Hills and Ladders – Indoor Cycling Class Profile

Hills and Ladders with varying intervals and fun tunes is what this ride is all about. Climb those steep hills then go right into another challenge with regular and reverse ladders drills.

Hey guys! Today I wanted to share a profile with you that’s special. The idea of this ride as well as the playlist for it came from Kelly Crymble to me. I changed up a few things to fit my style and my class absolutely loved it! I’m sure yours will, too.

Thanks so much for sharing your ride with me, Kelly!

Hills and Ladders – Indoor Cycling Class Profile

Class duration: 42 minutes and 52 seconds

iTunes Playlist:

If you’re a Spotify kind of person, here’s one for you (follow me there):

Class Notes:

1: “Diverse City”, tobyMac  – Warm up

2: “Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars)”, Mark Ronson – Running, “Reverse Ladder” (60/60, 45/45, 30/30)

Standing/Seated Flat reverse ladder. The ladder starts with the working interval of a 60 second “Run” (Standing Flat), followed by a 60 second interval of the Seated Flat. Repeat for 45/45 and 30/30.

The cadence range for the Standing Flat part is 80-90 RPM, and for the Seated Flat part of the intervals – 90-100 RPM.

Generally, I consider this first working song to be extended warm up.

3: “Hideaway”, Kiesza  – Interval Climb (30 seconds seated/30 seconds standing)

Love this interval climb! The 30 second intervals are just perfect to stay engaged and still work hard. Add moderate resistance in the beginning.

Stay within 70-80 RPM for both seated and standing parts of the climb (since the resistance in moderate here, concentrate on maintaining the climbing cadence steady and at the higher end of the recommended climbing cadence of 60-80 RPM).

4: “Give Me Everything (feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer)”, Pitbull – Speed Surges Ladder (15/15, 30/30, 45/45)

The first interval is a working interval of 15 seconds – keep the resistance from the previous climb and sprint – “all out” effort with the resistance on – as fast as you can within the safe cadence range.

Take the resistance back to flat road level and catch a breath for 15 seconds settling around 80 RPM.

For the second interval of 30 seconds – accelerate on flat road taking the cadence up to 90-100 RPM, in 30 seconds – slow down to 80-90 RPM.

Repeat for 45 and then 60 second intervals.

5: “My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up)”, Fall Out Boy – Combo Climb

Seated Climb – Standing Climb – Jumps on a Hill combo, each interval being 30 seconds.

Encourage your class to add all the resistance in the beginning as there will be no additional resistance increases during this section.

6: “Scream”, Usher – Gradient Climb

Since we just did a pretty serious work climbing seated, standing and then jumping take the resistance back to the flat road level in the beginning of this segment and recover for about a minute.

Then – start adding resistance every 30 seconds and transition to standing climb on chorus.

Cadence on this gradient climb goes from 70-80 RPM in the beginning to 60-65 RPM after the last resistance increase.

7: “Never Again”, Kelly Clarkson – Ladder of Jumps

This time jumps will be on a flat road and should be performed at a higher cadence (I encouraged my class to perform jumps at their own pace – at least for the count of 4 pedal strokes standing and 4 seated).

This ladder starts with a 60 second recovery after previous gradient hill (count it as the first 60 of the ladder below), followed by the reverse ladder of Jumps and Rest intervals as below:

• 60/60
• 45/45
• 30/30
• 15/15

8: “This Little Light”, Rapture Ruckus – cont. Ladder of Jumps

Continue the reverse ladder from above, and then start over (enough time to finish the previous ladder and to do 60/60 of another ladder).

9: “Titanium (feat. Sia)”, David Guetta – Seated/Standing Climb

Add all the resistance to a heavy climb in the beginning of the song, climb seated, then transition to standing climb on chorus. Encourage the class to work on steady effort and steady cadence both standing and seated on this drill.

10: “Too Close”, Alex Clare – Seated Climb/Standing Surges

Add resistance to the heaviest climb of the class. Climb seated, then transition to standing and pick up the pace on chorus.

11: “I Feel So Alive”, Capital Kings – Cool down

Wanna know how to time all that and not go insane? Use this app:

Here’s your free .pdf download from the Class Builder app to help you out: Ride 52 – Hills and Ladders – Kelly Crymble

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Done with that?

Pick up a few essentials I use for teaching my classes:

And there you have it, my dear in/outdoor cyclists!

Do let me know in comments if you use this to teach your indoor cycling class and how it works for you!

Ride on!

DISCLAIMER:

Please note that while I make every effort to capture and present these indoor cycling class / Spinning class profiles accurately, the class profiles and class descriptions posted on this blog do not constitute complete instruction for teaching the indoor cycling class / Spinning class. No statement is made to the suitability or otherwise of the indoor cycling profiles presented on this blog. Care must always be taken when riding an indoor cycle. Please, consult your physician before starting an exercise program. The indoor cycling class / Spinning class profiles presented are not meant to be exercise and/or personal recommendations, but only examples of workouts that the author completed in the past. The owner and authors of these cycling class profiles will not be responsible or liable for any injury, illness or death resulting from the use of the information contained in this article.