The nitty gritty

Warming up: A well designed warm-up should kill at least two birds with one stone. Primarily it should serve to prepare the body for the training session to come (increase muscle temperature, up your breathing rate, increase blood flow, prepare you psychologically etc.)

Secondly we can use the warm up, as discussed before, to deal with any mobility issues, imbalances or previous injuries you have had.

Attached to this article is a PDF file covering a full dynamic mobility warm-up. You may have to Google a lot of the movements in there but it’s a great place to start and something you can do as a stand alone routine or as your warm-up before a strength training session.

The meat and bones

Whether you want power, speed or endurance from your strength there is a way to train it specifically. But before you get that precise you need to just simply be strong. Strength is not about going the furthest or longest, it’s all about producing force through a full range of motion.

Start simple. Body weight for many people is a more-than-adequate amount of weight to move around to build strength. If done with diligence and some planning though you will quickly need to ad some external resistance to your exercises to continue gains in strength levels.

Yet again though, keep it simple – lots of compound movements that will transfer over to actual riding. For example, dumbbell bench press or push-up is like pushing the handlebars away from you to pump a backside or compression. Barbell rows or inverted rows under a table are like pulling on the bars to clear a jump or bunny hop. Kettle-Bell swings have the same movement pattern as a bunny hop. Step-ups build strength in the same manner you use unilaterally in the first pedal stroke out of a turn or start gate!

The examples of how an effective and simple strength-training program crosses over to really benefit your riding are endless. Whether you are a true weekend warrior, enduro racer, wanna-be DH super star or veteran 24hr jack-of-all-trades your strength can always be improved and will always have profound effects on your riding.

To give you an idea of what a good basic strength program for a mountain biker of any discipline should look like this:

Exercise Sets and Reps Rest

Activation (e.g. Hip lift, bird-dog) 2 X 8 30 sec

Torso/Core (e.g. Plank sequence) 2 X 1 min 30 sec

Power (e.g. Tuck Jump, KB Swing) ` 4 x 5 5 min

Torso/Core 2 (e.g. Body saw) 4 x 5 2 min

Upper Body Push (e.g. Push-up) 3 x 5 2 min

Lower body Hip (Romanian deadlift) 3 x 5 2 min

Full Body (e.g. Front squat, Deadlift) 3 x 5 3 min

Upper Body Pull (e.g. DB Row) 3 x 5 2 min

Guidelines to follow

• Training for strength should not be about endurance, rest at least 2 mins between sets and 3-5 between exercises
• If you have never trained strength before start with body weight, no matter what though aim to increase resistance or weight lifted a little each week.
• If riding your bike or doing some other sort of training or sport on the same day leave at least 4 hrs rest between that session and your strength session. Whichever comes first!
• Preform a warm-up diligently
• Make a note of weights lifted
• Have a descent meal or snack no later then 1h 30 min before strength training.
• Don’t aim to train to failure or soreness, you want to get stronger not injured or to sore to ride your bike.
• Don’t grunt like a meat-head!
• Avoid weight machines like the plague

Point1 Top Tip

Try to find yourself a quality, motivating athletic gym, one with coaches who understand sport, not a ‘personal trainer’ who is more worried about his gunshow and the price of hair styling products then your performance on your bike. Otherwise seek out advice from someone like myself who has a strength training background and understands the needs of mountain bikers.

Equipment is not cheap and while a lot of gains in strength can be made at home with a simple set-up if you really want to get serious about your strength then a quality athletic gym is a key piece of the puzzle.