More than roadies on dirt.
This is an excerpt from an upcoming article on www.strengthcoach.com. In it I cover the 3 main physical differences between road riding and mountain biking and why these difference mean we need a very different approach to training…
Here are three things that must be considered with a mountain bike training program:
1) Slower RPMs require more muscular strength:
One of the foundations of the famous Carmichael Training System is that higher RPMs require less muscular strength and more aerobic capacity to keep going. That is why 90-110 RPMs is goal for a lot of road riders – spinning that fast produces the most power in the most energy efficient manner possible. What this means for the mountain biker, however, is completely different.
While you can keep a good, consistent spin on the road it is impossible to do on the trail. Rocks, roots and loose dirt all conspire to steal your momentum and traction and you can not just “spin” your way through them. You have to stop pedaling in certain areas, slow down in other and accelerate in yet others.
This means that, on average, a mountain biker uses a lower RPM than a road cyclist would over the same distance. The lower RPMs require more muscular strength to produce and more anaerobic strength endurance to maintain. For this reason strength training and intervals will have a more direct impact on a mountain biker’s performance than a road cyclist.
2) Standing pedaling requires more core strength:
One of the reasons that mountain bikers use a slower RPM is because they are forced to stand a lot more than a road cyclist. Standing up to navigate a technical trail section or to sprint up a short, loose climb are common occurrences for the mountain biker. Because they spend more time standing, they need to gain more core strength and hip drive to be efficient in that position.
When you are sitting down the seat and seatpost help support your weight and provide a point of stability for you to drive against. When you stand up you lose those things and your core is asked to make up for it. Most riders lack the core strength to hold themselves up and provide a platform for the legs which is why they always feel “slow” on the trail when they have to stand up and lay down the horsepower.
The other thing to consider is that standing pedaling is more hip dominant than seated pedaling is. In the standing position your hips are driving straight down, making this movement more of a sprint than a jog. Because it is powered differently than seated pedaling you have to emphasize that in the mountain bikers training program.
3) Hip mobility and control is the key to technical skills:
The thing that really separates mountain biking from road riding is the technical skill required on the trail. Many a super fit roadie has been smoked on the trail by a less fit but more skilled mountain biker. More than just helping you go fast, good technical skills also keep it rubber side down, a.k.a. keep you from crashing.
The fluidity, balance and control needed to flow through technical single track require a lot of hip mobility and control. This all starts with the “attack position” where the rider is standing up with their hips back and chest down. This is the base position and from here they are balanced and neutral on the bike, setting them up for everything else.
However, most riders are locked up in the hips and lack the foundational core strength and hip mobility to get into that position. This means that instead of sliding their hips back and getting their chest down, they drop their hips down and keep their chest upright. They are essentially off balance and spend most of their time riding defensively instead of being able to let it flow.
-James Wilson-
Mountain Bike Cardio Training, Mountain Bike Strength Training
I’ve got a question for you regarding rehab? 7 weeks ago I hit a tree at 25 mph and gave myself a mild concussion, broken collar bone, mild/ moderate AC separation, 5 broken ribs and a collapsed lung. I was on my trainer @ about 2.5 weeks, on the road @ 5 weeks.
I believe that I’m ahead of schedule compared to “normal” people, but wanted your thoughts on rehab for my shoulder, traps, chest and upper arm?
Thanks for your time
Courtland
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James i’ve been following your work for some time. As a competing downhiller in the UK I find your work very switched-on and a useful tool for training… So firstly thanks for your website
I am interested in your opinions/suggestions on using indoor rowing as a resource for DH training ?
Cheers Jan C
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bikejames Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
the rower is great becuase it works the hips and rowing muscles and lets you get a cardio workout while avoiding overuse injuries.
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[quote]For this reason strength training and intervals will have a more direct impact on a mountain biker’s performance than a road cyclist.[/quote]
Yop – understandable, although I’ve heard that before doing strength and interval bike training, we should firstly do some endurance base (which means riding a lot of kilometers on a road). Doing speed & strength training just after winter break will make results go away very quickly. Is this a true statement?
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bikejames Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
@ brooce…why is that? we already know how to go slow, why would going slow for longer help you get faster? i know that is the prevailing logic but sometimes you have to ask why and if there is no logical answer then maybe the prevailing logic is wrong. this is one of those times.
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Going slow builds a bigger engine, pushing up you ability to generate more power, but you need to put a lot of hours in. e.g. 15 – 20 hrs a week. It’s been well documented and scientifically researched. Going fast pulls up your power, but is less sustainable, you need to watch your stress levels and manage your workouts to stop burnout. If you have limited time then doing hard intervals is the way to go. If you had all the time in the world to train, then you would probably get best out of combining both.
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bikejames Reply:
March 25th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
@ Mike – Why is going fast and hard less sustainable? If you use the right amount of volume then it should be just as safe as going long and slow. In fact, the injury rate for riders who engage in the traditional “base training” approach is far from zero. This means that it has dangers as well. Too much volume at any intensity level will result in injuries and burnout.
The problem is that riders apply the volume mindset to intensity based workouts. They are so used to going long and slow that they think they are supposed to go long and fast. This is why riders get hurt, not because intense workouts are inherently more dangerous.
Lastly, you have to be careful when using blanket statements like steady state cardio training “builds a bigger engine” and that it has been “well researched”. Steady state cardio has been well researched and what has been shown is that base training will increase VO2Max, which is the main indicator of aerobic fitness. This is the “engine” that is being referred to and the main point of steady state cardio is to increase that.
However, so will interval training. In fact, two studies have show that interval training will develop VO2Max more efficiently than aerobic training will. If increasing VO2Max is the goal then the research clearly shows that aerobic training is NOT the only or most efficient way to go about it.
Research that pits interval vs. steady state cardio shows intervals to be superior, not the other way around. Steady state cardio is the better researched and traditional approach but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best. A growing amount of new research is suggesting that there may be way more to the story than we first thought.
Now, with that said, if your average ride/ race is several hours long then you will need to do some training rides that mimic that time frame. However, you need to do it to train your body to be used to sustaining a relatively hard effort for that period of time, not necessarily to build your VO2Max. Use intervals to build VO2Max and anaerobic work capacity as they deliver more bang for your training buck.
Mountain biking is full of “urban myths” like steady state cardio is the best way to increase cardio capacity. They are repeated over and over until riders take them as fact. My goal is to help well meaning riders like you see that these training myths may be holding us back and not the most efficient use your training time.
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Thanks for the response James. Couldn’t get function to work in IE or Firefox so had to separate the reply.
Just to point I don’t do steady state in the traditional sense. I only have 5 – 6 hours to train on the bike, so doing low intensity base is a waste of time. 80% of what I do is interval based at FTP or above.
What I was trying to say is that intervals are not the be all and end all of training. Someone who has the time to do 15 – 20 hours a week should be doing approx 80% endurance level riding and 20% interval. If you’ve not got the time, drop the endurance and leave in the interval time. So if you only have 4 hours a week, that would be all intervals. As you put it you will get more bang for your training buck.
The jury is still out on what is the optimal long term interval only based training plan. I look forward to the research when it appears. In the mean time I will continue to study on myself.
Lets face it though interval training is hard. It’s meant to be! Going flat out though week in week out 52 weeks a year, year after year would just burn you out mentally if not physically. Periodizing your training plan to include lower intensity weeks (not months!) focusing more on endurance level riding allows for that recovery both mentally and physically, so you can go hard leading up to key events and peaking at the right times.
On the flip side It would be like saying the only way to build strength is to use a rep range of 1 – 3 and anything above that is a waste of time. Of course this is not the case, which is why most well constructed weight training plans include higher rep ranges, including yours.
Often though people just sit in one camp or the other. It’s either got to be all steady state or it has to be all high intensity intervals. You frequently come across in the latter. Both will increase your ability to generate power individually, which is what we are inevitably trying to achieve. Intelligently using both is likely to get you further long term IF you have time to include both.
Just trying to balance the view.
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James,
Great stuff about core strength. I would add a few additional insights of my own from spending a lot of time on a singlespeed bike. I have a SS MTB and a SS CX bike, as well as a geared FS MTB. I switch around fairly regularly and notice a few things about techniques as a result of all that switching.
The thing I notice most of all is how body awareness and body position as a point of technique are critical to becoming a good MTB rider.
On your point (2) –
People who spend a significant amount of time on a singlespeed MTB will tell you, standing pedaling also requires more accurate technique. One of the most critical things to being a good standing climber on a SS bike is paying attention to where your hips are in relation to the rear wheel’s contact patch. Too far forward and you’ll spin that rear tire rather than hooking up and driving forward. Too far rearward and you’re prone to a wheelie which isn’t really the most efficient way to climb!
In addition to core strength, pelvic tilt is important too. You can work different muscle groups simply by varying the tilt of your pelvis, so that you can rest the lower glutes and work the upper glutes/lower back. However, you can’t hold a sustained game of rolling the pelvis unless you have both good core strength, and good body awareness.
One more thing I’d observe: standing climbing isn’t always about punching out big amounts of power. I know riders who can do a very efficient standing climb for a pretty long period. Most of these people are road riders as well as MTB riders. I’ve learned some smooth standing climbing techniques from watching them and how they do their climbing positions. One guy unintentionally gave me a cool new climbing style that is basically a way of resting lots of the body. He keeps a fairly upright torso and head, fairly soft arms, and does a sort of light dancing on the pedals. I watched him do this on a flat road climb leading to the trailhead, and on some technical trail climbing too. It took me a while to figure out how to do it myself, but I’ve incorporated it now. It’s a nice change of pace when riding on the singlespeed.
I would suggest riding singlespeed on the dirt to anyone who needs to work on body position, climbing strength, climbing technique, and riding skill.
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