One of my favorite ways to build strength and endurance for the demands of trail riding are combo drills. By combining several challenging exercises into one continuous circuit you can work on vital movement skills while building strength and endurance, making them a very valuable weapon in the mountain bikers training arsenal.

While I’ve been using combo drills in my program for a while now, I recently came across a new technique that adds another way to use this method. Weight ladders are when you use 3 different sets of dumbbells for your combo drill – one set that is a little light, one that is just right and one that is a bit heavy.

By working your way up the ladder you are able to keep your movement quality high while exposing your body to different loads, allowing you to learn control and gain exposure to a heavier load. Here is a simple but effective combo drill using this method:

- DB Push Press X 5 reps (3-5 reps on the heaviest rung)

- DB Front Squat X 5 reps (3-5 reps on the heaviest rung)

- Renegade Rows X 5 reps (3-5 reps on the heaviest rung)

Each time you finish the combo drill you move to the next rung on the ladder until you have worked your way to the highest “rung” and then starting over again at the lowest rung. There are two ways to use this method:

1) You can work for a specified period of time and see how many times you can work through the ladder. For example, set a timer for 2 minutes, get through the ladder as many times as you can before resting for a 1 minute and repeating 3 times.

2) You can set a certain number of times your want to work through the ladder. For example, see how long it takes you to get through the ladder 5 times and then try to beat that record the next time you train.

This method is a great way to add some variety to your workouts while getting a lot of high quality work in. Try adding this in at the end of your workout and enjoy the results on the trail!

-James Wilson-

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Mountain Bike Cardio Training

Let me ask you a question – Do you want better cardio? Or do you want to be able to ride harder, faster and longer on the trail? Think these two goals are the same thing? Perhaps not…

One of the toughest things I face when bringing new and improved training concepts to the mountain biking world is trying to work around the large amount of confusion that surround certain terms. For example, when you use the terms “aerobic training” and “cardio training” interchangeably then my call to avoid excessive aerobic training seems odd. Once I explain that aerobic training is just a specific type of cardio training and there are other ways to work on your cardio then my suggestions make more sense.

I’ve recently realized that it is time for me to take on two new terms that need clarification on their real meaning – cardio training and endurance training. In most people’s books these two terms mean the same thing but once you understand the difference between them you’ll start to see the impact it has on your training approach. Read more…

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Mountain Bike Cardio Training, Mountain Bike Strength Training

I’m pretty well known for the use of combo drills to build High Tension Cardio in mountain bike training routines but they aren’t the only ways to add some extra cardio to your workouts. If you want to work a bit more on strength while getting some extra cardio then Hybrid Exercises are another tool for you to put in your toolbox.

Hybrid Exercises are when you combine two exercises into one movement. They differ slightly from combo drills so watch this video to see how they break down and how to perform this routine.

Hybrid Exercises for MTB on pinkbike.com

Here is a list of the routine:

- TRX Push Up with PJK                     X 12 reps

- RDL with Bent Row                           X 12 reps

- Split Squat with Shoulder Press          X 6 reps each leg

Go through this circuit 2-4 times.

-James Wilson-

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Mountain Bike Cardio Training, Mountain Bike Strength Training

As a group we’ve been brainwashed into equating easier with improvement. We judge the effectiveness of a bike upgrade by how much easier it made riding. We judge a program by how much easier it was to keep up on a group ride or to be competitive in a racing series. However, there is a downside to this constant pursuit of “easier”.

The truth is that “easier” shouldn’t always be the goal. Here are two examples that come to mind –

1) When training or riding sometimes you want to be able to dig deeper, hurt worse and go far faster and/ or further than you previously could before. Just because you finish a ride or race and feel like you are about to puke, pass out or have an out of body experience isn’t a sign that you suck. Riding hard is going to be, well, hard.

2) Learning to use new movements and muscles is going to carry a learning curve. Old habits are “easier” than new movements, even if the new way will ultimately be better. It is called The Dip and it is what happens when you try to break through a performance decrease to realize even better performance on the other side. For example, getting the hips into your pedal stroke and/ or using flat pedals has a learning curve that you just need to get through, even if they are “harder” than what you used to do.

Both of these examples are ways that you can take the pursuit of “easier” too far but the second example also speaks to how it can deceive us sometimes as well. Using something that makes riding initially “easier” doesn’t mean that it is always the best path. Fight through the dip and resist the call of the herd to come back to the “easier” path and you might be surprised what you find on the other side.

-James Wilson-

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Mountain Bike Cardio Training

I’ve been on a kick lately to resurrect some of my old videos and so here’s another one. This is a video I shot last year going over the Combo Drill I wrote about in the July ’10 issue of Decline Magazine, it is another great way to build the type of cardio you need to dominate the trail. Dig out your old issue and you’ll see my buddy Carlos sporting the old orange & white headband in all its glory. We had a shtick for the first year I wrote for them of getting that headband into the pics somehow. Too bad I couldn’t get it to do the video in…

-James Wilson-

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Mountain Bike Cardio Training

As I mentioned in my recent podcast, one of the secrets to the success of my programs is the inclusion of combination drills that build the type of “high tension” cardio you need on the trail. This is an old combo drill video I shot that will still kick your ass – BTW, my wife Kiele came up with it so see if you’re as tough as a girl!

-James Wilson-

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Mountain Bike Cardio Training