Form/technique when rising up off of the saddle.

It is almost impossible to NOT rock when you stand on the bike.  Think of a stair stepper or elliptical trainer.  Your whole body becomes involved.  That is why people say to not climb out of the saddle much because it engages more parts of your body and drains your reserves faster.  But there are plenty of people who climb out of the saddle a lot.

Really, the only reason to get out of the saddle is to break things up on a flat section and stretch your legs, to power up a tougher hill section or in a sprint/interval.  You really don't gain a lot by getting out of the saddle otherwise.

Today's top hill climbing cyclists "spin" rather than "mash" up (reasonable) hills.  It's all about cadence and trying to maintain a constant cadence despite the terrain.  A faster uphill cadence 80+ ppm does NOT lend itself to a lot of upper body movement (rocking and bike leaning).  Typically rocking the bike back and forth is wasting energy and shows a rider "mashing" in gear that's not tall enough.  From what I have been told, you should be able to spin up a hill at the same cadence and same form in the saddle as out of the saddle.  When you go out, you're basically "running" the bike up the hill.

I believe the reason for the rise up off the saddle in the training I'm doing is to simulate a hill, not much hills here.

So your saying its pretty much normal to rock the bike side to side. Any other form tip?

 Posted above during your post. Like I said in the above post I believe its to simulate a hill, but I see what your saying in the overuse of energy that may not be needed. I also believe, since this is a beginner program that the rise is to also develop my leg muscles. Thanks for the info.

To simulate a hill ride into a headwind... To develop cycling strength (as opposed to muscular size/definition which I think might be what you're talking about) ride lots and ride hard (sometimes).  A hill will certainly stress your leg muscles, and force you to adjust gearing and often increase your watts.  But in races, especially on a longer hill, the goal is probably to keep your power output close to the same... so you would drop into an easier gear and maintain your cadence.  Sometimes this is impossible, and you will just have to mash up a long/steep hill even in an easy gear at a lower cadence.

To simulate this you could ride one or two gears harder than the gear you think is most comfortable, but try to maintain your cadence.  You'll be forcing your muscles to contract harder and over time your power output will increase.  If you're doing this right, you should only be able to maintain that gear/cadence for a limited set of time before needing to shift back down to recover... so you now have a great bike interval plan (which is a close second to a hill repeat/interval).

Cyclists (different than those who cycle for triathlon usually) often take pride in how hard they can hammer up a hill.  To do so requires more energy not only because you are using your entire body as you throw the bike around, but also because you are switching to fast twitch muscles which have explosive power but limited endurance.  And every match you burn on the bike will be one that's not left for the run.

So is it okay to hammer sometimes in training?  Absolutely!  It teaches your legs to go harder.  And in time, that harder effort will start to feel and look more like your normal effort.  Don't be afraid of hard efforts on the bike... but you've got the gearing to make any course hard regardless of the elevation.