I hope you made it through the holidays well and have started 2020 with a renewed approach to improving your riding. Let's keep pushing the gym work, starting with the introduction of part two of our offseason series.
In December, I taught you a
five workout superset to work on hip and shoulder stability. You should be feeling the fruits of that labor as we move into step two, uni-lateral stability and core blaster routine. I suggest continuing to use December's program at least once a week while you do this one twice.
This month's goal is to create forces though the body in three planes of movement (sagittal, frontal, transverse). Think of it as 'anti-rotation' training and/or "posture maintenance under load" types of training. We all know that pulling harder on our handlebars during a sprint or uphill effort results in a stronger leg push. This is your muscular system being able to transfer those hand-to-feet forces efficiently. This is one important training aspect that we mountain bikers need more than road cyclists simply due to the terrain we ride. Force transfer in the body is often one of the causes of injury because the "weak link" in the chain tends to be the point of most stress occurrence. So, when you work to create more efficiency in your upper body to lower body force transfer, it opens up the opportunity to increase wattage, ride longer, have more strength-endurance and especially helps to handle OTB's and other crash scenarios.
Like in the video, perform each of these five exercises back-to-back without rest. See variables below.
Curtsey LungeVariables: Exercise #1- 6-10 reps each side
Exercise #2- MAX form - stop two reps before form suffers
Exercise #3- 10-15 reps each leg
Exercise #4- 6-10 reps each leg
Exercise #5- 20-30 reps total
Rest 90 seconds and perform 2-4 sets depending on your experience and fitness level
I want to challenge you to three gym training sessions per week. You can try a schedule similar to this:
Monday - Off
Tuesday - Gym day - do this circuit and whatever else
Wednesday - Ride, Interval type workout
Thursday - Gym day - do this circuit (or December's) and whatever else
Friday - Off or Skills day
Saturday - Gym day - do this circuit, then go ride or visa-versa
Sunday - Big ride day
Don't forget how important rest days are. This is when you give your body and brain the chance to accept and absorb the stress you have imposed upon it during your training sessions. You do not improve while training, it's rest that allows you to improve. Be smart. Rest.
Coach Dee is an ambassador for
@yeticycles and trainer to thousands worldwide. He's used his MTB training programs to win two season championships as a Masters racer in the
@BigMtnEnduro series. Click
here to find a program to fit your exact needs.
Want more training content? Check out previous
articles.
Doing these with proper form and weight (for your strength) will also do wonders for core strength and stability.
But then I guess some businesses could be hurt if people found out basic foundation movements are actually what they need
@enduromtbtrainer I'm not advocating for using a Smith machine but rather barbell movements where you need to stabilize the weight in all vectors besides the bar path. And no, I'm not implying your movements are BS, I would happily do them had I way more free time. For the time I have available, I'll focus on the basics.
The reason for my original comment is that I spend enough time daily at the gym and CF box to witness amateurs spending too much time on accessories and not enough on the meat and potatoes. One can also go check most conditioning articles on MTB websites and mags and the majority of them are about an array of accessory movements. What I find is that 90% of riders I know (totally anecdotal statement) lack strength, is it upper body strength, hip strength or knee stability, to mention some. Considering these are mostly amateurs with a limited schedule, who would likely rather be riding, one would think training basic strength movements would be a better time investment.
Most of the Pros we see at Instagram doing some waky rotational elastic band thing are showing clickbaity clips from the 10min a day they spent at that, rather than the boring 3h on the barbell. Being somewhat hyperbolic here, but you get the idea.
@pdxkid plenty of professionals already have all the info you want at YT. Go check Alan Thrall
I think there's a lot of overuse and public confusion in regards to the term functional fitness these days. The terms functional and sport/activity specific have to go hand in hand, as a exercise that is functional for one activity may be counterproductive for another. When we consider the value of any exercise, especially from a functional standpoint, we have to consider the importance of the movement in relation to the sport or activity it's being used for. Ideally we want to spend the bulk of our training time on activities that will have the greatest benefit for our sport and include specialized movements as necessary and as time permits.
Sorry, but some arbitrary classification that some movement is "functional" and another isn't holds little water, and plenty of actual experts agree.
By using some logic, the only actual "functional" movement for MTB is actually riding
Thanks for the info coach Dee, keep em coming!
Have you found any research evidence of isolateral resistance training improving sports performance since our last video?
You know what an actual strength athlete would recommend to pinkbike punters? Probably Pendlay rows and heavy deadlifts.
www.pinkbike.com/news/2019-training-program-1-build-muscle.html#cid2181191
Squat twice a week.
Deadlift twice a week.
Do lots of pushups, pull-ups, dips, and rows.
Throw in some power cleans once in a while. Also box jumps.
See you in the spring.
Deadlift twice a week (the other half of picking up said cases of beer)
Arm day (drink said beer)
Throw up from drinking so much beer
See you in the spring totally out of breath (and wonder what was lacking from your fitness regimen)
But at first sight, I would suggest experimenting with more volume? Once you're training intens for some time, your body & cns can take a lot more. (depending on other activities - or bad nights because kids)
Low reps and heavy weight are important, but training with higher reps and (a bit) lighter weights does come with some benefits.
While I like lifting a lot, after a while, it does make you slower. So once riding seasons kicks in again (I never stop, but ride more frequent when the weather ) I stop squating regulary.
Do you do variations? Like RDLs? SDLs? front squats, full range of motion back squats?
Yes I do, but not often. Sometimes a block of 3 weeks. Just to change things up. Squats are always with full ROM. I don't necessarily believe in the idea of shocking the muscle with a different exercise every couple of months, but some lifts really can help. For example: snatch grip deadlifts and or block pulls.
Biggest thing holding me back to more strenght, is 'eating'. I like lifting, but MTB is my absolute priority. If I would eat like you should for increasing strenght, my weight would go up and I don't see how that would help me in MTB.
I mean full range of motion but well WITHIN your mobility limits. For me that is relatively ass to grass :-).
what kind of gains you making?
She (is sooo beautiful) will sure pick up some of it!
Mon: off
Tue: rest day
wed: off
thur: rest day
fri: off
sat: short ride
sun: rest day
I am wondering if switching my off and rest days might improve my ride performance
I'm asking because if I have only one hour to exercise or ride, which one will help me in the on season?
I would also like to know what does "Off Season" mean?
If "off season" is the the same as it is in football, hockey, basketball, then wouldn't sitting on the couch and eating potato chips better prepare me to watch the downhill races on redbull TV better?