Video: Balance Trainer is for More Than Just Manuals

Mountain biking is a demanding sport that requires muscle strength, balance, hand-eye coordination, focus, and relies on fast and slow twitch muscle fibers. Given the endless areas for improvement, where should someone spend his/her time to progress in the sport?

Tyler McCaul walks us through the importance of balance and one of the tools available to achieve that goal. Just like in the gym where athletes use specific lifts and different weights that focus on one muscle group, we have different tools available to improve on-trail performance. The Balance Trainer is one of those tools.


Mountain bikers have muscles, muscles have fibers. The more fibers a rider is able to use, the faster that rider is able to react to on trail obstacles without having to think about doing so. That means more stability through technical terrain, faster through corners, more confidence off drops and jumps, etc... Due to a lack of training, less experienced riders use fewer fibers (roughly 30%) while pro's that have trained carefully can activate a much higher percentage (about 70%) of available muscle fibers.

So how can we increase muscle fiber activation to see better results? The Balance Trainer helps the body call on more of these fibers by forcing muscles to hold the body in a balanced position. Over time and dedicated usage, that rider will increase his/her fast twitch muscle capabilities, which in turn improves on trail performance.

Just like lifts in the gym, the Balance Trainer is a tool to master a technique. Oh, and it doubles as a Service Stand.