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What are some good beginner benchmarks I should aim for with the exercise bike at the gym? Like should I be aiming for say half an hour, a certain incline level or a certain speed? I'm not unfit but I just haven't trained this way before.
Do you have wattage numbers? The typical approach measuring cycling competence is looking at W/kg and ability to sustain that over time. The most frequent measure you'll see is the FTP, which is basically how much power you're able to sustain for 20 minutes of all-out riding. This chart is a good starting point for understanding where you're at, although the categories above "untrained" are literally all for people that are intending to compete in cycling, so don't be discouraged if you can't hit them. I would say that if you're not really a cyclist, an FTP over 2 W/kg is a solid starting point. If you're over 3, you're doing quite well already. There's so much individual variance that it's hard to say exactly what would qualify as a good beginner benchmark - I would say to figure out where you're at and then just make improvement the goal rather than worrying too much about whether you're currently good.
Agreed, that's basically the only chart people reference for benchmarks. Sometimes referred to as Coggan's power level chart. I wanted to add that the author has mentioned several times its only meant to be illustrative not prescriptive.
Critical power can also be a useful training tool to supplement FTP as it takes more than one point on the power-time curve as input.
How you should train depends on goals. If you just want someone to tell you what to do and are just riding for exercise concept2 has a bikeerg WOD. If you hate yourself and are a beginner you can alternate VO2 max interval and threshold days. Anything more advanced than that one would probably need to consult a more exhaustive resource on training. The Cyclist's Training Bible is a popular one.
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