Off Season Strength Testing with Adam Brayton, Elliott Heap and Ant HaleIt’s time for off season mtb strength testing with our pro riders who are finally back in the gym! It’s been a strange year for everyone involved at Fit4Racing and we’re stoked to welcome back some pro mtb riders into the gym.
Adam Brayton, Elliott Heap and Ant Hale dropped in to test the strength benchmarks that we use for all Fit4Racing subscribers to set us up for the start of the off season here in the northern hemisphere and we also treated them to a short but exciting workout to finish the session off.
THE TESTINGOur key fundamental strength tests are based on 3 rep maxes of;
Back Squat
Overhead Press
Deadlift
We use a 3 rep max instead of a 1 rep because a 3 rep max doesn’t completely overload the strength system in a dangerous way. We can also calculate a 1 rep from the 3 reps if we need to, but we like to keep things as safe as possible. These three lifts – when tested periodically – are a great benchmark to have noted down after training blocks to measure progress.
Being Pro athletes that have had a relatively easy summer in terms of racing and fatigue, their numbers are starting very high for this off season, all three achieving strong numbers against their bodyweight (check the video for the numbers!) This gives us a great place to start from in terms of strength and conditioning this winter. They’ll be back every week to train with us until racing starts again in 2021.
THE WORKOUTAs they were heading for a ride after this session we went easy on them for the workout and threw a spicy 5-minute number together for them to enjoy;
5 Minutes
10 Cal Assault Bike
6 Over Box Burpees at 30″
6 Pull Ups
Watch the video to see how they got on and if you’re thinking of having a go at the workout, scale the movements and box height appropriately for your skill level. Enjoy!
If you want to take the guesswork out of your training this off season, sign up to one of our programs and get the same mtb strength testing and training as the pros do -
Fit4Racing
Not to take one single inch of Adam and Elliott's merits, but what we see in the video is achievable by most reasonably athletic guys within an year or 1,5 years of 3/4 weekly hours of CF.
In any case, the inclusion of serious strength training programs seem to be a sign of maturity of a sport. All other things being equal, the stronger athlete will generally have a performance advantage and be more resilient.
I think only now MTB is reaching this point. The sense of wonder people get from Richie Rude kind of shows this, look at the competitive end of most mature sports and you'll see dozens of guys like him. I for one am more amazed at Remy Metailler's slender build deadlifting 220kg.
If I’m recovering from an injury I pretty much exlusively pull singles, for example.
There is little danger in bodyweight training and the danger of movement flaws are lessened, so if you were keen to get started on something, the Fit4Riding program we offer could be a good start.
As for younger riders, this may actually be the bet thing for them, but as in my comments above, it depends on the individual - their age and maturity amongst other things.
We have been training Juniors for some time and this year the riders who took 1st, 2nd ,3rd ,5th, and 7th in the DH World Cup overall have all been with us for a full season at least, some for over 3 years (YT's Oisin O'Callaghan who is absolutely dominating). 1st and 2nd at world champs were also Fit4Racing riders.
“Testing is training”.... ????
It can be in the right context but training by only testing is definitely not the best way to make progress.
Am I am wrong?
Shit
im 50!!!
ha ha ha