# Hill repeats or HIIT workout?



## ddoh (Jan 11, 2017)

If you could do only one hard effort per week, which do you think offers a better workout to get faster generally?


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

I'd do 3 hours of hill repeats since it is actual riding and if a steep enough hill, worth it

but only one hard effort a week ? gimme a break that is really nothing and you can't really be a fast biker on that...you can barely be a weekend warrior on that


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## pctloper (Jan 3, 2016)

Are you doing non-hard efforts say 2X also or just once a week workout---if once a week you will not get anywhere but tired. 


But if you are focused on bike fitness then ride--if on the overall body than anything else is better if it is weight-bearing.


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

127.0.0.1 said:


> I'd do 3 hours of hill repeats since it is actual riding and if a steep enough hill, worth it
> 
> but only one hard effort a week ? gimme a break that is really nothing and you can't really be a fast biker on that...you can barely be a weekend warrior on that


That depends on the stress of the workout. At our age range, anything more than 2x/week for a solid high intensity workout (aerobic capacity, for ex) is too much.


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

HIIT and hill repeats can be the same thing depending on how long the hill is and how hard you go up that hill. I put together a road ride with a number of relatively short steep hills and would do each hill three times killing my self to get to the top each time. That was essentially a HIIT workout.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

I'm jus saying one hard workout a week will bring you up to a basic level but not make you very competitive if that is your thing

one hard workout a week and 5 easy 1 hour rides the rest of the week is pretty good. easy rides keep things awake w/o stress and needing to refuel a boatload

but 2 hard workouts a week and easy rides in between will be a big improvement. the 2nd workout can be squats to failure which is short and sweet (minutes vs hours of riding)

so, at any rate, I'd say do hill repeats for 3 hours (3 hours... let yer body soak in misery you don't need to kill yourself all at once, just slog thru the timeframe) and super easy short rides for each next 3 days then maybe a 30 min failure squat workout at home (just bodyweight is good too) will pay off hugely

op does not provide any more information about other rides or the rest of the week, so basically one hard ride a week...i'd do real actual hills till you wanna die


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## GlazedHam (Jan 14, 2004)

ddoh said:


> If you could do only one hard effort per week, which do you think offers a better workout to get faster generally?


Not being a smart a**, but getting faster "generally" is only a so-so goal. Why not set a more specific goal and then you will have an easier time designing a plan to meet that goal.

To answer your question though ...HIIT for the win.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

hill repeats and your goals or HIIT can be sections of that hill. oh steeper here ? jam. levels out and long steady smooth ? big gear time...mix it up


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## Le Duke (Mar 23, 2009)

Are you talking about riding hard one day a week?

Or, riding one day a week, and you want to ride hard, and trying to decide between hill climb repeats vs HIIT?


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## ddoh (Jan 11, 2017)

To further explain: I was doing a HIIT, a hill repeat and and longer hard ride each week along with some regular riding. I really got a lot faster. Now that I'm doing more group rides, I sometimes find I only have time for one solo workout per week and I'm wondering which one will be more beneficial.


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## Le Duke (Mar 23, 2009)

ddoh said:


> To further explain: I was doing a HIIT, a hill repeat and and longer hard ride each week along with some regular riding. I really got a lot faster. Now that I'm doing more group rides, I sometimes find I only have time for one solo workout per week and I'm wondering which one will be more beneficial.


Well, you need to define "beneficial", then.

The problem with HIIT is that, generally speaking, if you're doing them right you will "peak" or plateau in your fitness, and then fall off that plateau. Most physiologists appear to agree that that kind of workout is good for the final sharpening of an athlete heading into a primary competition time frame.

If you're looking to build general fitness without necessarily peaking, I'd do longer hill climb efforts. 10, 15, 20min if you can. Hard, but not too hard.


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## GlazedHam (Jan 14, 2004)

ddoh said:


> To further explain: I was doing a HIIT, a hill repeat and and longer hard ride each week along with some regular riding. I really got a lot faster. Now that I'm doing more group rides, I sometimes find I only have time for one solo workout per week and I'm wondering which one will be more beneficial.


Functional Threshold Power.


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

Why do boring ****?

Just do whatever you like doing best, and if it's not so efficient, then that's good because you get to do more of what you like doing to get the same result as a miserable schedule drawn up by the exercise Nazis.


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## ddoh (Jan 11, 2017)

Thanks GH. I find #1 very interesting.


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## ddoh (Jan 11, 2017)

Velobike said:


> Why do boring ****?
> 
> Just do whatever you like doing best, and if it's not so efficient, then that's good because you get to do more of what you like doing to get the same result as a miserable schedule drawn up by the exercise Nazis.


Thats sorta been my philosophy until Covid. Starting in March when I had time on my hands and lots of solo riding, I decided to try more structured workouts. Challenging myself in this way gets me out the door when I might otherwise blow off a ride.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

oh heck if doing other riding and group rides, I'd say stay at home and pound out squats and end each set with a wall squat where you hold for 1-5 minutes in pain. blow your legs up. and maybe some plyometric squats doesn't take long to do, hurts, and the payoff is HUGE on rides...you'll just laugh at the hills

in the middle of a wall squat where you are just about to quit, think to yourself...no one is working as hard as I am right now...and stay with it. nothing on a bike ride will hurt as much as that wall squat, and you'll find actual hills are nothing to your legs anymore (of course it is still highly aerobic, but your legs won't *****)


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## jimPacNW (Feb 26, 2013)

Keeping in mind that this it the 50+ forum, not the racing/training forum: I'm a big fan of a short steep loop for hill repeats. My hill repeat loop is a 10 second +- climb that I could barely make it up once (one friend said it's 30deg at the steepest spot, is that possible?), and there's a B line climb I can go back down to make a loop out of it. One day after barely making it up the climb once (it's part of my xc training lap), I wondered what it would do for my race results if I got strong on that climb and could do it a bunch of times. Maybe coincidentally, but my race results improved as I got to where I could do that loop/repeat a dozen times, - and a dozen would/will really wreck me for the rest of the day. I can ride there from my house and be home again in 30-40 minutes, which is great for those days that I don't have much time to ride. From a racers perspective, you should be able to do hard-short efforts like that several times back to back (loop).
I also like the really steep climb because the focus is on actually riding the climb, and making it over that last root, which distracts a lot from the difficulty of the effort. I hesitate to say that it's a substitute for longer climbs, but I've done well on longer race climbs from mostly training with short hills. 

If you have a nearby really steep climb that would work as a repeat, give it a try and see how it goes.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

127.0.0.1 said:


> nothing on a bike ride will hurt as much as that wall squat


Except your lungs.


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## LMN (Sep 8, 2007)

Hills. Mainly because hills are followed by downhills.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

I generally do a combination of HIIT and longer-duration, steady-state cardio. I ride (and run) in an area that is hilly. I don't do "hill repeats" but I try to do HIIT at home (in my basement gym) about 3 times per week.

If you have time to do hill repeats instead of HIIT the goal is to ensure that you still have some energy left in reserve near the end of the race or ride and are able to make it up that last hill or sprint to the finish.

I like to do a long run or ride once a week which are regarded as steady-state training where I'm working on pacing to get comfortable with the longer distances. The nice thing about HIIT is it will kick your ass into shape, but mentally there's quite a difference between knowing that you've got a couple 30 second sprints left and knowing that you've got another 30 minutes of running or riding to do.

Both types of training have their benefits, and that's why you'll see a lot of athletes that do both. It really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If your big concern is losing a bit of pudge and not feeling winded after running up a flight of stairs, then HIIT are best and doesn't take up as much time. If you want to be running a marathon, or prepping for an enduro race then mixing some longer, steady-state workouts, as well as some hills, in there as well.


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

I ride 5 or 6 days a week. I don't road ride, but I get in 1 or 2 easy rides per week with my wife. I do some yard work and I've been drinking more beer. I've been getting PRs on 40 minute or so nonstop climbs above 7000 feet or so.
I suppose I'd be faster if I had a dedicated training plan, but that seems like it would be a nuisance.


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## 33red (Jan 5, 2016)

Just sell your car.
3 days weekly you go to the grocery store and pedal sprints to burn your legs and lungs.
If there is one close by ya do repeat fullspeed climbs.


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