Everybody…and I mean everybody has a “love-hate” relationship with the Concept2 rower.
The same could be said about the Assault Bike and/or Echo Bike…although this relationship leans a lot more towards pure hate.
…but the Concept2 Bike Erg…that’s where things get tricky.
For whatever reason, it is pretty much the black sheep of the CrossFit cardio machines (yes, even more so than the Concept2 Ski Erg!). So much so that there are a lot of videos like this one that are around to answer the most basic questions about it:
…but videos like that are for newbs…not fledgling Tour De France cyclists like you.
If you willingly clicked on this post, you know all about what the Bike Erg is capable of (you did click on a “best Bike Erg workouts” article, after all)…and want to push things a bit further. Lucky for you, our topic of discussion today happens to be…
Table of Contents
The Top 9 Best Bike Erg Workouts
We have a good mix of Bike Erg workouts in this short, but comprehensive list. WODs where the bike is the focus and WODs where the bike is the accessory movement. Throwdown WODs, Hero WODs, Sentinel Training WODs…every kind of Bike Erg workout you might want.
Let’s get started!
2024 Belgrade Games WOD 1
This one could just as easily have been included in the 200+ CrossFit Machine Workouts ebook and is one of the rare WODs to include 3 Concept2 machines.
…and double-unders…a lot of double-unders.
Some would argue that this is more of a test pure fitness as opposed to a “pure” Bike Erg WOD. With that being said, this is definitely one of those workouts where, due to its placement in the WOD, you can’t win it on the bike…but you can definitely lose it…
BNCP
A ~2000-meter bike interval doesn’t take as long as you may think (for most people, the 3:45-4:30 range is appropriate). This is just enough time to make yourself crazy thinking about the low-volume, high-intensity barbell movements that follow…
…and we all know how 20-minute AMRAPs go (speaking for myself, at least, I’m usually ready to be done by minute 4).
I Know You’ve Got 5 Minutes
Good news: you have at most, 5 minutes of pain.
Bad news: if you want to finish, you have 45 heavy d-balls (sandbags work here, too) and Bike Erg sprints.
I promise I won’t hold it against you if you don’t finish this one!
AMRAP 4 Autism 2019
A great partner WOD for a great cause!
And what’s even better…a partner WOD where you get to split most of the reps!
32 minutes is 32 minutes though, and if you actually want to win this one, you’re gonna have to go really hard and really fast. Skip to the :56 mark above to find out why!
Bike, Muscle-ups, & Deadlifts
To be honest, this looks like some kind of CrossFit Games workout to me. Can you really blame me, though? They have friggin’ Boz introducing and discussing it:
This is definitely not a sprint WOD and prepare to be on the bike for a long time relative to the other stuff (especially if you’re strong and are solid on muscle-ups).
CrossFit.com 231117
It’s 165 calories of each movement (or 165 total calories each if you decide to split things evenly with your partner).
You’re welcome.
Concept2 Triathlon
On more than one occasion (probably closer to 2303408231 times), I’ve made the joke that “I’d love do a triathlon as long as I didn’t have to bike or swim”.
HA…..Ha…..ha…
Anyways, Concept2 has allowed me to (kinda) fulfil my dream…a triathlon with simulated biking and no swimming!
This dude didn’t come close to doing the entire thing (good pace, though!) but he makes it look more fun than his pained facial expression implies.
Chips Don’t Lie
This is kind of a variation of the Belgrade Games workout above, but definitely has more sprint elements to it: the shorter distances, fewer double-unders, built-in rest…
…yeah…if you want a competitive score on this one, you gotta go.
Tour de Self Made
There are a lot of different “Tour de xxxx” workouts that utilize a Bike Erg to simulate a half-marathon bike ride…but I do Sentinel Training so this is the one that made the list.
Named after the totally humble Taylor Self, by the end of this one you’ll have a really good grasp on what each damper setting feels like (which is actually pretty useful and important information for future workouts). You’ll also probably feel like using some of Taylor’s choice outbursts to describe your experience…
Bike Easy or Die…
A cool thing (or a really not cool thing about it, if it just makes you lazy) about the Bike Erg is that if you just wanna chill, laid back workout, it’s not hard to bike easy for a bit. Step into any CrossFit (or other) gym with a line of these bikes and you’re bound to see 3-10 people casually “warming up” as the bike, faces in phones.
…but you can also really kill yourself in ways that I’ve never been able to on a rower or even an Echo Bike.
The raddest (and most overrated) NES games of all time gave you the following option:
The Bike Erg (and these 9 WODs) give you the updated, less rad, but better option…
As we finish up, we invite you to check out my review of Sentinel Training’s 200+ Machine Conditioning Workouts. If you need a few more workouts that are intentionally designed to maximize aerobic capacity for CrossFit, check ’em out.
