Cycling at Home Essentials

Cycling at home is an essential solution for improving your fitness, cycling performance, and meeting your training goals. If you’re new to the world of cycling, or you’re used to outdoor rides, our guide will help you get to grips with switching up your cycling routine into the comfort of your own home.

Table of Contents:

• 8 Essentials for Cycling at Home
• Benefits of Cycling at Home
• At Home Workouts
• Different Ways to Cycle at Home
• 5 Wattbike-Compatible Apps for Cycling at Home

8 Essentials for Cycling at Home

When cycling at home, there are certain items you’ll need to make the most out of your training for when it counts. Here’s everything you’ll need:

1. Indoor trainer - You will, of course, need an indoor bike trainer in order to start your cycling at home journey.
2. Smart device - In order to make the most of your cycling at home experience, you’ll need a Bluetooth compatible smart device to connect the Wattbike Hub cycling app or Wattbike-compatible training apps.
3. Cycling clothing - Indoor training can be sweaty business, so you’ll need the right cycling sportswear to ensure you’re as cool and comfortable as can be.
4. A fan - We don’t mean someone to cheer you on, although that may help! An indoor cycling fan can help to keep you cool as you workout, as well as recreate that fresh-faced feeling you’d get out on the road.
5. Heart rate monitor - To assess how effective your cycling at home has been, a heart rate monitor can ensure you’re keeping in line with your targets.
6. The perfect set-up - Your indoor trainer needs to be set-up correctly, otherwise you may risk an injury, or you simply won’t be comfortable enough to get the most out of your training.
7. Floor mat - To protect the floors of your cycling at home set-up, you might require an indoor cycling floor mat for your smart bike to rest on.
8. The right food for recovery - Cycling at home doesn’t then mean you can skip out on the rest of your training plan. Ensuring you eat the right foods for recovery is essential to your cycling at home routine.

Benefits of Cycling at Home

When you’re cycling at home, you can really enhance your cycling training. Whether you want to improve your fitness, prepare for sportives, or simply love pushing yourself, here are the benefits of cycling at home with the Wattbike Atom smart bike:

1. Improve Your Fitness

Cycling at home can support your fitness and bolster your overall health. You can stay motivated in your indoor cycling training and keep fit without leaving the house. Plus, the quiet, electromagnetic resistance means you can train on your own schedule without waking up the neighbours

2. Train for Sportives

When preparing for cycling sportives, you might not always have the time to get out on the road. Not only that, but cycling at home means you can make the most of the time spent pedalling. Coach Matt Rowe, of Rowe & King, suggests that an hour indoors “is worth at least 1.5 hours, if not more than on the road”, so you can make sure you’re in the best shape when it counts.

3. Test Your Performance

An at-home cycle trainer means you can reassess your progress. Completing performance tests on the Wattbike Atom can keep you aligned with your targets, and you’ll know what you need to do to improve before it matters.

4. Enhance Your Technique

With our unique Pedal Effectiveness Score (PES) and Polar View, the Atom provides live insight into your left and right-leg balance. You’ll see where you need to improve your pedalling technique and help to avoid injury while cycling at home.

5. Never Miss a Workout

Cycling at home means you commit to your training plan no matter the weather, time of day, or time of year. If it’s dark and cold outside, you’ll spare yourself numb fingers unable to grip handlebars on slippery roads. Instead, you’ll be as confident and comfortable as ever and still make the most of your winter training.

At Home Workouts

Cycling at-home on your smart bike is a convenient and effective training method. You can complete cycling workouts from your at-home set up, and train every aspect of your cycling. The Wattbike Hub cycling app allows you to work towards your goals and enhance your training and performance.

• Endurance - You can improve your cycling endurance with long rides on your smart bike. Cycling at home makes it easier to train for longer periods of time, because you don’t have to carve out time to route-plan or pump up your tyres before heading out.
• Cadence - Select workouts dedicated to improving your cadence with a faster pace sprint session. That way, you’ll train for the final section of a sportive, and improve the number of pedal revolutions you’re able to make in a minute.
• High Intensity Interval Training - If you’re pressed for time, cycling at home offers an efficient way to get in a quick workout. With High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) you can put effort in at a higher zone for a shorter session and make the most of training on a busy schedule.

Different Ways to Cycle at Home

Cycling at home can take on many forms, depending on what kind of data, feedback, and technology you want from your cycling machine. If you’re new to bikes, or just new to cycling at home, here are the different ways you can:

• Smart bikes - Smart bikes like the Wattbike Atom offer unrivalled accuracy, seamless connectivity and customisable gearing.
• Resistance trainers - Resistance trainers allow you to cycle at home, whilst being able to vary how hard you have to work to rotate the flywheel. The Wattbike Pro/Trainer air bike masters air resistance, whilst the Atom harnesses electromagnetic resistance.
• Turbo trainers - Turbos are a way to adapt your outdoor bike to cycle at home. When comparing turbo trainers to smart bikes, you’ll find they compete with a smart bike and may let you down when it comes to performance data and insights.
• Bike rollers- Bike rollers also allow you to cycle at home on your road bike. Your bike sits on top of cylinders or “rollers” which rotate as you pedal. When comparing bike rollers to smart bikes, you’ll find rollers require a lot of balance, control, and can’t offer the same insights into your technique.

5 Wattbike-Compatible Apps for Cycling at Home

Wattbike compatible cycling apps are able to provide you with training plans, workouts, and connect your at-home cycling to real world routes. You can even train for the Tour de France whilst cycling at home or recreate your favourite local trails virtually.

The best indoor cycling apps are those which help you stay motivated, push you towards your targets, and allow you to build on your training plans and make real improvements.

• Zwift cycling app - see your speed, power and cadence stats in real time, complete virtual routes, and compete against fellow riders.
• TrainerRoad cycling app - a personalised, AI-powered experience, designed to enhance your training and bring you closer to your goals.
• Fulgaz cycling app - 400+ routes in amazing 4K Video, including filtered GPS data to bring every ride to life.
• TrainingPeaks cycling app - training software across mobile and desktop, with structured workouts and the ability to track progress from anywhere.
• Rouvy cycling app - enjoy animated 3D rides in 2D videos, which give the feel of truly cycling outdoors, as well as live leaderboards to compete against others cycling at home.
• Strava cycling app - connect the Wattbike Hub so you can track all your workouts on the Atom, to stay on top of every single cycling at home session.

Cycling at Home with Wattbike

At Wattbike, we’re passionate about providing the very best indoor training experience. Hear how real athletes use Wattbike on our Push Your Peak podcast, and see how you can also be prepared when it counts, through off-feet conditioning and performance tests.