Video: Fit4Racing Puts EWS Racer Dan Wolfe to the Test
Ever wonder what MTB Enduro Training looks like? Dan Wolfe didn't quite know either. In his search for a coach and training program to take him to the next level, the EWS racer got an eyeopening introduction to Fit4Racing.
Dan has been racing MTB Enduro without following any formal training, and to give him credit, he moves well and has a reasonable base fitness. One issue we see though, is bringing it all together. It's important to understand, and train for, the combination of stresses you are subjected to whilst racing/riding, and not just getting strong and "fit" separately.
We ran through some initial testing with Dan, most of which is sent out to all Fit4Racing subscribers. This was to establish mobility/movement restrictions, base strength tests and some 2 minute testing. The strength and 2 minute tests will be by Dan when he follows the full program.
Why do we test mobility?
One of the most effective methods we use to train riders involves high intensity. There are different degrees of high intensity, not all of them are all-out kill yourself. The higher the level though, the more likely movements will break down and become unsafe/less effective. So testing mobility allows you to identify areas to avoid/work on/change to subsequently choose movements you can perform safely and to an appropriate range...
... Note on appropriate range. We will be producing a video with our position on range of squats and other movements in the coming weeks. We feel it is important to give a full explanation.
We also test mobility to prescribe fixes for red-flag areas. This is important to keep, or achieve, a balanced body. This is not only good to avoid injury but also to reach more optimal positions for performance.
Why Test Strength?
We test 3 rep max lifts - Back squat, Deadlift, Press. These form the basis of prescribed weight thereafter. So if you are working in a strength, power or speed phase you know what weight should be on the bar. We prefer to test 3 reps over 1 rep because it is way safer.
Why test 2 minute maxes?
As with the strength test, it is important to know limits and achievable workloads. By testing you capability of a single movement performed repeatedly over 2 minutes, you can then take a proportion of that for workouts and know that work is achievable and at the same time testing.
Ultimately, testing is the best way to establish a starting point so you aren't working blindly towards a goal you don't even know is achievable. It is important to note that testing is just that - testing. Training is a completely different thing and should be performed differently. Not every training day is a test, and nor should you feel that way.
Once the testing was done (not all of it on this one day), Dan went head-to-head with pro downhill racer Jack Reading on a multi modal workout. This was to expose Dan to the type of training he will see on the Enduro Program he will follow once back home. Here is what they did:
In a 6 minute window, work up the ladder by 2 reps each round on Push-ups and Box Jump Overs. Keep 6 calories on the Assault bike each round.
• 6 Calories Assault Bike
• 2 Push-ups
• 2 Over Box Jumps
• 6 Calories Assault Bike
• 4 Push-ups
• 4 Over Box Jumps... And so on
Once that part was finished, there was a 5 minute rest and they went back down as fast as possible from where they finished.
If you're considering this MTB fitness training workout, you can substitute the Assault bike for Row, Ski, 100m Run or even skipping. Ensure you are familiar with all of the movements and you are fully warmed up.
The purpose of this workout was to increase general capacity and function for riding. The combination of movements were chosen to keep intensity high but not break down. The box jump overs were a test of focus as well as athletic ability, and as Dan said in the interview, it replicates perfectly the demands of a race run. Note here though, the box jumps could become dangerous and the option of stepping over is always a good substitute if unsure.
What next?
Dan will go home and probably wake up the next day with some sore muscles, but ultimately be more aware of his limits both on and off the bike. After that, he will access his Fit4Racing program via the website and hit 2-3 sessions per week leading up his first race in 2020. We stay in touch during his training and get him back in January for some more fun.
If you are considering a Fit4Racing program you can follow the exact one Dan and our other pros are following, all of which can be done from day 1 at your local gym. As we said above, you can vary the workload and follow a semi-personal program ideal for your riding, but beyond that, you can vary the number of training days from 2-4 depending on how well you recover, how much bike time you can get and how much you love/hate they gym. Sign up with no contracts and see how great Fit4Racing can be for you.
Merry Christmas!
Jonny
Take a look at our website for more awesome free workouts for mountain bikers - Fit4Racing
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
140x 5 is pretty average
No CrossFit didn’t invent deadlifts, squats or pressing, but he was in a CrossFit affiliate doing CrossFit!
Word to the wise, if you want to get better and long duration, sustained intensity types of competition/trials, work on power output (force x distance over time). Concentrate on moving large loads long distances quickly. If you had to pick one movement, squat. In particular, the back squat.
Strength or Resistance training develops power. It comes in many forms that also develop: speed, coordination, strength, agility, balance and accuracy. You can eve develop cardio/realities endurance and stamina. I would suggest not spreading misinformation under the guise of informing. Looks dangerous @WAKIdesigns:
I think your opinion is completely uninformed and could benefit from some real world application. @WAKIdesigns:
You didn't provide any evidence for your senseless claims, so I thought I'd offer where my perspective is coming from. I think CrossFit is an incredible GPP program, and for the majority of the population a great tool for escaping decrepitude. That doesn't mean it's the only way to achieve fitness or superiority in sport.
It's too bad I probably won't get to see you in the gym, I sense a face to face interaction between us would go much differently than an internet conversation.
Squatting is good, so is major muscle recruitment. Best of luck to you and your kid in each of your biking endeavors.
My riding improved dramatically, both climbing and descending, when I added heavy lifting to my routine. Especially the 3 main lifts (squat, deadlift, bench). It was amazing how much more power I had for moves on technical climbs.
I think there's multiple ways of interpreting your question. What do you mean by heavy?
Weight can be heavy absolutely or relatively. 45kg isn't a very heavy bench press if you can bench >100kg, but if you can only bench 50kg then 45kg is very heavy. 100kg is very heavy if your 1 rep max is 105kg, not very heavy if your 1rm is 170kg. 100kg is lighter to somebody who can press 170kg than 45kg is to somebody who can only press 50kg.
Shall we say heavy means in excess of 80% of a persons estimated 1 rep max? Something they can likely only move for 1-6 reps.
Most of the time, for the purpose of training for mountain biking, the reason you would use weights over 80% would be to test strength (so that you have a measured reference point to see whether you have improved or not) or perhaps for the purpose of a heavy top set, to expose yourself to higher loads and attempt to force some adaptation. As Jonny states in the article testing is different to training, you don't complete all of your training like it's a test. A test of strength is just that, a test. There's limited use for training with over 80% of your 1rm if mountain biking race performance is your training goal. Risk of injury is elevated, form is likely to get sloppy and we're unlikely to be getting much hypertrophy from the number of reps we can complete with this kind of weight. We're far better off training with 60-75% of our one rep maxes and doing minimal squats and deadlifts that "heavy" for us (over 80%).
If we take heavy to mean something more absolute though the question might look more like "what is the carryover from being able to squat and deadlift large amounts of weight to biking performance?". Getting yourself to a place where you are able to perform squats and deadlifts that are heavy (say over 200kg) will likely have a very positive impact on your riding. If all else is the same you'll likely be able to resist stronger G-outs, crank harder out the gate or out of a corner, hop with more force, move the bike with more ease, hold on better through rough stuff etc.
The transfer to your riding and whether that time invested in training will be worth it or not will be different for different people though, dependant on you current circumstances.
There are many facets that impact riding performance. Bike handling skill is probably the #1 determinant of success. Endurance/cardiovascular fitness is another significant factor. Strength is another factor. Mobility. Then there's game day factors like race psychology, sleep, nutrition etc.
If you were in a position where you were scoring very high in multiple of those factors, but your strength was very low then you likely have a lot to gain from training squats and deadlifts and increasing those lifts up to respectable numbers. Numbers we could call heavy in an absolute sense. That could take things up a notch.
If currently you're already above average strength but your bike handling, cardio, sleep, nutrition etc are all somewhere between trash and mediocre then trying to increase your squat and deadlift is way down your list of priorities. You could make way better progress in your riding by focusing on other facets that are likely to have greater carryover. Somebody like that should just get out on their bike more and aim to increase their fitness more generally.
What I'm not sure about are the benefits of going heavy with them. If I'm biking, I don't expect to have 150kg on my back or in a reverse grip.
But yeah, the overall value of the exercises make sense.
I messed up my SI Joint exactly a year ago and it was my first year without strength training. While skills went up thanks to other factors, I cannot express how much I missed my normal muscular endurance during DH runs. I was getting arm and leg pump to the level Where I felt almost handicapped. Of All things I missed deadlift the most.
One of the most difficult workouts I do after my normal HIT routine is row or versa climb for 15 secs, all out, then do an upright Kettlebell hold (at shoulders) for 30 secs, 15 sec rest and repeat for 5 min. That combo of Anaerobic and muscular endurance while keeping posture is unbelievably difficult and is a good proxy for racing bikes and not something lifting heavy replicates....
2: big hits = high force
can't combat high force if you cant lift heavy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=luVHAKB3BKA
If you are a mountain biker, who along with lifting eats a normal diet, keeps a decent cardio regime, rides their bike, etc, you are not going to suddenly bulk up like a power lifter. Bottom line is lifting heavy weights will build muscle and strength, which will only help your riding.
I have no will power to go crossfit or HIIT too hard, I often train before going to work or during lunch, I can’t come to work destroyed after a few sessions at near max heart rate. Squats, Deadlifts, Benches, Cleans, Rows with basic plyo circuit just get the job done in an effective manner. I then do sprints on roadie when riding home from work. On some evenings I do stretching/ mobility. This sort of training just suits my life style and is a really good bang for the buck
One thing to consider about Nino is, it's HIS JOB to be in the best possible condition a human can be in for that particular activity. There's so much he's got going over the average rider, there's absolutely no area where he doesn't blow every non-top 30 xc rider out of the water in comparison: strength, power, endurance, balance, explosiveness, control.
Let's say you have 100 muscle fibres across any one muscle.
If you're not used to training with "heavy" weights (if using the good explanation from tom666), you will likely be using 50-60* of those fibres (even in an all-out effort, you may only use 65). Training effectively with "heavy" weights means that over time you can recruit more of the muscle fibres that you currently have without necessarily adding muscle (weight) - not that this is always a bad thing.
The CNS adapts to the stresses of moving heavy weights (or moderate weights quickly and powerfully - the effect can be very similar) allowing you to recruit, say 65-75 of your available fibres.
This means that effective resistance training (using an appropriate medium) allows you to use more of what you already have (but weren't using). So now you can exert more power and control whilst reducing fatigue.
It's very common for people who are new to resistance training to see a quick improvement in strength without an accompanying increase in muscle mass.
*numbers for explanation purposes. I don't care what the actual numbers are!
And if you think you're recruiting 100% of your fibres, you're likely mistaken or giving yourself direct adrenaline shots into yoru heart!!
I didn't argue against my own point - the point was that there is relative strength and there is absolute strength and that those are different things. It's all about how we define what is heavy or what is strength. Strong relative to bodyweight, strong relative to the competition, strong compared to how strong your were 6 months ago. Absolute strength disregards all relative measures and says what is a large amount of weight. An over 200kg squat is absolutely strong - strong for anybody. What benefit would that bring to riding bikes? Depends.
You're completely correct that squatting 200kg at 70kg vs at 100kg mean quite different things. A barbell squat or deadlift is only one way of measuring strength and is highly bias to those with good leverages for completing those lifts and those who have practised the movements. If you measured strength in another way, such as lifting an atlas stone, carrying a sandbag, using a leg press, performing a yoke carry etc you might find that different people and body types have different levels of success at each.
Bicycle racing is so multifaceted that there will never be only one body type does well, or only people with elite levels of strength do well.
Merry Christmas everybody by the way
We really need to look at "work" load...100kg squat when your 5-4 is much less work than doing the same squat at 6-4.
I've said it all already at this point.
>there's many ways to measure and build strength, barbell movements are just one (a good one)
>you can define heavy several ways
>being strong will help you be fast but it's only a small part of a very multifaceted equation
None are power lifters. All are efficient & powerful riders. Go to the gym to keep your body moving and loose and balanced.
Don't go to the gym to be a better racer. Lifting keeps your body healthy in a 360 degree realm so you can go try to be fast on your bike.
probably depends on the riding style
What?
However, on a side note, I would argue that more power does NOT translate to slower fatigue as a general rule (slow twitch fibers being what xc cyclists need more of compared to dh racers).
Personally, (and I'm a shit rider btw) I've noticed a lot of improvement since incorporating balancing exercises as recovery tools in between intensity sets.
Practically all my lifts are on rings, ropes, or balancing platforms, I have limited time and energy to dedicate towards strength and conditioning and very wary of bringing heavy lifts in. The rewards are not obvious to me (time, increase risk of injury). The way I see it, my goal is to be robust enough to deal with impacts but more importantly, have the balance and endurance to deal with the other aspects of the trail.
It's not a compelling argument, you couldn't possibly know if I'm doing explosive plyometrics, intensity intervals, or if I'm training for power or endurance. Power lifts on unstable surfaces is suicidal but that was never my question anyhow.
For me lifting and exercise is about experimentation to some degree. Increasing the instability forces me to focus more on form to control it better and I like that mental aspect of it.
E.G. if the point of the exercise is to develop balance on an unstable object, your contention is, a person isn't getting the most out of that exercise if they work their way up to being able to do it on an unstable surface?
Doing dips on rings is much harder than on a dip bar. Are you going to tell every gymnast who shuns a dip bar that they aren't getting the most out of that exercise?
What if the point is to reach muscle fatigue faster without increasing the weight? Other than decreasing break times, there is another variable which can be altered....just saying.
Anyhow we've probably already crossed the line into "you're a c*nt- no, you're a c*nt!" territory so I'll let you have the last word and thank you for the conversation.
Exercises on unstable surface condition your deep muscles responsible for balance and your nervous system, if you by any chance are undeveloped in that area. It does not count as strength conditioning. Stability wise one should make sure they train obliques and stuff like gluteus medius. The stuff that Nino and kate Courtney do is fricking stupid to say the least.
But if your going to post it publicly, where someone else could see it and might think it’s a good idea then I’m going to point out bad information when I see it.
I've no idea what the pros are doing as far as acrobatics but I'm not a pro so my needs and theirs are likely as different as they are similar. People do get enchanted by novelty but they also get stuck in dogma too. I like to look for a balance (pun intended).
Now if we look at training power then I see the sense for it up to a point. What happens when someone can comfortable squat 2x their body weight, is that enough? Why not 220%?
There must be a point (and it may be well below being able to squat 200% of one's body weight) at which a person has enough of the main muscle groups to cope with an activity. So my question is what a professional trainer thinks the line is at (I'm thinking someone with a ph.D in exercise physiology and/or biomechanics).
Classic lifts take no more than 30 mins of gym time and bring big benefits to almost every person out there. Diminishing returns are there for every sort of activity but getting to 2x/1.5x/1x is a matter of half of a year of focused training. Once you get there, Maintaining such level is not hard at least for folks under 50 which makes periodization easy.
I'm not disputing what you've written btw, A) it's rather objective, B) it's interesting to consider for the next time my routine gets a modification.