The assault bike or rogue echo bike is (in my humble opinion), one of the best pieces of equipment to build your cardiovascular capacity! That being said, it is also one of the most challenging things you can do in the gym. Here are some things I’ve learned in order to improve and maximize your output!
#1 Focus on your form
The first tip for improving your performance on the assault bike is to focus on your form. Like all movement, better form will increase efficiency and help create more power, the assault bike is no exception. When you’re using the assault bike, make sure you sit up straight (or a slight lean) with your shoulders back and your core engaged. Think about driving down hard with the legs, and then pulling through with your hamstrings. Don’t forget that your arms can help generate power too! If you focus only on legs, then you will quickly burnout and power decreases. You want to press and pull back through with the arms in order to get everything you can out of them.
#2 Practice, practice, practice
I can tell you from experience that avoiding the bike isn’t going to help at all. Some cardio machines don’t require constant attention in order to maintain capacity, the bike does not follow that rule. While easy to brush off and avoid, the best way to get better at the bike is to use it. Nothing else has quite the same feel, so make sure you take as many opportunities’ to use the bike as possible. Overtime you will feel the difference and you’ll find that other machines even become easier!
#3 Vary your workouts
Finally, if you want to improve your performance on the assault bike, it’s important to vary your workouts. Doing the same workout every time can be boring and you’ll be missing out on other useful energy systems (fast twitch, anaerobic, etc.). I find the best path is to mix things up with intervals when you can. One day you should do some 2min+ intervals and then the next time go for hard :20 sprints with plenty of rest in-between. This not only creates better overall fitness, but gives you more insight on what kind of power you can generate on specific workouts.
In conclusion, the assault (or echo) bike is probably one of the best tools you can use to build endurance, power and over fitness capacity. It can be tough mentally to get on, but once you do the gains are substantial! Get after it and happy riding!
