One of my all time favorite exercises for mountain biking is the Bulgarian Split Squat. You get a great single leg strength exercise and a great hip flexor stretch in one package, making it a “must have” exercise in any program. Here is a video demo of this great exercise…
-James Wilson-
Katrina Strand is a pro downhiller, event promoter, skills coach and she knows a few things about strength and conditioning for mountain bikers. While I knew who she was I recently came across an article of her’s on www.pinkbike.com and was shocked to see someone else who shared my views on training for our unique sport.
I knew that I needed to talk with her and it turns out she is as nice as she is talented. She agreed to do an interview for my podcast and we went over some great info. It is a bit longer than my recent podcasts so if you want to download the MP3 file go to http://mtbstrengthcoach.podbean.com/.
You can find out more about Katrina’s business, Strand Fitness Training, by visiting
http://web.mac.com/katrinastrand/iWeb/strandfitnesscoaching/Welcome.html
-James Wilson-
Sometimes I get hit with the “there is not scientific evidence for that” line from someone. For example, stretching has some conflicting “scientific” conclusions. A lot of people leave it out of their program and base their conclusion to do that on the fact that science has not proven it works.
You have to be careful with the “no scientific evidence” line of thinking. Science has never discovered anything, it just tells us why things work. Strength coaches like myself who are in the trenches working with real people find out what works and dudes in lab coats come behind and study what they do to try and figure out why it works. Sports science is more like sports training history from that perspective as the people in the trenches tend to be 5 years or so ahead of the dudes in the lab coats.
Plus, if you look at any great stregth coach (Mike Boyle, Gray Cook, Alwyn Cosgrove, Ian king, Charles Poliquin just to name a few) they ALL agree that stretching and mobility training are vital to long term success and injury prevention. Just because science has not come up with an adequate way to study the affects of stretching on long term development of an athlete in no way means that it does not do anything for you.
Science gives us ideas and sign posts to point us in a direction, it does not define everything about training. Stretching is important for mountain biking, or at least the few hundred riders I’ve worked with seem to think so 
-James Wilson-
You can download the MP3 file from http://mtbstrengthcoach.podbean.com/
My chiropractor showed me an article that he had seen in the LA Times recently about the unusually high amount of cyclists that suffer from lowered bone density. In the article they talked about riders in their late 20′s and early 30′s who were coming in for hip fractures from wrecks that were not that bad.
They also talked about the high amount of cyclists that are suffering from low bone density. The problem is that cycling may be great for your heart and lungs but since it is a non-load bearing exercise the bones do not get stressed. Without being stressed the bones will actually get weaker over time. Hips and low back seem to be the areas most affected by loss of bone density in cyclists.
Now, the story did focus on road cyclists and road cycling is not nearly as physical as mountain biking but the warning is still valid for us. Cycling is great but you need to do load bearing exercise as well to keep your whole body healthy. Guess what the best way to avoid and reverse bone loss is?
Strength training! So, not only will it make you faster it will keep you from breaking a hip when you trip over something. Seriously, how “fit” can you be if you can pedal all day but you can break a hip?
-James Wilson-
Here is the newest DB combo drill. It is a little more complex than some of my previous ones but I don’t make any excuses for it. If you have used my combo drills in the past then you have the skills needed, you just need to apply them in a different way…
March DB Combo of the Month from James Wilson on Vimeo.
-James Wilson-
Exercise Demos and Routines, Mountain Bike Cardio Training, Mountain Bike Strength Training
