Hi James,

I am just about to move from phase 1 to phase 2 in the UMWP. When I move from the last week of phase 1 to the first week of phase 2 I am unsure of how much I should be dropping my weight load down to. For example in phase 1 for the straight leg dead lift the load progression I used was 80, 90, 100, 110 through the 4 weeks. So for the first week of phase 2 what load would you recommend I start at?

Also I have noticed that when some of the people in the gym are lifting heavy loads they work their way up to the highest load in their workout. So for the first set of reps they will lift half the load, 2nd set maybe ¾ and then for the last set do the full load. Is this to prevent injury? What is your take on this?

Thanks,

Paul

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It is kind of tough to say what a good load would be but I would say that it is more important that you are moving the right load in week 4 than in week 1. The fact that you are switching exercises and set/ rep schemes gives your body a stimulus – your loads don’t need to be perfect in week 1 to get a training effect.

So, follow the progression of starting almost too light and adding load each week until you are getting near technical failure in week 4.

As for “warming up” to a heavy load, I would agree with that general approach if you are maxing out on your lifts. Most of those guys are working up to a set where they go to failure. Since I don’t recommend training to failure except in the last week of the program it is not as much as issue.

However, as you get stronger you will need to start adding some warm up sets. A general rule of thumb is that for every 50 pounds you are going to lift do 1 warm up set. The more you are lifting the more of a run up you will need to make sure that you are ready for the load.

Hope this helps…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

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I mentioned in my last newsletter how I finally got a chance to get the tires of my new Yeti ASR-7 dirty. We got the call from our sources over in Moab saying that things had thawed out enough to open up a few trails, including Amasa Back. Amasa Back is one of my favorite trails in Moab and is a very challenging trail full of rocky obstacles.

I even hit the step up jump on the way up – after two months of no riding and being on a new bike I thought I’d probably skip it. However, one of the guys I was riding with decided to step it up and hit it so I went for it too. Here are some pics and a video I took of the trip.

Gassing up for the drive.

My new bike finally getting out on the trail.

Gettin' rowdy...

Random shot on the way up the trail.

My new Yeti rode awesome. I was super impressed with its ability to climb and found myself looking for the trickiest ledges and routes to test it out. However, the 7 inches really stood out on the way down. The fact that I could hit a jump I haven’t hit in over a year after two months off any bike should tell you how stable and natural it feels to ride it.

I’ve got to get the rear shock dialed in a bit better – while it felt great plowing through rock gardens I like it to be a bit snappier so I can more easily bunny hop and stuff it into corners. I’ll be posting more videos and pics as I get out more but over all the first ride was very promising and while I’ll miss my old Turner I’m sure I’ll get over it quickly.

-James Wilson-

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Here is a video demo I just shot on how to do a single arm DB snatch. This is a great exercise that lets us get some of the power developing benefits of Olympic style lifts without having to spend a lot of time on the technical aspects of the traditional snatch and clean.

Power development is crucial for mountain bikers. This exercise will help you pedal harder and bunny hop higher on the trail.

-James Wilson-

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I got an e-mail from a blog reader recently about his experience with a bike fit. I want to say up front that this guy has a really good perspective on the whole thing and that our exchange was very beneficial. However, he did bring up some good points about a bike fit that I had not really thought about before.

He basically pointed out how, during the process of the bike fit, he was told that his knees caved in with each pedal stroke and his pelvis was rotated forward. Through the use of arch supports, shims and some other adjustments this problem was “fixed” and his legs now move much more efficiently, which resulted in more power and comfort while riding (I also need to point out that this was mostly on his road bike).

This got me thinking about how the problems were not really “fixed” and how a bike fit may actually be masking your real problems and setting you up for more pain down the road. Here is my take on bike fittings…

It really depends on how much you are in the saddle. A bike fit centers around you being in the seated position and as soon as you stand up the “fit” goes out the window. I know that stem length and bike size play a role and those things will stay the same but the majority of a fit centers on the getting you butt in the right position when seated.

So, if you are a roadie it is critical. If you are a mountain biker that tends to sit a lot then it is beneficial as well. However, for a rider who tends to stand a lot (around here the trails are really technical and you have to stand up a lot) a fit is not nearly as valuable.

Personally, I think most riders tend to sit too much (and the skills coaches I have spoken with agree) so while it is valuable, it is more valuable for some riders and less valuable for others.

Now, I also have to point out that all of the problems that were solved with your fit could also be fixed with corrective strength training. Your knees caving in is not from a bad fit, it is from your glute medias not firing properly which causes your femur to internally rotate and cause your knees to cave in. What happened was that the fit, shims and sole inserts masked that functional movement issue, not cure your pedaling problems. Yes, you are now pedaling in a more efficient position but I can guarantee you that some sort of problem will pop up down the road because you did not really fix the true problem, you put a patch on it.

However, that is the common approach to movement issues because most people do not understand movement or how to fix it. Those issues you identified in your fitting don’t just exist on your bike – they exist in everything you do. The bike fit helped you on the bike but what about all of the stuff you do off of it? Every time you run, jump, walk, bend down to pick something up or any one of a thousand other things those same issues are there and causing problems.

So, as you can see I am not anti-bike fit but I do think that it tends to get overplayed for mountain bikers (since they should be standing more on the trail) and that it masks problems instead of really solving the underlying issues. I want people to be better riders but I also want them to be better, more pain free human beings off the bike. The mobility and corrective type stuff I recommend will help you actually fix the problem.

Let me know what your thoughts are…

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Check out my new article on arm pump over at VitalMTB.com. Arm pump on the trail a subject I have gotten a lot of questions on lately and I got a chance to get Aaron Gwin to demo the exercises on the video. He even gave some input on what he thinks it takes to get rid of arm pump on your mountain bike.

You can read the full article and check out the video by clicking on this link.

-James Wilson-

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In the Ultimate MTB Workout Program I have a couple different cardio workout programs specific to DH and XC racing. They are basically interval workouts based on the different length of effort during a race and I have gotten a lot of questions lately about which workouts are the best to follow for Super D racing and trail riding.

In a nutshell, the DH intervals are shorter and more intense while the XC intervals are a bit longer and have a bit more volume. This presents a problem for the rider who falls somewhere between the intense 3-5 minute scramble that is DH racing and the 2-3 hour pedal fest that is XC racing. Here is how I have been telling people to decide which one is best for them…

If you feel that you are lacking in overall horsepower then use the shorter (30-60 sec.) intervals in the DH interval program. These short, hard efforts are what your body needs to increase its raw power output. You have to be able to go as fast as you want in the first place before you work on sustaining that effort.

If you feel that you have the horsepower you need and that you simply can not sustain it over the course of a 15-60 minute ride then you need the longer intervals in the XC program. These tempo style intervals (sub-max efforts for 1-5 minutes with active recovery between intervals) work on your bodies ability to sustain power for longer. This will help you keep your legs feeling strong at the end of a ride.

I’ve mentioned it once already but it bears repeating – you have to be able to go as fast as you want in the first place before you work on sustaining that effort. Don’t assume that longer is better when it comes to getting faster at Super D and trail riding. Sometimes you need to put the “endurance” stuff on the backburner while you simply work on going hard and fast.

The basic idea is to objectively look at your weaknesses and then choose training options that address them. Don’t just guess at what you need or blindly follow the common training “wisdom” in your riding style.

-James Wilson-

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I don’t know why but I have become obsessed lately with the whole “pedaling endurance” concept. The more I think about it the more I think it holds the key for most mountain bikers to take their riding to the next level. And far from being just a DH rider concept, this idea applies just as much to trail riders and XC racers.

I was going over the new programs with a couple of my riders this weekend and in talking with them I mentioned a saying I’ve heard many times before – Fatigue masks fitness.

No matter where you are or what type of riding you do this saying applies to you. When you get tired your “fitness” is hard to display. However, what is important to note is that fatigue from one thing can affect your fitness in another area.

Let me give you an analogy to illustrate my point – take a powerlifter who can easily squat 600 pounds. Most would admit that he is very “fit” from a strength perspective. However, have that same guy go run a 10K and then try to squat – I guarantee you that he won’t be squatting nearly as much as he usually could.

Now, take a runner who can cover a 10K in under 40 minutes. Have them do a max effort squat workout and then go run – again, they will not be able to run as fast as they usually could.

What we have here is a guy who is strong but had that fitness masked by fatigue from an endurance event. Conversely, we have a runner who has great cardio but it was masked by fatigue from a strength event. In both cases you had people who were “fit” relative to their sport but had an unrelated event mask their fitness.

This is what I think happens to a lot of trail riders and XC riders, especially those who automatically write off a lot of my advice as being “DH specific”. No matter how great your cardio levels are, if you get to the end of a ride or race and you have been physically beat up by the trail you will feel sluggish and tired.

Your physical weakness will mask your cardio fitness on the trail. Unfortunately, a lot of riders who get to the end of a long ride or race and feel their legs going out on them misinterpret that as meaning that they need to work on their pedaling endurance (i.e. more long rides and other cardio stuff). However, what they really need to do is get stronger so that the trail doesn’t beat them up so bad that they are excessively fatigued when they get to the end of a ride.

No matter how long your average ride or race, lack of physical strength will take its toll on you and make it hard to show your cardio/ pedaling fitness towards the end of a ride. This isn’t even taking into account how stronger riders can plow into technical trail sections faster and with more control. Add it all up and how strong you are starts to become even more important to how fast and long you can ride.

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I was talking with one of the local riders who trains at my facility after training last night and he was talking about his perception of how his interval workouts were going. He had built up to doing 40 second intervals and said that they were not getting any easier. To him this meant that something wasn’t right and he wasn’t getting fitter.

I told him that 40 second sprints will always suck and if he is looking for the day when they would be easy, it wasn’t coming. You get fitter and push yourself harder – it will always feel relatively hard.

He said that his idea was that he was supposed to start with the 30 second intervals and then they would get easy and then that would mean he was ready for the 35 second intervals. After they felt “easy” he was ready for the 40 seconds intervals and so on. I realized that he was applying a volume based progression mindset to an intensity based exercise.

Most riders will judge their relative fitness levels to how long they can ride. When you first started out an hour long ride would kill you. Eventually that became easy and you were able to ride longer. When that become easier you could ride longer again. Basically, you looked for your current volume of riding to get easier, that told you that you were fitter and you then looked to start riding longer.

However, with sprint type intervals this is not the right way to look at it. It isn’t about making how long you are going feel easier, it is about being able to cram more power into that time frame. Without objectively looking at your performance this can be tough to do.

The best way to check is with a power meter. If you can get more average power into your intervals then you are obviously heading in the right direction. If your last interval is close to being as powerful as your first interval you are heading in the right direction. How you “feel” is irrelevant, how much power you are producing is what you look at.

The second best way is to use a cyclo-computer on your trainer bike to measure your speed and distance. If you are able to higher speeds and/ or cover more distance during your intervals then you are improving. If your last interval is covering almost as much distance as your first you are improving. Again, looking at something objective like speed or distance helps keep how you feel in perspective.

The last method is the least effective but still offers some objective look at your fitness. Looking at how long it takes to complete your intervals and trying to get them done in less time is also an indicator of improvement. I suggest using a heart rate based recovery method where you either set a heart rate to drop back down to (like 120 bpm) or set a number of beats for your heart to drop (like 50 bpm) before starting your next interval if you are going to use this method. That way you can be sure that your heart rate is recovering faster, which is why you can complete the intervals quicker, rather than you just cutting your rest short to beat the clock.

Combining all 3 methods produces the best overall look at how your intervals are looking and progressing. The overriding message here is that you will have to invest in something that will let you objectively look at some marker other than feel. The rider who is laying down more power, covering more distance and/ or recovering his heart rate faster is getting more out of intervals than the rider who doesn’t improve in those areas but says that feel “easier”.

Just remember that intervals are not about making the same old effort feel easier, they are about tapping into more effort during the given time frame. You need to bring a different mindset to intervals – if you get done and think you could have done more than you did not push yourself hard enough.

-James Wilson-

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I got a new Yeti 7 last Friday and got it built up over the weekend. However, I have no where to ride it!

Anyways, I got some pics of it thought I’d post them here.

I went with a shorter stem than what it came with and swapped the wheels for my trusty DT Swiss 1750 but besides that everything is the parts pick from the Yeti website. You can find out more about this bike at www.yeticycles.com.

I’ll be sure to post and update when I get some dirt on the tires…

-James Wilson-

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One of the more interesting exercises I saw being used at Mike Boyle’s facility was the cheat curl to shoulder press. The idea behind it is that it will force you into a position that gets all the right areas strong for a shoulder press, particularly the glutes, core and upper back.

Mike said that they started using it and got some great feedback from people who had previously experienced shoulder pain while doing shoulder presses – it basically made the pain go away. I have been trying it and like how it gets some also works in some good hip explosiveness which is something all riders need.

Here is a video demo on how to perform this exercise and how to advance it. I recommend using a weight that is tough for you to just curl up and really try to make the dumbbells float up to your shoulders, otherwise you are missing the point of the first part of the exercise.

-James Wilson-

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