As most of you riders know, this is a great time of year to begin your training for your mountain biking season. Going to the gym and indoor cycling training tools are the norm for many of us but without a plan will you be at risk of being the same rider you were last year... and I bet you're the type of rider who doesn't want that!
This month, let's talk a bit about hypertrophy or muscle growth. Riding takes a toll on our entire system but especially our muscle system. Because of the repetition and volume of our sport, it is difficult for the body to be able to hold onto enough stored energy so it begins to use muscle for fuel. For example, I typically sit at an off season weight of about 192 lbs., but by October during the last six years of training, riding and racing, I'll average around 186 pounds.
Understandingly part of the reason we get weak toward the end of the summer is partially due to this muscle degradation. When you just ride exclusively, you lose muscle, and get weaker. The problem for us mountain bikers is that weakness is a contributor to late season crashes and injuries so take it from a coach who sees this play out constantly and do yourself a favor for 2019... be consistent with your gym work.
Let’s get started then.
For both programs your working parameters will be:
• 2-6 sets depending on your experience
• 60-80% of one rep max
• 7-10 repetitions (except pull ups and push ups)
• 202-303 tempo – example: 2 seconds ‘up’ – 0 seconds ‘pause’ – 2 seconds ‘down’
• Rest between sets- 2-3 mins.
• Perform the workout 2-3 times per week
Do each exercise back to back without rest, just like the videos show, then rest for 2-3 minutes and repeat for 2-6 sets.
Here's an example of a basic training schedule you can use:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: This workout
Wednesday: Distance- 60-90 minutes @ 70-80% max heart rate or ride outside
Thursday: This workout + 20 min spin at less than 70%
Friday: Intervals- 15 minute warm up - 6-10 reps of 1-2 minutes at 80% with double-the-work rest time between efforts- recover 15 mins at low heart rate
Saturday: Either ride or do this workout or participate in your favorite winter activity
Sunday: Same as Sat or if needed, take an extra OFF day
Have fun and be smart...
LISTEN to your body.
If you aren't working with any type of training plan, don't worry as over the next few months I will lay out a monthly training workout you can follow and use to make 2019 your best season yet. Each month I'll post a fresh workout you can use to make you better. Here's what you can expect over the next few months:
Jan/Feb – Hypertrophy- muscle growth
Feb/Mar – Strength
Mar/Apr – Power
Apr/May – Speed
Keep an eye for those so you can progress nicely through winter and into spring so during the season you will move better, be stronger and fatigue and injury resistant.
I'm Coach Dee, ambassador for
@yeticycles and trainer to thousands worldwide. I'm a 50-year-old enduro racer, and just won my second overall season championship as a Masters racer in the
@BigMtnEnduro series. For your off-season training needs, check out my freshly launched (and discounted!) coaching membership at
http://www.enduromtbtraining.com
MENTIONS: @enduromtbtrainer
@WAKIdesigns really needs to stop commenting on these training posts as his lack of knowledge shows. Hypertrophy has its place, one for beginners to learn their movement patterns, build up their work capacity, etc., two for experienced lifters to incorporate periodization, enhance mitochondrial adaptations, etc.
@nickkk - what? Which of the blessed views of mine are you bringing up now?
And then maybe present yourself before you call someone an idiot. Maybe a picture. Good to know who one is arguing with. Hi I am Wacek. 37, my insta handle is the same as my username.
Power lifting, man I am so jelaous. I can only clean and jerk but not even my bodyweight. And I am really bad at it. I love the skill factor. Anyone can squat with ith 5-10 secs per rep. Moving lots of weight, fast seems fantastic.
2x4's are about $8 each
Cinder blocks are about $3.50 and weigh about 30lbs each
Works great and cost under $50
Can you also explain “caution” for weight lifting, I am dying to learn.
I’m just here to say that you WAKI are not a reliable source
Not sure why you keep telling me to put up cred, I’m not claiming to be fast, strong, or to have any particular skill. Just claiming you are a douche and talk a big game
When adults discuss things they bring up their cred, if they are unable to, they agree on keeping it open and sicuss within their understaning, instead of telling each other that they have no idea what they are talking about. An average intelligent adult is able to grasp the idea that if you do not have any cred you cannot accuse the other person of not having it. It is called hypocrisy.
Since you do not bring up a tiniest argument, tiniest, you just say I am full of shit, like a child repeating same pattern of behavior regardless of the topic, hence me giving you a benefit of doubt, ask about your cred. Bcause if you said: I am a coach since 30 years, you have no clue what you are talking about, I would at least have to chew that. But I have nothing to chew. All I have is a kiddo who says: you’re wrong. You’re stupid, you’re a narcissist.
And then I give you a bait, and you grab it like a starving cat fish. Oooh he hurt himself!
Sorry, no arguments, no cred, no name, no face - you don’t deserve a minute of anyones time Kotowski.
I don’t need to know what you do in real life or a picture of you to read your countless posts denigrating people to call you out.
immediately spends hours arguing with @mkotowski1
lmao
Do highbar squat below parallel, do Pendlay rows, do weighted chins, do some power cleans or deadlifts, do regularly lift >85% 1RM on compound movements, do develop a complex relationship with a wattbike.
Do NOT stand on rubber balls, do NOT confuse mobility work with strength training, do NOT regularly perform multiple sets of isolation exercises instead of compounds, do NOT go vegan, do NOT follow this article's ridiculous soft advice.
Right now I do two stretches. One with bar in the squat rack at regular squat height. I place the hands in same position as you would for barbell snatch and lean forward. Gently! The other one is to take some sort of a stick, grip it with with both hands supinal grip, at shoulder width. Kneel in front of a bench and put my elbows on it then bow down. This I can force a bit more. You can also put straight arms against the open door frame and bend down. I’d say forcing your shoulders by lifting gripped low bar at 200lbs plus is not a good idea if you cannot do it without atraining your arms. Any off balance to the side which is normal under squatting will put serious load on your wrists, elbows and shiulders
Check @olychad on insta for mobility
More most of us, weight training is just an accessory to compliment riding, so powerlifting movements arent necessary.
A few kettle bells are probably more than enough for most people.
@brownierice leg press is a good bet if you're trying to deload your lower back, say two days after heavy deadlifting. But straight up the back squat (low bar or high bar depending on your anthropometry) can't be beat for recruiting leg musculature, the posterior chain, and if you're paying attention to your form it builds the mind-muscle connection better than any other movement I've tried
Nice video, but needs some excitement.
Anyone with a bad knee injury, keep the knee behind the ankle and not over the toe, step ups work better for getting the knee over the toes.
My personal favorite...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=knjU47MU460
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiRAi2KOfRQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XwwoHEMXso
"get comfortable being uncomfortable"
- Jeff Cavaliere
It's the middle of summer and 30C, why would i do my favorite Winter activity?
I recently had Rip personally tell me to gain 80lbs. I said I was a cyclist and that my particular discipline had a lot of climbing involved. Anything above 170ish simply isn't helpful no matter how strong it made me. All I received was ridicule and told "yes, muscle weighs too damn much."
And don't tell me it's bad for your knees to do full squats. That's a super lame excuse.
@NotNamed that dude is a beast, but yeah, he never does less than an ATG on his squat and has paid for it. I get it that you can train getting out of the hole on a power clean that way, but man is it hard to maintain a neutral spine under load at that depth
medium.com/@SandCResearch/does-a-full-range-of-motion-always-produce-more-muscle-growth-5bf7fc6e4b55
www.stack.com/a/quarter-squats-are-your-secret-weapon-to-sprinting-faster-and-jumping-higher
The just is you move more weight with the shorter depth squats and this translates into more power where you need it on the bike.