8 SOLID Rogue Echo bike workouts for beginners

If you’ve got your hands on a Rogue Echo then you will be equal parts delighted and confused. You have an AWESOME bit of equipment, but with the endless configurability just what workouts are the best for your goals? Here are 8 excellent progressions anyone can try – beginners and experts welcome!

Some of the BEST Rogue Echo workouts for beginners…

We all know the Echo is an absolute BEAST that can humble anyone. What is harder is knowing how to SYSTEMATICALLY train using the Echo in a way that allows you to develop over time. What I mean by this is that it’s clear you can jump on the bike and thrash away until you puke, but just how do we program our cardio in a smarter fashion that progressively improves our output over time?

Here are a few awesome workouts to try on your Echo bike…

Building a base: Endurance workouts

If you are new to the Rogue bike then building a base is a good way to learn to pace yourself with your new toy. As noted above it is too easy to thrash yourself in to oblivion, but knowing you have 30+ minutes to go can slow you down.

Try this workout to improve your endurance – start by building a base over the first few weeks then cut back the duration and increase the effort to peak a little and really test yourself in the final week of the cycle:

Workout Progression 1: The endurance ladder

Week	Type	Duration	Effort	Comments
1	Light intensity, steady state	20 minutes (2x a week)	RPE 6	Light sweat, effort level reflects ability to hold a conversation
2	Light intensity, steady state	25 minutes (2x a week)	RPE 6
3	Light intensity, steady state	30 minutes (2x a week)	RPE 6
4	Light intensity, steady state	35 minutes (2x a week)	RPE 6
5	Light intensity, steady state	40 minutes (2x a week)	RPE 6
6	Light intensity, steady state	30 minutes (2x a week)	RPE 8	Hard effort, talking would only be a few words due to intensity; Likely a heavy sweat; Effort consistent across the duration

If you can’t fit two sessions in each week then simply spread it out over twice as long – so instead of being a 6 week progression extend it out over 12.

High intensity: Simple HIIT sessions

I split high intensity workouts in to two camps – first up is the simple (but not easy!) kind. This category is characterised by being relatively repetitive and easy to remember, so generally a set work/rest interval repeated or working for a single goal or duration. 

These workouts are best when you just want to jump on the bike and GO, they tend to be repetitive enough that they don’t require too much planning and you can easily progress from workout to workout by adding a few extra rounds.

Workout Progression 2: Tabata 20/10

Week	Type	Duration	Effort	Comments
1	Tabata style, HIIT	8 minutes (2 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10	All rounds should be maximum effort for work duration; Rest for a minute between rounds
2	Tabata style, HIIT	12 minutes (3 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10
3	Tabata style, HIIT	12 minutes (3 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10
4	Tabata style, HIIT	16 minutes (4 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10
5	Tabata style, HIIT	16 minutes (4 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10
6	Tabata style, HIIT	20 minutes (5 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10

Workout Progression 3: Tabata 10/20

Week	Type	Duration	Effort	Comments
1	Tabata style, HIIT	8 minutes (2 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10	All rounds should be maximum effort for work duration; Rest for a minute between rounds
2	Tabata style, HIIT	12 minutes (3 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10
3	Tabata style, HIIT	12 minutes (3 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10
4	Tabata style, HIIT	16 minutes (4 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10
5	Tabata style, HIIT	16 minutes (4 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10
6	Tabata style, HIIT	20 minutes (5 rounds, 2x a week)	RPE 10

Tabata workouts have the benefit of being pre-installed on your Echo, simply hit one of the two top right button and you will be in to the right menu making it really easy to get started. Each “round” consists of 8x repetitions of 20 seconds maximum effort followed by 10 seconds rest, or vice versa depending if you go for progression 2 or 3 above. The lack of rest makes these workouts short, intense and brutal – good luck!

Workout progression 4: Strength and conditioning circuits

Week	Type	Duration	Effort	Comments
1	HIIT with longer rest periods	7x rounds of 20s on / 1:40 off	RPE 10	All rounds should be maximum effort for work duration;

If you just want to get SOME cardio in around an otherwise strength-focused training calendar and want to keep it as simple as you can then you can then simply hitting 7 – 14x rounds of a basic 20s maximum effort / 1:40s rest works well. This one is deliberately flexible on number of rounds and times per week to fit around any recovery issues from strength training.

Workout progression 5: Maximum calories in fixed time

Week	Type	Duration	Effort	Comments
1	Medium-High intensity	5 minutes for max calories (2x a week)	RPE 9	Aim for maximum effort that can be SUSTAINED across the time period. This pacing is important
2	Medium-High intensity	7.5 minutes for max calories (2x a week)	RPE 9
3	Medium-High intensity	10 minutes for max calories (2x a week)	RPE 9

Nice and straightforward – how many calories can you burn in a fixed time period? There is only one way to find out. The secret this workout is PACING yourself. Burn out too fast and you will have a tortuous time on the bike!

Workout progression 6: Fixed calories, shortest time

Week	Type	Duration	Effort	Comments
1	Medium-High intensity	10 calories (2x a week)	RPE 9	Aim for maximum effort that can be SUSTAINED for as long as required. This pacing is important
2	Medium-High intensity	20 calories (2x a week)	RPE 9
3	Medium-High intensity	30 calories for max calories (2x a week)	RPE 9
4	Medium-High intensity	40 calories for max calories (2x a week)	RPE 9
5	Medium-High intensity	50 calories for max calories (2x a week)	RPE 9

This is the best way to train for the Rogue 50cal challenge or similar event. Start with a far lower and manageable target such as 10 calories and simply add to your target each week. If you have a  good engine or base ability then start on week 3. Jump in to week 5 at your peril (ask me how I know!)

High intensity: More complex HIIT programming

Some of the more complex options are a bit less predictable – I’ve captured a few open ended workouts here where the duration will depend on your stamina on any given day. Here are a few to try out:

Workout progression 7: Death by 2 cals

Week	Type	Duration	Effort	Comments
All	High	Perform 2 calories on the bike then rest for the remainder of the minute; On second minute perform 4 calories, third 6 calories etc. until you cannot meet the target	RPE 10	This will start easy but intensity will ramp up quickly.

This is a great way to capture a bit of a warm up in to your actual routine. The downside is the duration is unknown – so if you want to hit a certain number of minutes of work in any given week these may not be for you. If you want to prolong the workout then increase by 1 calorie instead of 2.

Workout progression 8: Calorie ladder

Week	Type	Duration	Effort	Comments
All	High	Descending calories per round as follows, rest for the same time it takes to hit each target (1:1 work:rest); 20 – 18 – 16 – 14 – 12 – 10 – 8 – 6 – 4 – 2	RPE 10	This will start easy but intensity will ramp up quickly.

A ladder gives you he chance to vary your time under tension by reducing calorie targets over time. I find calorie ladders a little friendlier than the durations just through personal experience, so I would recommend giving these a go, even if it can be a little hard to plan and track it time wise!

Can I incorporate both HIIT and LISS workouts in my training?

Yes you definitely can. Try both LISS and HIIT out and take it from there – the most important thing is getting your cardio IN so if that means you lean towards one or other then that is completely fine. If you like (or dislike) both equally then mix them together – maybe 1x HIIT and 1x LISS session a week would work for you!

Conclusion

There are near endless workout possibilities with the Rogue Echo bike – above are 8 excellent progressions to get you started but you might want to scale these up or down to match your own fitness levels. I love building a base with longer LISS sessions then slowly add in high intensity training periodically. This seems to fit well with my other training priorities and the time I have available.