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Being faster in 2015!
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flag TrailManiac
Posted: Jun 24, 2014 at 12:16 Quote
Hi,
I am 15 year old semi-pro racer. At my last local race I felt that I'm really weak and not preperd enough. Due to my age I didnt do any training in winter. I've just ridden my bike much. I feel that I have proper skills but I am getting smoked by older, stronger but less skilled opponents. So what do you recomend? Do you have any good and tested trainig programs? I am willing to invest in this a bit of my money. I also have full training equipment so it wont be a problem. Please let me know fastWink
flag humoroususername
Posted: Jul 13, 2014 at 15:45 Quote
TrailManiac wrote:
Hi,
I am 15 year old semi-pro racer. At my last local race I felt that I'm really weak and not preperd enough. Due to my age I didnt do any training in winter. I've just ridden my bike much. I feel that I have proper skills but I am getting smoked by older, stronger but less skilled opponents. So what do you recomend? Do you have any good and tested trainig programs? I am willing to invest in this a bit of my money. I also have full training equipment so it wont be a problem. Please let me know fastWink

How is a 15 year old semi pro? Most pros barely qualify as "semi pro". Or is that the name of the category?

Just do as many races as you can and dont worry if you get smoked at some of them. Racing is the only way to get faster, it makes you push yourself harder than you ever will in training.
flag slidways
Posted: Sep 2, 2014 at 22:06 Quote
if you're willing to invest some money find a strength and conditioning coach who will work with young athletes of your age. It might be a bit more than you're happy to spend but in the long run its the best way to get your training together, they will be trained to work with someone you age and know where to start to help build you up.

Most training routines look at the big picture so you might have a 2 or 3 year plan in place that works on building you up over that time. (you will get faster doing this, you don't need to wait for 3 years to be fast) But don't look for the fast solution, build up the base and eventually you will get to the more specific workouts.

Unfortunately because of your age you cannot apply adult training to your self so the only advice I will give is to go see someone trained in jnr development.

Find one who understands your sport and who you feel comfortable with and you feel like you are both on the same page in terms of the long and short term goals.
flag NovemberBravo
Posted: Nov 22, 2014 at 15:29 Quote
You could do some of the daily crossfit workouts posted by various websites.

They are not specifically designed for kids but are still good workouts, you could just cut down the weight and focus more on the cardio aspect than the lifting aspect.

If you have a local crossfit gym see if they have a highschool class or talk to the owner and see if he can make you a program. Our gym has a highschool class and I find it works great for off-season training.

If corssfit is not an option some exercises that would benifit you are:

dead lifts: going from floor to waistheight with the bar is around the same hip motion as getting into the attack position

Squats: Back, Front, overhead and air squats all strengthen the legs. Overheads will also strengthen the stabalizing muscles in your shoulders.

Core exercises: Your core is essential to everything, situps, leg raises and other core exercises seem simple but are very beneficial.

Calisthetics: Pushups, Pullups etc. all good for you and you should be able to handle your own body weight

Running or Spinning: Cardio is important in all forms up bike racing so get good at it.

STRETCH!: This is key for injury prevention and stretching after workouts will make you feel much better the day after Smile

Edits: DO NOT do deadlifts if you are not comfortable with your form as they can ruin your back (not to scare you), also kettlebell swings are a great full body exercise.
flag TrailManiac
Posted: Nov 23, 2014 at 8:12 Quote
thanks man! I will add that to my program!
flag humoroususername
Posted: Nov 23, 2014 at 16:33 Quote
Ha I literally just spent half an hour reading articles debunking crossfit. Crossfit is a scam and is not based on any sound coaching principles. There is a reason why elite aathletes do not do training that is in anyway similar to crossfit.

Build strength and build endurance. Do not try to build endurance and "power" at the same time as crossfit suggests. It's one of the most idiotic and non scientific training methodologies ever to be devised. It basically discounts everything that has been learned about training in the last 60 years and has gone back to methods used in the early 20th century.
flag NovemberBravo
Posted: Nov 23, 2014 at 22:01 Quote
Ok sure. So front squats, cleans, snatch and back squats are done by both football and hockey players just for the fun of it. It doesn't do anything.

Rowing, pull ups, running, sit-ups and squats all aren't useful exercises.

Now combine these, have some cardio/met-con days, some lift days and some days that involve a combination of both. Not to mention the hours of research put in by the gym owners. I don't see how this is "idiotic" or "non scientific."

Crossfit is also free. Workouts are posted online every day so I don't see how it can be considered a "scam"

You also said in an above post that racing is the only way to get better (paraphrasing). This is in no way true and does not explain why all pro racers train year 'round.
flag NovemberBravo
Posted: Nov 23, 2014 at 22:15 Quote
Let's look at this article debunking crossfit and find the flaws in it: http://gawker.com/5928989/the-problems-with-crossfit

Their first problem is that it is a group exercise. This is completely subjective. Some people like working out in groups some don't.

Their second problem is that it's generalist. Our gym currently runs over 15 special training programmes for people that want to get better in certain things. Members of our gym complete and place well in power lifting competitions and have completed "death races"

Their third problem is the price. As I said above crossfit is FREE.

Their fourth problem is pullups. While I agree kipping may make pull ups easier doing kipping pull ups will also improve your strict pull ups which are also frequently practiced. I would also be willing to bet that I could do more strict pull ups than the poster of this article.

Their fifth problem is injuries. In no way is it a sure fact that you WILL get injured in crossfit. There is the possibility but it is not definite like the article implies. Injury prevention is also why reps don't count if they aren't done properly.

Points 6 and 7 are just the poster trying to find something to write about and have nothing to do with the actual fitness aspect of crossfit.
flag octanejake
Posted: Nov 24, 2014 at 3:30 Quote
Crossfit emphasizes speed of repetition and excessive weight at the cost of proper form and safety. The certification process for being a crossfit coach is minimum allowing people without understanding of physiology, anatomy, or safety to run crossfit gyms.

The fact that WOD is random is useless and potentially dangerous. Maximizing fitness improvement is a scientific process. Progression from one movement and resistance to another has been studied and refined for years, allowing training program to be designed for rapid improvement and safety. Also most lifts done in crossfit are done with improper form. The majority of people I see doing crossfit, or copying crossfit workouts at regular gyms, consistently lift incorrectly, terrible form

Notice how safety keeps getting repeated? The reason being is that crossfit has a very high rate of injury. So when you say "In no way is it a sure fact that you WILL get injured in crossfit" that is blanket statement, you're more likely to get injured doing random workouts designed by someone who is under-qualified and doesn't have a clue on injury prevention. I mean if it is painful doesn't that mean you're working hard?

And sure there are some crossfit gyms run by knowledgeable coaches that implement their own proper technique and safety, similarly there are terrible coaches practicing standard lifting methods. But on the whole crossfit has many problems and yes I'd steer clear of it in favor of weightlifting in conjunction with plyometrics for cross training.

Last point; How much trust can you put in a company that is suing scientist and the NSCA for publishing a case study of injury rates from a crossfit gym.
flag slidways
Posted: Nov 24, 2014 at 4:15 Quote
Guy remember the kid is still young. I wouldn't recommend any training unless you are a jnr development coach. There are crucial growth factors going on during adolescence in the body and training needs to be detailed for someone of the OP'S age.
flag humoroususername
Posted: Nov 24, 2014 at 7:13 Quote
NovemberBravo wrote:
Ok sure. So front squats, cleans, snatch and back squats are done by both football and hockey players just for the fun of it. It doesn't do anything.

Rowing, pull ups, running, sit-ups and squats all aren't useful exercises.

Now combine these, have some cardio/met-con days, some lift days and some days that involve a combination of both. Not to mention the hours of research put in by the gym owners. I don't see how this is "idiotic" or "non scientific."

Crossfit is also free. Workouts are posted online every day so I don't see how it can be considered a "scam"

You also said in an above post that racing is the only way to get better (paraphrasing). This is in no way true and does not explain why all pro racers train year 'round.

Nope, i didnt say that those exercises are useless. I said that Crossfit as a method of training for sports is stupid. Thats not the article i read as there are literally dozens of them. Being fit for sport includes speed, strength, flexibility, power and endurance. Crossfit only emphasizes speed and "power". It is a dangerous way of getting fit and not sport specific, therefore it is not a smart way to train. Crossfit may be free but it is also a brand that makes an awful lot of money from licensing and merchandise. If you are looking to get buff then Crossfit is probably pretty good or if you are not particularly fit in the first place, but as a means of training for a sport I dont believe in it and neither do any elite athletes. Hence they dont use it. As i said that type of training went out of fashion in the 50s because it doesnt work well for athletes.

For a kid/beginner or even an intermediate rider, the gains to be made by getting race experience far, far, far outweigh any gains that will be made in a gym.

For 90% of people there is nothing wrong with their body to race at a fast speed, particularly in DH. Improved cardio will have the biggest effect. Why do you think 14 year old kids with the most talent and no muscle mass can be among the fastest at a race just behind elites and juniors?
I have a friend who is a tank of a man, has climbed multiple 6000m+ mountains, low HR, lifts plenty of weight, good BMI, etc. He is also a very sound rider with good cornering technique, and knows how to rocks, steeps, etc. He consistently goes slowly in races and gets beaten by riders who are not as good as him and nowhere near as fit. He just cant get it into his head how to maximise his potential. He is training hard again this year like that is what is missing. He is probably fitter than most of the pros at the EWS.

Weight training has its place and i will be doing some myself but I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will gain more by learning to race better than by improving my fitness even more. Telling a kid that its his body that is wrong and he needs to change it to improve is silly. Its like telling someone who wants to write books to learn more words as their starting point for making a best seller.
flag NovemberBravo
Posted: Nov 24, 2014 at 11:28 Quote
I'm going to stop arguing because it's probably not what the OP wants spanning his dashboard.

Crossfit works for me, we have a gym with very knowledgeable coaches and I have seen myself improve since I started crossfit.

You have your opinions I have mine. We probably aren't going to change each others.

Salute
flag freitasdh
Posted: Dec 23, 2014 at 18:34 Quote
https://www.pinkbike.com/video/391005/
flag jonus216
Posted: Dec 25, 2014 at 6:48 Quote
How to be faster:
Don't drink and smoke... too much.
It also won't hurt to walk the race course and memorize where and when to scrub speed or to pedal.
Race smarter, not harder.
flag McArley98
Posted: Mar 24, 2015 at 23:33 Quote
Reasons why people hate crossfit:
-Olympic lifting is fine but was not made for high reps
-CrossFit coaches are not really coaches. They take a weekend course and then come throw you into some crazy workout.
-CrossFit can make you extremely sore and under the right circumstances, it can lead to Rhabdo, a very serious condition that requires immediate medical attention.
NovemberBravo wrote:
I'm going to stop arguing because it's probably not what the OP wants spanning his dashboard.

Crossfit works for me, we have a gym with very knowledgeable coaches and I have seen myself improve since I started crossfit.

You have your opinions I have mine. We probably aren't going to change each others.

Salute
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