This last weekend I was at Yeti headquarters conducting a training camp for the team. We spent 3 days doing movement screens, going over a new routine I developed to help them quickly build foundational movement, going over nutrition and supplements and conducting an on-bike skills session to help them tie it altogether on the bike. It was an amazingly productive weekend and I came away with some great ideas and insights.

- Riders tend to fall into one of two categories: tight or weak. Tight riders have to focus on moving smoothly, weak riders need to focus on moving with more authority. Weak riders also tend to be hyper-mobile in the ankles and low back and need to pay a lot of attention to keeping strong and stable in those areas while moving.

- The low back is a muscle and feeling it working isn't bad. We get so paranoid about protecting the low back we forget this fact. Feeling a strain or joint pain in the spine isn't good but feeling your low back almost cramping while doing a wall squat is fine, especially if you tend to round as you come down. You're just feeling your low back doing what it is supposed to do, which is tighten up and resist that forward lean.

- There is no "special" way to pedal a bike. One of the riders wanted me to work on his standing pedaling stroke with him since he thought there was some special technique. I simply had him get off his bike and sprint as fast as he could for 20 yards. I then told him to get on his bike and "sprint" like he was running – he was instantly much faster and we had to warn him not to snap the chain as he sprinted around the parking lot with his new-found pedaling power.

- Knowing what you do so you can refine it is important. More than once during the skills clinic riders mentioned that they "do that already" when I was explaining a technique. I told them that it is still important for you to be aware of why you are successful so you can go back to it if you start to get away from it. All riders will see their performance decrease with age and unless you know why you're successful at 21 you'll have a hard time keeping it up until your 31.

- Lastly, this is the best piece of advice that come out of our last Q&A session before I left: When you're in the gym think about what you want to do on the trail and when you are on the trail think about what you practiced in the gym. Turn gym time into skills practice for the trail and then apply what you practiced to the trail. Better skills through strength training is the goal of my programs and that will only work when you stop seeing an exercise and start seeing a movement that you need on the bike.

These where some of the big lessons that I learned during the 3 days and the hands on time with the riders was invaluable in helping me refine my programs for you guys. Its experience like this that helps me continue to define the cutting edge of training for the unique demands of mountain biking. I'll have some more insights and training tips from the Yeti team camp in my next podcast, which will be posted on Friday.

I also got some great posts up at www.bikejames.com over the last week. Be sure to go check it out if you missed any of them or if you want to share your thoughts and comments about this newsletter subject:

- Combo Drill for Mountain Bike Endurance Training: This combo drill is a great way to work on the strength endurance you need to ride rough, technical trails.

- Kettlebell Arm Bar for Mountain Biking: This is one of those "must use" exercises that every rider should be taking advantage of.

That’s about it for this week. As always please feel free to forward this email or any of my blog posts to someone you think could benefit from the info. Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson
MTB Strength Training Systems

p.s. The Ultimate MTB Workout Program continues to define the category of true mountain bike performance training. Here is some feedback I got last week from a rider who is "blown away" by his results:

" Hi James-

Just wanted to take a moment and give you some positive feedback on the results I’m seeing with the program.  We just had the first race of the Southridge winter series here in So. Cal. and I could tell a big difference in my DH riding.  The race course has the infamous “Wall” section at the end that is a couple hundred yards of just hard sprint pedaling.  That section of the course can either put you on the podium or take it away from you just as easily. 

I was blown away at how much easier it was to stay up out of the saddle and mash my pedals until I reached the finish, and I still felt like I could have done more.  I had one slip up earlier in the course and missed the podium by 2 seconds, but overall it was a great opportunity to get some feedback on how well your system is working.  I felt great after practice on Saturday and by the time we ended up leaving on Sunday I was worked, however I knew that I had given it my all and was happy with the results. 

I couldn’t wait to get back into the gym on Monday and continue to make positive progress.  I’m looking forward to each workout now because I “know for a fact” that I’m getting the results I want. Thank you for all that you do to help our sport- I really appreciate it."

Walter Malzahn

 
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