Olympic gold medalist Hilary Knight swears by short, intense bursts on an air bike for a total body workout. Here's her routine.

• Team USA gold medalist hockey star Hilary Knight is preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
• One way Knight is training is with short bursts of a high-intensity exercise on an air bike.

US women's hockey star Hilary Knight is set to play in the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, and she is training for The Games with intense bursts on an air bike in her home workout setup.

The 32-year-old gold medalist is not sparring any expense to make sure she is fit and conditioned for her fourth Olympic appearance in Beijing.

Knight said her most efficient workout routine is a sprint workout on an Assault Bike that involves short explosive bursts of endurance work, which she does after full-body strength training.

"The hardest workouts usually have a longer portion of cardio after a hard strength session," Knight told Insider.

Knight's bike workout is built on short intervals of intense action:

• Eight sets of 10-second bike sprints with 20-second breaks
• Eight sets of 20-second bike sprints with 10-second breaks
• Another eight sets of 10-second bike sprints with 20-second breaks

Knight's methods are helping her get prepared to compete in a fast-paced contact sport on the world stage, but her routine can also be an effective tool for anyone looking to combine high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with full-body strengh training.

"Hockey is a full body sport, so you need to train everything," she said.

Assault bikes can be a challenging workout to build strength and endurance if used correctly

The principle of HIIT is to give a series of exercises your full effort for short bursts of 30 to 60 seconds, and follow it with an even shorter period of rest.

An assault bike can be an effective tool for getting that burst of energy while also being a full-body strength workout that targets the upper body, lower body, and core with the right pacing.

In order to get the most out of your assault bike workout, you need to find your optimal maximum aerobic speed, according to celebrity trainer Mike Boyle via Daily Burn.

Boyle's method for finding your ideal bike sprint speed:

• Ride an assault bike at a sustainable pace for five to six minutes
• Read your average RPM, which is displayed on the user interface of most assault bikes
• Push to achieve 110% of your average RPM over the five-to-six-minute period for just 30 to 60 seconds, with less than 30 seconds of rest between each set.