Humbled: Mike Levy vs Richie Rude in the Gym - Video
The first episode of Humbled made it painfully obvious that, shock of shocks, Brendan Fairclough has a thing or two on me when it comes to bike handling skills. You know, Mr. Fairclough of World Cup racing fame, a handful of blistering movie appearances, and some Rampage absurdity... Okay, maybe no one was surprised. But I've always wondered how a normal guy like me - a guy who rides a lot but who doesn't do much more than the odd push-up or three - compares to a full-time professional racer when talking about strength. I mean, these guys are ordinary, average people who just happen to know how to ride a mountain bike really, really fast, aren't they?
If we're going to talk about strength, there's one dude that immediately comes to mind: Yeti's Richie Rude. He may only be twenty-three, but the American already has a Junior World Championship downhill victory and two Enduro World Series overall titles on his résumé. Oh, and arms bigger than my legs. And, legs bigger than my torso. Surely it's all just beach muscle, though.
Richie, along with Aaron Gwin and a few other fast names, has long worked with Todd Schumlick of PerformX Training for his off-the-bike grind. Schumlick covers everything from a bio-mechanic assessment, dynamic reflex exercises, nutrition and goal setting, and of course more traditional weight training and wattage work, but since I'm not aiming for World Cup or EWS wins (lucky for Richie), we focused on comparing the latter two talking points.
You'll have to watch the video to see how I fared against Richie at each test, but it's safe to say that the Yeti phenom has me covered and then some. Let's take a simplified look at the bike test that was done on a Concept2 BikeErg machine:
The maximum wattage test is a ramp-up effort rather than a simple all-out sprint, which would result in higher numbers. Richie threw down 571 watts (0.765 hp) while I managed to squeak out 407 (0.545 hp). That means that Richie was putting out a whopping 40-percent more power than I was able to - I could do squats and lunges every day for the rest of my life with Richie on my back and still not close that gap. Next, we took 90-percent of our max wattage numbers and held that figure for as long as possible; Richie could hold his 514 watts for 1 minute and 2 seconds, whereas I could hold 366 watts for just 49 seconds. So, not only is Richie putting out a lot more power, he's able to sustain it for 26-percent longer than I could manage.
Okay, let's find out what the difference would be in the real(ish) world. Assuming that Richie and I did the same 90-percent test (holding 90-percent of our maximum watts for as long as possible) on level ground, and taking into consideration each of our weights, and that we'd be riding the same 26.4lb bike, he'd manage to cover 805.4 meters or smash it out for 62 seconds at 12.99 meters/second. What about ol' lowly Levy? I'd be 267 meters behind Richie because I can only manage a distance of 567.4 meters at 11.58 meters/second for 49 seconds.
Better put, Richie would be just shy of two and a half football fields ahead of me. So much for my beach muscle theory, eh?
The maximum wattage test is a ramp-up effort rather than a simple all-out sprint, which would result in higher numbers. Richie threw down 571 watts (0.765 hp) while I managed to squeak out 407 (0.545 hp). That means that Richie was putting out a whopping 40-percent more power than I was able to - I could do squats and lunges every day for the rest of my life with Richie on my back and still not close that gap. Next, we took 90-percent of our max wattage numbers and held that figure for as long as possible; Richie could hold his 514 watts for 1 minute and 2 seconds, whereas I could hold 366 watts for just 49 seconds. So, not only is Richie putting out a lot more power, he's able to sustain it for 26-percent longer than I could manage.
Okay, let's find out what the difference would be in the real(ish) world. Assuming that Richie and I did the same 90-percent test (holding 90-percent of our maximum watts for as long as possible) on level ground, and taking into consideration each of our weights, and that we'd be riding the same 26.4lb bike, he'd manage to cover 805.4 meters or smash it out for 62 seconds at 12.99 meters/second. What about ol' lowly Levy? I'd be 267 meters behind Richie because I can only manage a distance of 567.4 meters at 11.58 meters/second for 49 seconds.
Better put, Richie would be just shy of two and a half football fields ahead of me. So much for my beach muscle theory, eh?
Richie vs Levy on the Concept2 BikeErg
Filmed and edited by Peter Wojnar
Author Info:
Member since Oct 18, 2005
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I'm glad you weren't up against Nino in the wattage tests tho.
As far as 10% bf goes... Why the f*ck would u not want to be there? It's the greatest feeling in the world.. Awesome strength to weight ratio... Enhanced output on the bike all topped off by looking like a menace with no shirt on... Its all a win in my books!
All this talk about expense on supps... Haha dude if u can't afford a whey protein isolate from 6 star with added bcaa from Walmart u got bigger problems!
There's just one for ya Wacko! But I know! That won't scientific enough for ya! Haha.. Its a known fact of the effects of bcaa on catobolic breakdown and protein synthesis! Whether u want to hear it or not! The shit works!
just because you have no style and just like to XC all day doesn't mean you have hate people having more fun
95% of race fitness comes from riding a bike. The gym is just the icing on the cake.
James has a well rounded approach, hard to go wrong with his stuff, Ryno is absolutely brutal and people at the gym will look at you like you qre an idiot but your cardio and on track endurance will go through the roof, then Revo is awesome for prehab before you start lift heavy (did just that with them though) and thenx.com will make your upper core into a solid block of strong yet lean muscle.
Currently for my most typical gym session I go for warm ups and prehabs from thenx then hit the weights using 5-3-1 ladders, but tend to do it in circuits like James does in his programs (like deadlift alternating with bench and 3 point row) then finish off with melee from Ryno. Once a week I’ll go all out and finish with hill sprints. On milder days I do thenx for upper body and some shag muscles to support deadlifting and then go for 1h road ride to spin out sht from quads.
I’m too young for Yoga
Enduro is extremely aerobically demanding. All the muscle strength in the world is completely useless if you don't have the sufficient capacity to deliver oxygen to those muscles. Just watch amateur enduro racing, there are all these big muscular guys who when they cross the finish line would be unable to do a single push-up. Where as the aerobically fit guy with skinny arms, still has power in his arms.
Now ideally you are aerobically fit and strong (Mr. Rude) but if you only have time for one then it is aerobically fit every single time.
I coach kids who are mind blowing fast. The stuff they can do on a bike is incredible. They can't do 30 push-ups or squat a 100lbs but they can ride all day and they routinely smash guys whose idea of training is going to gym.
“These results suggest that the barbells led to different patterns of muscle activation and that the hexagonal barbell may be more effective at developing maximal force, power, and velocity.”
The most apparent flaw was him not taking the slack out of the bar. The bar should separate from the ground quite smoothly, instead of being ripped away from it.
Now obviously this is all from the desk of an armchair lifter, but I did used to be a powerlifting trainer. Here's an example of a world record DL. Note how slowly the bar comes off the ground: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4AQlamvFzs
The point of the deadlift is to build the posterior chain, not release stress from it. The hex bar dl essentially mixes a deadlift and a squat to make one movement. The strongest guys in the world train the squat and deadlift separately to create more force and power. That's exactly what this strength coach does as well. The hex bar is only used for mobility issues with world renowned strength coaches. Take a look at startingstrength.com. Mark Rippetoe, Jim Wendler and guys like that are the ones to look to. Not these poor articles that you shared.
For optimal (more balanced biomechanics) health and strength we should all be programming different forms of our classic lifts.
Clean and jerk would be better than clean and press for performance imo and regardless the clean portion of that lift should be much more dynamic. Dead lift pull slack out of the bar and focus on hip drive not hyper extension of the low back. Bar should just clear the knees and track close to the body.
Wasn’t terrible but definitely needs to be tweaked for efficiency as well as to prevent injury.
And before someone says it I’m not an armchair QB. I have a BS in exercise physiology, am a former lifter, and have trained D1 level collegiate athletes some of which went on to the pros, so this is one area I know pretty well.
Regardless fun video and enjoyed watching it.
Keep smashing it Richie!!!!
My deadlift is only a little lower than his right now and a couple riders I lift with from time to time are equal or better. They're just random folks.
The guy is obviously super talented at riding and probably has a ton of room for improvement on S&C, but his strength and conditioning (from what we see here) is not impressive, especially given his size.
I can't speak to the MAP ramp test as I'm not familiar with it, but I am familiar with zone based power (1sec, 5sec, 10sec, 1min, etc) and what those numbers look like for top level riders road/cross/xc riders.
I gotta say though, I was always blown away by how freakishly fast the BMX racers were and how broad their fitness was. Even though they were geared toward bursty stuff, they tended to have great endurance/stamina as well.
Richie's numbers are impressive in these tests but the above is complete f*cking insanity.
The initial question was how his numbers would compare to that of a top level XC rider, which correlates pretty well with a "150 Cat 1 road weenie", which is what I addressed via comparing 1min wattages. So I'm not sure why you're mentioning apples to apples.
Is he strong guy in the grand scheme of things with good overall fitness? Of course. Are his numbers overly impressive or special compared those put down by other elite+ (not necessarily pro) cyclists of various disciplines? Not really. That was the question asked.
There's clearly a lot left on the table for his development and hopefully he can get hooked up with a coach/trainer that will help him tap that potential.
Numbers by themselves are sort of meaning less. You need weight, and you need to know the test protocal.
My experience as a coach is the MAP numbers of top Enduro riders would be mind blowing if they were 70kg instead of 80-90kg. But Enduro isn't about power weight, and it requires a lot more upper body strength. It also requires a lot more endurance then XC racing.
Multiple 6hrs days, most of it pretty low intensity, with about 40 minutes absolutely pinned is how I would describe both road and enduro racing.
When you get to that level in XCO you're simply genetically diffferent
Not that most people on here care about road cycling...
I was slightly surprised he wasn't able to hold 514w for longer than a minute, but I suspect his power profile (and that of a lot of enduro riders) would be very different to that of an XC racer, with excellent explosive power and over sub- 20 second invtervals, as well as good threshold (from those long days). I might be wrong, but is there really any time during an enduro race where you'd really max out for a whole minute?
I think most people don’t not understand the step test. They are nasty just like a vo2 max.
Great feature. Keep up the good work.
But yes, we know full well it's not the only factor. I don't have a rainbow jersey and I'm pretty damn strong. It means nothing. lol.
Dam you got some tats boi!
P.S. I thought climbers were all so skinny because they're broke and live in their vans...?