In this episode of the MTB Strength Coach Podcast I talk to Greg Choat who is one of the top bike fit professionals in the world – yes, I said a bike fit guy! I ran into Greg at a Functional Movement Screen Lv. 2 seminar a few weeks after running my blog post on the real value of bike fits and found out that he actually shares my feelings on the subject. After hearing more about how he uses the FMS to enhance his bike fits I knew that I had to get him on the podcast to talk more about it.
In this interview we talk about how the FMS has changed how he views and uses bike fits, how our everyday lives affect the dysfunctions we bring to bike, how those dysfunctions affect how we perform on the bike and why the bike industry in general has missed the boat on applying functional movement to the bike in favor of marketing hype.
We also talk about pedaling technique and why strength training, especially the deadlift and swing, are essential to building a strong, efficient pedal stroke. Grip strength and neck pain come up as well – in short, we cover a lot of ground and this is a “must hear” podcast from one of the top cycling coaches in the industry.
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-James Wilson-
My buddy Lee McCormack (www.leelikesbikes.com) recently sent me this question…
James!OK dude. I’ve been doing longer rides lately, and it’s starting to feel
good. My climbing legs are coming back, and I’m comfortable for 2+ hour
rides.
The weak link is actually appearing on the DH. I’m training and riding the
way I always do, but my mid-back is starting to get tired. More
specifically, the erector muscles along the right side of my spine.
I can think of two influencing factors:
1) Bike setup. For many years, I’ve rocked 50mm stems. My new Stumpy has the
stock XC setup, with a 90mm stem. I’m trying the stock setup for testing
purposes, since that’s what most people roll.
2) The lack of a right clavicle. As you know, I have a non-union, and the
only thing holding my arm on is muscle. I definitely get tired in the
chest/shoulder/upper back area faster than I think I should. I’ll be getting
the shoulder fixed pretty soon.
What do you think, my brother? I’m really interested in the James Wilson
perspective.
- Lee McCormack -
Here is the first thing I always think when someone tells me that something hurts as a result of exercise – bad movement causes pain. Bad movement also robs you of performance so the trick is to hunt down the bad movement and fix it.
Typically, if someone is getting pain in the erector muscles as a result of riding they will have a mobility deficit in the hips and/ or upper back and the body is coaxing excessive movement out of the lumbar spine. It sounds to me that you have upper back mobility issues as a result of your shoulder traumas.
You should be able to hold your arms straight over your head (elbows locked out and in line with your ears when viewed from the side) while keeping your head and lower back in a neutral position. If you can’t then you need to work on increasing your upper back, and specifically scapular, mobility.
Our body is designed to be a series of mobile and stable joints. In this case we want mobile hips, a stable lumbar spine and a mobile thoracic spine (upper back). You have to restore balance to the system first before you can really hope to address the real causes of the back pain.
As far as it hurting more on the right side, there are few things that could cause that. My guess would be that it is extra movement on that side. Since our left side lower body works with the right side upper body that would make sense if you are weaker with the left leg and you are compensating with the right lower back.
Here is my advice – don’t do any two legged strength training exercises for the time being. Do everything one leg at a time and get your left leg’s movement patterns cleaned up. Cue in on the lumbar movement and stop it by squeezing the glute even harder when it happens.
Also, get super aggressive with your soft tissue work. Get a tennis ball and put it between your back and the wall and dig in. The main areas to concentrate on are the right trap and lat but you should dig in all over the place and get the tension levels back there under control. It will hurt like hell but it has to be done.
Long, repetitive efforts like XC riding will expose small “chinks” in your movement patterns and cause pain. That is why strength training and mobility work is so important – they are the only chance you get to fix those “chinks”.
Bad movement causes pain – find the bad movement and fix the pain. Pretty simple theory but one I have found to work pretty well.
Hope this helps, let me know if I can answer any more questions for you…
Nutrition is a funny subject – it is very simple and yet very complex at the same time, resulting in a lot of confusion and a lot of people simply giving up ever trying to figure out how to eat properly. However, I think I have a way to look at things that will help clear some of the confusion up.
I call it Primary and Secondary Food Filters. Primary Food Filters are the “rules” that cover general nutrition principles and Secondary Food Filters are “rules” that dig into more specific aspects of what you eat. The problems start to crop up when people hear about and focus on Secondary Food Filters before they have a Primary Food Filter in place.
Here is an example to explain what I mean…
The first Primary Food Filter I teach people is the 123′s of Nutrition:
1) Eat every 2-3 hours
2) Eat a lean protein with each meal
3) Eat fruit and/ or veges at each meal and avoid refined carbs
Those are general rules that are pretty easy to apply and not very confusing. If you ran your current eating habits through that filter you would have a very good idea of the overall effect of what you are eating. If you are not meeting 1 or more of those rules then you need to work on fixing that.
A Secondary Food Filter would be things like eating Gluten Free, Organic Foods, Whole Grain or something else that filters food choices based on a very specific aspect of the foods. The problem is that when you don’t have a Primary Food Filter in place the Secondary Food Filters can actually encourage some bad choices.
For example, a milkshake is “gluten free”, you can make a cake that is “organic” and Fruit Loops are “whole grain” but those foods still are still not good for you. You’d be better off eating a meal that broke all of those rules – a chicken breast with a piece of bread and a salad.
Again, the problems arise when people are sold on and focus on Secondary Food Filters before having a Primary Food Filter in place. Once you have one in place then you can start to add Secondary Food Filters to dial your nutrition program in even more but don’t put the cart before the horse, so to speak. Unfortunately most nutrition programs are promoted and sold on Secondary Filters, which is why it seems every time you turn around there is a “new” nutrition program that you need to follow.
So, when someone asks me if they should eat gluten free (which seems to be the big buzz right now) I ask them how their overall nutrition program looks. Most often I get a blank stare back – they have no idea, they just have heard that they should avoid gluten and start to filter their food choices based on that. Get your primary filter in place first before worrying about the secondary stuff.
One of the common arguments against strength training for cycling is that the contraction speed seen in lifting weights is much slower than that seen during the pedal stroke. While I won’t get into how much more there is to riding – especially mountain biking – than pedaling, I want to stick with that idea to point out a few fundamental flaws in that simplistic view of performance training.
First, not all pedal stroke efforts are created equal. When talking about contraction speeds during pedaling the assumption is being made that the pedal stroke is a high RPM (90-110) and low resistance on the pedals. This does not describe all types of pedaling – low RPM grinds and standing pedal strokes both require a different type of muscle contraction. I’ve certainly had pedal strokes that felt like a tough single leg deadlift and that is one of the main points of training – work on the things you need on the trail but don’t use enough on the trail to significantly improve.
So, some types of pedaling efforts do require a type of muscular action similar to those seen during strength training. In addition to that, there are exercises that do train the faster types of muscle contractions seen during higer RPM pedaling.
Kettlebell swings in particular work on both the movement pattern and contraction type needed, making them a very sport specific way to train for cycling in the gym. Swings use a lighter weight and faster overall movement than the Olymipc lifts but are not as widely studied and so are rarely included when considering if strength training has specific carryover to the pedal stroke.
Lastly, your raw strength is a good reflection of how “stress proof” a movement pattern is. As you fatigue any cracks in your movement start to get magnified, meaning that you lose efficiency and start wasting energy. This is a double whammy – not only are you low on energy but you start wasting it and using it faster.
If you can lift a significant amount of weight in some of the basic exercises like the deadlift, front squat/ Goblet squat and KB shoulder press then you can be pretty sure that you can push those movement patterns hard and they will retain their efficiency. You simply can’t take bad movement very far in the gym – bad form will stop your progress or get you hurt if you try to get strong with it.
However, in the saddle you can lean on clipless pedals, bike fits and seated pedaling to let you get around bad movement, which leads to inefficient movement and overuse injuries. You can get away with crappy movement in the saddle and so strength training is a great way to “cement” better movement for use on the bike.
So, we have 3 reasons that strength training should be a centerpiece of a cycling program:
1) Some pedal stroke efforts, like slow RPM grinds and standing, do require muscular contractions similar to those seen during strength training.
2) Light weight kettlebell swings with overspeed eccentrics use faster contraction speeds train similar contraction speeds seen during higher RPM pedaling.
3) Strength is a great indicator of how stress proof your movement is, which indicates how efficient you can remain as you fatigue.
I think that most coaches who dismiss or minimize the effect of strength training on cycling in general and the pedal stroke in particular simply have a very limited understanding of strength training in the first place. I think that it has a lot to offer from both a holistic and sport specific point of view and that any rider who is serious about improving must make it a priority.
-James Wilson-
Strength training for the MTB world has been slow to catch up to the unique and highly physical demands of our sport. Today’s average rider rips up trails that just 5-6 years ago would have been considered extreme and today’s extreme rider…well, let’s just say that they continue to defy all logic in their quest to progress our sport. Considering how fast our sport has evolved in such a short period of time it really comes as no surprise that most MTB specific strength and conditioning programs are stuck in the time when cantilever brakes were still viable options and anodized purple was a highly sought after fashion statement (not that there is anything wrong with that).
Today’s MTB world is not simply road riding on a dirt road. Muscling a 30-35 pound bike around on a technical trail requires a far different skill set and physical attributes than MTB riders needed at the turn of the century. As such, routines and exercise selection needs to reflect this fact. With this in mind, let’s review what I consider to be the top 3 exercises for the XC/ trail rider to include in their program (besides the deadlift, of course, which is a must for every rider).
1) Bulgarian Split Squat – You may have noticed that this one also made my top 3 list for explosive gate starts. One of the best things about this exercise is that, when done correctly, it serves as both a great uni-lateral leg exercise and a great hip flexor stretch. Prop your trail leg up on a bench, make sure that you start with your torso completely upright with your shoulders and hips square. Lower yourself under control (don’t just turn the muscles off and drop) and make sure that you keep your torso upright and everything square on the way down.
You may notice a tendency to lean over as you lower yourself, indicating weak or inhibited glutes. Leaning over lets you use your low back to help you get back up and should be avoided in order to establish the movement pattern we are looking for. You may also notice that you want to let your hips open up as you come down as well. This indicates tight hip flexors and every effort should be made to keep the hips square in order to maximize the stretch on this area during the exercise. Just like everything else with your strength training, it’s not just about going through the motions, it’s about doing the movement pattern correctly in order to get everything we can out of our time investment.
2) Pull Ups/ Chin Ups & Variations – Most XC/ Trail riders are very weak in the upper body. This really takes its toll as the trail gets rougher and the ride gets longer. Having good upper body strength and strength endurance is vital to controlling your bike and maneuvering down the trail. In fact, if more riders worried about getting stronger rather than how to shave a few pounds off their bikes they would be far better served.
Pull Ups, Chin Ups and their variations are a great way to strengthen the upper back and gain good body control. Let me clear up a few things – 1) it is not a chin/ pull up if you do not straighten your arms all the way at the bottom and allow your shoulders to come up by your ears as well. Most people who think that they can do an adequate pull/ chin up are really fooling themselves by not coming all the way down at the bottom. 2) Pull ups indicate that your palms are facing away from you and chin ups indicate that your palms are facing towards you. Both have their place in a program but I almost always start people out with chin ups as they are easier learn how to initiate the movement by pulling the shoulder blades down. 3) If you can do more than 8 reps in a set then strap some weight to yourself.
Adding more reps will only start to work on short term strength endurance and we want to get stronger through strength training (imagine that). Strength endurance should be addressed in the overall program but not when we are looking to add real strength. I can personally do a chin up with more weight than I can bench (bodyweight of 180 lbs. plus 95 lbs. strapped to me) and I feel that every MTB rider should be able to do the same.
3) Kettlebell Shoulder Press – As I have already commented on, most MTB riders need some more upper body strength and the standing shoulder press is one of the best exercises available for strengthening the pressing muscles. Over the last few decades there has been a real decline in the use of the standing press in strength training programs. Most have shied away from it for injury concerns reasons (I think ego is more of a factor since you can bench far more than you can press over your head). This is extremely unfortunate since, when done correctly, the standing military press will not only add upper body strength, it will actually help injury proof the torso and shoulders as well.
If you make sure that you keep the torso strong with no backward lean when pressing over your head then you not only protect the lower back, you help strengthen the torso like few other exercises can. Pressing over your head also forces all of the muscles around your shoulder to fire in order to stabilize the entire shoulder during the lift, helping to injury proof this area as well. Both of these areas are trouble spots for bikers during long, pounding rides with a heavy hydration pack strapped to them. The kettlebell shoulder press builds true functional upper body strength in a very efficient package.
There you have it, the Top 3 Strength Training Exercises for your average XC/ Trail riders. You guys make up the bulk of the riding world and can gain a lot from a good strength and conditioning program. For a long time now the bike industry has mislead you by making you think that a new bike or a new part will make the biggest difference on the trail when it is the engine that drive the bike that makes the real impact. Getting stronger will allow you to ride harder, faster and longer, adding up to more fun on the trail. Isn’t that what it’s all about anyways?
-James Wilson-
One of the biggest obstacles I face when trying to discuss clipless vs. flat pedals with riders is that there are a lot of pseudo-technique that has been developed by the clipless pedal industry and sold to the cycling world. For example, one of the common things I hear as an argument against flats is that they don’t allow for “float” since the rubber of the shoe sticks to the pins of the pedal and does not allow for lateral rotation of the shoe. This is said as if that is a bad thing since the shoe and pedal makers all promote “float” as an essential element of a pedal.
However, what gets lost is that float is not a natural thing – the two dimensional activity allowed by float in no way resembles the three dimensional action the foot takes when walking or running. Float was created because it was better than the simply locking the foot into place and allowing for no movement at the foot, which wreaks havoc on the knees.
If you look at how your foot works off the bike then you see that the contact patch with the ground at the point of pushing off does not move laterally and instead stays planted. Your foot, on the other hand, went through a whole series of movements in all three dimensions as it struck the ground mid-foot, bent and rolled through the arch to the forefoot and then pushed off from there. Your foot needs this specific movement sequence, not some manmade mish-mash of crap created by “optimal float”.
You can not just look at the end of a movement and disregard how your body got to that point in the first place. The clipless pedal and shoe does just that – the attachment point is placed based on maximizing the push off point of the foot and severely restricts the action the foot normally takes to get there. Float is simply an attempt to minimize the damage from such a disregard for natural foot movement.
So yes, flat pedals don’t have float which is actually another reason that I ride them. Float is a sad trade off for the natural foot movement my body needs to stay healthy as I rack up the miles/ hours on the trail. Again, use clipless pedals for what they were intended to be – a performance enhancer on race day, not as a fall back crutch for a lazy pedal stroke and riding technique. And don’t let industry created hype terms scare you from trying flat pedals and seeing how much better your joints feel and your riding improves.
-James Wilson-
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