Most people go through life never realizing that most of “reality” is nothing more than their paradigm on stuff, shaped by physical and mental experiences. For example, most people would think that running a marathon is extremely hard, if not impossible. Based on their lack of endurance and experience running, plus the extra 20-30 pounds they are likely carrying, their mind forms the reality that a marathon is “hard”.

However, someone who trains for a marathon and runs them regularly probably has a different opinion on the subject. Their brain scans their physical shape and mental experiences and says that running for a few hours at a good clip isn’t so bad and is, in fact, enjoyable. Each person has their reality…and it can change.

If the first person decided to train hard and make it happen they could get to the physical and mental place where they too feel than running a marathon isn’t “hard” anymore. If the second person broke their leg and had to take a lot of time off their physical and mental state would change and what used to be easy is once again hard. Your reality isn’t permanent and it can be changed rather easily.

So, what the heck does all this have to do with mountain biking? There are a lot of “truths” surrounding clipless pedals that are nothing more than a shared paradigm towards working around common weaknesses. Here are a few of the ones that really drive me nuts:

- Clipless pedals let you pedal with more power. Read more…

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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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…well, kind of. I’m having trouble with my podcasting service so this won’t get posted to itunes yet but you guys can download the MP3 file of it and listen to it now. In this episode I cover:

- Training Tip: Its all in the set up.

- Book Review/ Random Thoughts: Good to Great

- Supplement Review: Mix 1

Right click on the link below and select “Save as…” to download the mp3 file

MTB Strength Coach Podcast 6-23-2010

-James Wilson-

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Q: I have a big multi-day race coming up. What should I do about my strength training? I was planning on stopping it altogether about 2 weeks out. Do you think that is a good plan?

A: I would not stop strength training, strength is the foundation for every other physical attribute and letting it erode is going to negatively affect everything else. Read more…

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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…

Read more…

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I love 1/2 kneeling exercises becuase it builds strength while forcing the core to stabilize in a split stance position similar to what we do when standing on the pedals of out bike. When standing in a split stance position you can get away with some twisting of the hips; getting in the 1/2 kneeling position makes it easier to stay lined up right.

Here is how to do a row from this valuable base position. Try substituting one of your normal  rowing exercises for one of the variations to give your core a different training effect.

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