This past weekend I got to go to Sol Vista near Granby, CO for the annual Mountain Bike National Championships. I went to watch some of the riders that I have been working with show how all the hard work and training has paid off. While I’m stoked on how all of the riders who have been using my programs fared there were a few notable performances I wanted to highlight.

On the girl’s side,  Jacquie Harmony scored a second place in both the 4X and DH races. Riding for Team Vixen, Jacquie started using the Ultimate MTB Workout Program this last off season and epitomizes the hard work and dedication it takes to succeed at that level.

The men’s Pro 4X final saw two MTB Strength Training Systems clients take first and second. Team Yeti’s Ross “The Crusher” Milan edged Team Gerinomo’s Brian Buell to take home the Stars & Stripes jersey. I’ve been working with both teams and Brian, who has been steadily rising through the Pro ranks, has been using my programs for the last few years. I’m really stoked for Ross, we had a talk at the beginning of the season about how hard it was to juggle being competitive while being a dad – glad that he is able to do both!

On the DH side of things the real drama was who was going to get second and how close could they could get to Team Yeti’s Aaron Gwin. Gwinny worked like a mad man this off season after tasting what was possible towards the end of last season and the work we’ve done, combined with his extra year of experience, has taken his riding to a level no on in the US can touch. He crashed hard in qualifying and worked his thumb so bad he thought he was going to need to tape his hand to the handlebars to he could hang on. Despite having to set the pace right off the bat and noticeably being in a ton of pain he was still able to lay down a 2:21 and win by 3.5 seconds.

Gwinny in the Hot Seat...for over an hour

However, the good news did not stop there. Tyler Immer is one of the up and coming Yeti riders who I met at the team camp and has been working hard using my DB Combos program to get in shape during the season…that’s right, he’s been using it during the season and improving rapidly because he did not fall back on the “I don’t strength train during the season” excuse. He railed down the mountain to a 3rd place finish, missing 2nd by a little over .2 seconds.

Gwinny & Tyler on the podium

So, on the men’s side, 2 of the top 3 finishers in both the DH and 4X use programs and strategies from MTB Strength Training Systems. On the women’s side we saw a double sliver medalist who also uses the same programs and strategies. I don’t think I really need to say much more…

Dual National Champs!

Congratulations to all the riders who competed this weekend, it takes a lot of guts to line up and lay it all out there. No matter where you placed or how you trained you have my respect.

-James Wilson-

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Check out this news story that a local station did on a free clinic I recently put on at my facility…

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In my last podcast I mentioned a book called From Good to Great. In it the authors looks at what it takes to go from being an average company to being a great one, although he also used several sports analogies because of the direct ties between achieving greatness in two fields. One of the most striking things to me was how in both cases the use of technology was a good indicator of whether companies were on a good path or not.

In the book they pointed out how great companies would use new technology to accelerate progress that was already there while others would use technology to stimulate progress. In other words, one group was experiencing good results and used technology to make them even better while another group was dead in the water with no idea of what to do and used technology to try and get things going again.

This principle also ties in to how a lot of riders are told to use technology to improve their ride. Read more…

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Some lessons from training and riding this week…

- Just because someone is a therapist doesn’t mean they are the best option for you. If you seek help for a chronic injury (which is usually caused by dysfunction in the joint above or below where the pain actually is) and the therapist treats it the same way they would an acute injury (which usually does come from the affected joint) find someone else.

In other words, if you have a nagging joint pain that is getting worse you don’t need rest and isolation exercises for that joint. You need manual mobilization and stability exercises so find a therapist that understands the difference in the two types of injuries and how to best treat both. It is your right to find someone who you feel comfortable with and you don’t have to work with the first therapist you get referred to.

- In this same vein, I really think that avoiding movements that cause pain is a bad idea when trying to fix the problem. Read more…

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Time for me to sit down and think about the stuff I learned this week while helping people get fitter and rise faster…

- One of my favorite cartoons as a kid was G.I. Joe. Every episode would end with a lesson of some sort and and emphatic “Knowing is half the battle”! In our case, knowing what to think about on the trail is half the battle. For example, we all know that you are supposed to “look up” when you’re riding your bike and not stare at your front wheel. However, what exactly are you looking at?

Read more…

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This was great week for me both on the trail and in the gym. I had my first session in the inaugural Skills & Fitness Boot Camp, had a bunch of clients stepping up and showing some impressive progress and got some great rides in out at the Lunch Loop trails. Here are a couple big things I took away from this week of training and riding:

- You can become a pretty good rider using pretty bad technique. Read more…

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