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Cycling · Endurance
VO₂max intervals
Intermediate · 40–54 · ~55 min
Five-minute efforts that raise your aerobic ceiling. Below is a research-backed prompt for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, copy it, paste the reply into sweatcue, and run the whole cycling workout hands-free.
Session at a glance
This is how sweatcue structures the session once you paste it in, timed blocks with auto-starting rest and spoken cues. Figures are read from the prompt itself.
The prompt
Copy the complete prompt (it wraps the request below so the AI returns a clean, runnable session).
Why it's built this way
Five-minute efforts at 106–120% of FTP maximise time spent near VO₂max, which raises your aerobic ceiling. Gate them by power and breathing, heart rate lags too much to control short, hard work, so use it only as a drift or ceiling check.
Sources: Allen & Coggan, Training and Racing with a Power Meter (power levels); Rønnestad et al., Scand J Med Sci Sports 2020
Who this workout is for
Built with one person in mind: 40s–50s, ride regularly, chasing more sustainable power.
- You’re an intermediate-level trainer and you want a bigger aerobic engine.
- You have access to the kit it calls for: bike, a chair / support.
- You want a single, repeatable cycling workout you can drop into your week.
Who should adapt or skip it
- It’s low-risk for healthy adults. Scale the loads and reps to your own level rather than copying the top of every range on day one.
- As with any new routine, check with a clinician first if you have a medical condition, are injured, pregnant, or returning from a long lay-off. This is general information, not medical advice.
What a 2-week plan looks like
A single session works best on a repeating weekly rhythm. Here’s a simple, balanced two-week block at about 3 sessions a week, on non-consecutive days so you recover between them:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | ● | · | ● | · | ● | · | · |
| Week 2 | ● | · | ● | · | ● | · | · |
● This session· Easy cross-training or rest
Keep session days apart where you can, and adjust for how you feel. When you paste the AI’s reply into sweatcue, each session runs hands-free with spoken cues and timers.
Run it hands-free in sweatcue
sweatcue is an AI workout dashboard: paste the AI's reply and it runs the whole session on screen and out loud, auto timers, spoken cues for every set, rest and rep, and your live numbers. The AI writes it; sweatcue runs it.
More cycling & related workouts
New to prompting an AI for workouts?
Start with the full workout library, learn the method in how to write a workout prompt, or see what an AI workout dashboard does.