the bike are easy to eat straight back. Tracking your intake for a few weeks is the simplest way to see the full picture, and ParrotPal, a UK calorie and protein tracker, makes logging food quick.
Air bikes for conditioning
Air bike intervals are a good way to build aerobic capacity without the impact of running, which is why they're popular for keeping conditioning up during strength-focused training blocks. Pair them with sprint work on grass, like our acceleration drills, and the big lifts in our rugby training guide.
Combining resistance and cardio in the same interval session also works. A 2015 study by Falcone and colleagues in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that a combined resistance and aerobic interval session burned more energy than resistance-only or aerobic-only sessions of the same length.
What an 8-week air bike study found
A 2022 study by Schlegel, Křehký and Hiblbauer looked at high-intensity interval training on an air bike.
The setup: young, healthy, physically active adults were randomly split into two groups for eight weeks. The experimental group did two interval sessions a week on an air bike (high-intensity intervals and sprint intervals, with work intervals of 15 to 45 seconds). The control group did two sessions of moderate continuous running instead. Both groups also did one bodyweight session a week (squats, push-ups, lunges, planks, sit-ups and handstand holds).
The results: compared with the running group, the air bike group improved significantly in:
- back squat (8.25%)
- pulling strength (7.07%)
- aerobic endurance (18.74%)
- peak oxygen uptake, VO2 peak (10.62%)
The conclusion: interval training on an air bike improved fitness, aerobic capacity and both upper and lower-body strength over eight weeks, and was more effective than moderate running in the short term. It's a small study, but it supports what most coaches already see: the air bike is an efficient tool for building fitness.
Conditioning for other combat sports
Rugby isn't the only sport that needs this kind of repeated-effort fitness. Wrestlers, judoka and Brazilian jiu-jitsu players face the same pattern of hard scrambles with short recoveries, and air bike intervals are a staple of their conditioning too. If you train both, JitsAI's guide to strength and conditioning for BJJ covers what carries over to the mat, and our grip strength guide adds the grip work.
Frequently asked questions
Is an assault bike good for beginners?
Yes. It's low-impact and the resistance matches your effort, so you can go as easy or as hard as you like. Start with short sprints, like the 6-minute HIIT finisher, and keep your first sessions at about 7 out of 10.
What's the difference between an assault bike and an air bike?
Nothing in how they work. "Assault" is a brand; air bike and fan bike are the general names for any bike that uses a fan for resistance and has moving handles. Every workout here works on any air bike.
How long should an assault bike workout be?
Most of the workouts here take 4 to 21 minutes of work after a warm-up. Short, hard sessions are the point: a 4-minute Tabata or a 6-minute finisher is enough to finish a gym session.
Is the assault bike good for VO2 max?
Yes. Hard intervals of 20 seconds to 4 minutes are among the best ways to raise VO2 max, and the original Tabata study was done on a stationary bike. Try Tabata, the pyramid or the 4 x 4 session once or twice a week.
How often should I do assault bike workouts?
Two or three hard sessions a week is plenty on top of rugby or gym training. Leave a day between them, and keep the day before a match easy.
Are assault bike workouts good for losing weight?
They burn a lot of energy in a short time, which helps. But fat loss depends mostly on what you eat, so pair the bike with a sensible diet rather than relying on it alone.
The bottom line
- The best assault bike workouts are short and hard: Tabata, pyramids, max calorie intervals and finishers.
- New to the bike? Start with the 6-minute finisher and a cut-down max calorie session, and don't go flat out in the first 30 seconds.
- Hard intervals raise VO2 max, and an 8-week air bike study found gains in both fitness and strength.
- Pick a workout, write down your numbers, and try to beat them next time.
References
- Tabata I et al. Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1996; 28(10): 1327 to 1330. PubMed 8897392
- Helgerud J et al. Aerobic high-intensity intervals improve VO2max more than moderate training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2007; 39(4): 665 to 671. PubMed 17414804
- Boutcher SH. High-intensity intermittent exercise and fat loss. Journal of Obesity, 2011: 868305. doi:10.1155/2011/868305
- Sevits KJ et al. Total daily energy expenditure is increased following a single bout of sprint interval training. Physiological Reports, 2013. PubMed 24303194
- Falcone PH et al. Caloric expenditure of aerobic, resistance, or combined high-intensity interval training using a hydraulic resistance system in healthy men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2015; 29(3): 779 to 785. PubMed 25162652
- Schlegel P, Křehký A, Hiblbauer J. Physical fitness improvement after 8 weeks of high-intensity interval training with air bike. 2022. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.21669.58081