The Riding For A Lifetime Podcast

When I started MTB Strength Training Systems in 2005 I did it so I could share how functional strength training could help my fellow riders enjoy riding more. I was 30 at the time and my focus was on helping riders maximize their performance, which led to my involvement with several pro riders and teams.

10 years later I turned 40 and found my priorities changing. Now I was interested in longevity as well as performance and I was finding that my old training methods weren't having the same effect. 

Now I'm quickly approaching 50 (holy shit, how did that happen?) and I've found that a lot of riders are also wanting to learn more about Riding For A Lifetime. I've been sharing a lot of my new training methods and programs over the last few years and they are always among my most popular posts.

I've shared a lot of great info on this subject over the last several years and I understand that it can be hard to keep track of all of it. So I wanted to put together my Top 5 Tips To Ride For A Lifetime.

This is just a quick summary of these concepts so be sure to check out the links at the bottom of this post to find more detailed posts. You can also find a video and audio summary of these concepts below.

Strength Training Is Essential

As we age, the physical decline of strength, power, and muscle mass becomes inevitable, affecting our overall physical capacity. This decline starts to accelerate after the age of 40, making strength training a non-negotiable part of any fitness regimen. Strength training has been proven to slow or even reverse these declines, enabling you to maintain a high capacity both on and off the bike.

To combat this, aim to incorporate strength training 2-4 times a week. This will not only enhance your biking performance but also set a strong foundation for Riding For A Lifetime.

Building and Maintaining Muscle Mass

One of the significant changes in strength training for the 40+ MTB rider is the increased need for muscle mass maintenance to combat sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass. Muscle mass acts as the engine for both strength and power and is closely linked to overall health and longevity.

Including bodybuilding elements in your workout plan—such as 3 sets of 10-15 reps and isolation work for the arms—can help maintain or even increase muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the longer it will take to decrease to a level that impacts your physical capabilities.

Isometrics for Safe and Effective Strength Building

Isometric exercises, which involve creating tension without movement, are excellent for building strength safely, especially for those dealing with past injuries. These exercises are also beneficial for high blood pressure, comparable to the effects of medication in some studies.

By incorporating isometric exercises such as Push-Up Holds and Lunge Holds for 30-90 seconds into your strength training program, you can build the stability needed for effective movement while minimizing injury risks.

Anti-Glycolytic Training (AGT) for Cardio

Traditional interval training is effective but it tends to be most effective for 6-8 weeks, after which it stops delivering the same results. Plus, it can be hard on the body and may negatively impact mitochondrial health, which is crucial for fitness and longevity.

Instead, consider Anti-Glycolytic Training (AGT), which involves short bursts of effort followed by near-complete rest. This method supports mitochondrial health and is particularly effective for activities requiring repeated high-intensity efforts like mountain biking. Aim for 5-10 seconds of work followed by 1 minute of rest for 10-30 minutes, using exercises like KB Swings, Jump Squats, or an exercise bike, 2-3 times a week.

Daily Mobility Work

Aging often leads to stiffness and reduced mobility, increasing injury risk and affecting your ability to display strength and endurance. For mountain bikers, this loss of mobility can also negatively impact technical skills and balance on the bike. This makes mobility training something that you must to in order to minimize your injury risk and help keep you moving well on and off the bike.

With mobility training it is better to do a little bit each day than to do a lot 1-2 times a week and nothing on the other days. Consistent daily mobility training, even just 10-15 minutes focusing on stretches for the shoulders and hips, can make a significant difference in maintaining and improving mobility.

Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time to let me share this information with you. For more in-depth insights, be sure to check out the links provided.

Strength Training Basics For The 40+ MTB Rider

Bodybuilding Training For Mountain Bikers

Isometric Training For MTB

Beyond Intervals: Anti-Glycolytic Training

Mobility Training For MTB

You can visit BikeJames.com for additional training tips and programs specifically designed for mountain biking. The 40+ MTB Rider Training Program was the first of its kind and shows you how to integrate all these elements into an effective 12 week training program.

If you have any questions about your own training journey feel free to contact me at [email protected], I'm always happy to help. 

Until next time...

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

MTB Strength Training Systems

Over the last 5-10 years my cardio training program has changed a lot. 

My old plan was to ride 5+ days a week and hit some hard intervals after my workouts. But now I can’t ride as much as I used to and my body can’t take the wear and tear of hard interval training for very long. 

With this new reality I’ve found myself using different training methods that I did in the past to not only keep me fit for trail riding but also to improve my health and longevity. I’ve posted some podcasts and blog posts about these different training methods but I’ve never gone over them all together and explained how I combine them all into a comprehensive program.

In this episode of The Riding For A Lifetime Podcast I explain why I use the training methods I do and how you can use them as a part of your training plan.

You can find a great breathing resource to help you learn more by clicking here.

You can learn more about Anti Glycolytic Training by checking out this post/ podcast.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

When it comes to building MTB specific cardio, the best method is to actually ride your bike - that is the most sport specific training you can do. However, there are times when you can’t ride as much as you would like or you want to focus on specific qualities that you need on the trail but don’t use enough on the trail to continue to improve.

There are also health benefits that you can get from a smart conditioning program that you can’t get from riding alone. This means that if you want to maximize your performance and your health then cardio training has to be part of your overall plan.

In this episode of the Riding For A Lifetime Podcast I share a new cardio training method that I feel has a lot of potential for the 40+ year old rider.

Let me know if you have any questions or need help getting started with this workout. This is just one way to go about it and I’ll be sharing more workout ideas with you as I get a chance to test them.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

MTB Strength Training Systems

Low Back Pain is one of the most common things that riders suffer from both on and off the bike. It can ruin the good time that mountain biking is supposed to provide for us and in extreme cases can even make riders quit riding.

Even more frustrating is that there doesn’t seem to be a consistent, predictable pattern with low back pain and it is often a mystery as to the specific underlying cause. But if you ignore it then it tends to get worse until you have to deal with it.

I have experience with Low Back Pain both as a trainer who has helped riders overcome it but also as someone who has suffered from it. A long time ago I tweaked my back trying to deadlift too much weight and if I don’t stay on top of it my back gets stiff and sore, plus I have to be conscious of it while training.

This journey to find solutions for myself and the riders I’ve worked with has led me to discover some things that I feel can help a lot of riders out there. A lot of these things aren’t your typical “stretch your hip flexors” advice you usually hear and they fill in some gaps that I think a lot of riders are missing in their attempts to fix their Low Back pain.

First, before we get to the specific advice,  make sure that there isn’t something medically wrong with your back. Have a doctor check it out and see if there is something specific going on like a pinched nerve or a bulging disc. 

But if there isn’t something specific wrong with your lower back and it just hurts at any time then there may be a few things you can do to help improve the situation.

Here are 8 things that I’ve found can help improve your Low Back Pain:

1. Be aware of your breathing.

Be Aware Of Your Breathing.

How you breathe affects a lot of things in your body, including your lower back. Several studies have found a link between bad breathing habits and low back pain, IMO most likely due to the inability of the core to properly stabilize under load (poor core stability has also been linked to low back pain).

This means that you could be doing everything else right and still have low back pain. It’s a low hanging fruit that can make a big difference so you may as well make it a part of your overall strategy.

Good breathing will help to stabilize the midsection and reinforce good posture. You want to be aware of and practice good breathing habits on the bike, in the gym and during your everyday life.

You can check out this post to learn more about optimal breathing habits and how to assess and optimize your breathing habits.

Strengthen the Hip Flexors with Isometric Exercises. 

The recommendation to strengthen the hip flexors might come as a surprise to some riders. We’ve been told for years that the problem was tight hip flexors and that we should avoid exercising them directly and focusing instead on stretching them.

I’ve found that this doesn’t consistently fix the problem and that there isn’t a direct correlation to a muscle being “tight” and it also being strong. A weak muscle creates its own set of problems that need to be addressed and in some cases, addressing the strength issue helps with the mobility/ ROM issues.

I’ve also found that using Isometric Exercises to strengthen the Hip Flexors offers a way to safely strengthen them, which can be an issue with movement based exercises. The 4 best Isometric Exercises that I’ve found for this purpose are the Single Leg Hip Flexor and Glute Bridge, Squat and Lunge.

Start with wherever you're at and work up to holding the weakest point of the movement that you can get into with good posture and breathing for 60-90 seconds. Do them 1-3 times a week, focusing on improving your ROM and breathing each week along with the time you are holding for.

Improve Hip Mobility. 

Yes, you most likely do need to improve your hip mobility, you just need to focus on more than just the front of the leg (Quads and Hip Flexors). Your hips have 4 basic directions of movement and you want to do something to work on all of them.

I like to use good old fashioned static stretching positions along with my breathing and a little bit of movement to help me get deeper into the stretch. The 4 stretches I like to do are the Quad/ Hip Flexor Stretch, Hamstring Stretch, Glute Stretch and Butterfly Stretch.

You want to hold the stretches for as long as you can - 15 seconds is better than nothing and holding them for 5+ minutes might do you some good. In general, though, I recommend 30 seconds up to 2 minutes, 3-7 days a week. 

Improve Spinal Mobility. 

Another forgotten part of the low back pain problem is that your spine needs to be able to move freely and sometimes sticking points in that movement create excessive stress on the spine. Having a spine that moves freely that you can protect under load with tension is the ultimate goal and until both are achieved you may still be fighting low back pain.

The 3 movements I like for working on my Spinal Mobility are the Sun Salutation, Twisty Slaps and Stick Windmill. Be sure to avoid pain when doing these movements and to use your breathing to help stabilize the spine and improve your ROM.

BTW, if you don’t feel comfortable with spinal twists then just do the Sun Salutation, you’ll get a lot from it.

Have a Warm Up Routine and a Pre-Ride Routine.

Quality movement is pain free movement so your ultimate goal is to practice quality movement when you train and ride. Having a Warm Up and Pre-Ride Routine that focuses on improving your Hip and Spinal Mobility will help you to bring higher quality movement to your training and riding.

Sitting in a car or sitting and spinning your way to the trailhead will most likely create stiffness in those areas, which will decrease your movement quality. Doing a few mobility movements like the Sun Salutation, Twisty Slap, Windmill and Reverse Lunge to High Knee can set you up for better movement potential on the trail which will improve your performance, endurance and decrease the chance of low back pain.

Stand Up For High Tension Efforts.

The posture you put a lot of tension on matters. Standing Postures are better for High Tension Efforts - better posture, better chest position for breathing, better core engagement, more hip extension, co-contraction at the knee at the bottom of the pedal stroke and less strain on the neck to look up.

Seated Pedaling is good for Low Tension/ Recovery Efforts but the position and posture you are in is not good for creating a lot of tension. I know, you were told that Standing Pedaling is “less efficient” and to sit down on climbs to keep weight on the back tire.

Seated Pedaling feels easier but easier isn’t the same as “more efficient” - efficiency is a measurement of how much work is produced compared to the energy used to create it and in a lot of cases Standing Pedaling is actually “more efficient”.

Remember too that Standing Pedaling is a new skill and you aren’t very efficient at it, which makes it feel much harder. But once you use it for a while you get more efficient and it doesn’t feel as hard.

As far as keeping weight on the rear tire, you can keep weight on the back tire without having your butt on the seat. We’ve all seen examples of people climbing steep stuff while standing up so obviously it can be done and you don’t have to keep your butt on the seat when climbing.

Plus, you don’t want weight on your rear tire, you want well timed pressure. If you needed weight then Clydesdale sized riders would never break traction on climbs but we know that isn’t true so obviously there is more to it. 

You want to use weight to create pressure, specifically pressure into the rear tire that is timed with your pedal stroke, and that is often done better from the Standing Position, especially on technical climbs.

A lot of riding related back pain is from too much reliance on seated pedaling. Break away from it and watch your performance improve and your pain go away.

Use Flat Pedals.

This isn’t which pedal system is the highest performance at the highest levels of competition, it is about which system is healthier for the body. As a 40+ year old rider odds are super high that you don’t pay your bills based on your riding performance and longevity is a priority for you.

Flat Pedals force you to use a more natural pedal stroke, which places the stress on the hips and not on unnatural pulling with the Hip Flexors and Low Back. They also allow for variability in your foot position and the pedal stroke that you can’t get when you are locking into the pedal in the same foot position every time you ride.

This variability has been found to correlate to fewer injuries and lower injury potentials and the current theory is that prefect, repeatable movement isn’t possible or desired for long term health.

Flat Pedals will take stress off of your lower back by allowing for more natural and more variable movement which, when coupled with Standing Pedaling, can make a huge impact on your lower back pain.

And with the risk of this sounding like an infomercial, the Catalyst Pedals I designed take this concept to its full conclusion by creating the most natural support possible for your foot, which further decreases pain and power and performance.

Use A Strength Training Program That Creates A Well Balanced Body.

Odds are pretty high that if you have low back pain then you haven’t been consistently following a strength training program that creates a well balanced body, especially if you have been riding a lot.

Maybe you haven’t been working out at all or maybe you’ve been doing something that creates more stress on the lower back, like programs that have you doing a lot of circuits to build cardio or “work capacity”, but either way you need to evaluate your overall approach to creating and maintaining a healthy, high performance body.

You can check out the podcast I did on Strength Training Basics For The 40+ Year Old Rider to learn more about what to look for in a good strength training program but as you get older this becomes more important.

So in conclusion, Low Back Pain is about much more than just stretching your Hip Flexors and by following this advice you can get your Low Back Pain under control and start to move in a better direction with how you move on and off the bike. 

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

As you get older, strength training changes from a “good to do” to a “must do” status. Losing your strength, muscle and power are all realities for the 40+ year old rider and strength training is the best way to slow that process down.

This is the #1 tactic for riders who want to do this for a lifetime - get and stay strong and you’ll avoid age-related physical decline for as long as possible.  

Plus, improving your strength, power and muscle mass can help improve performance and reduce your risk of injury, so it helps now and acts as insurance against future losses. And while a lot of things can help, if you want to maximize your results there are some basic principles that the 40+ year old rider should be observing.

First, almost anything can “work” but it eventually stops working and it may not build the strength and fitness you need for riding. The goal is to follow a training program that will help us on the path towards riding for a lifetime: improving our MTB specific fitness and our overall longevity/ health.

With that in mind, here are some basic guidelines to help you with designing or choosing a training program.

Podcast Notes:

2-4 days a week is plenty and the specific number depends on how much you are riding and your ability to recover.

• The more you are riding and the more important your performance the fewer days you will lift.

You want to focus on big, compound movements but doing some isolation exercises won’t make you dysfunctional and can be beneficial in some cases.

• You want to focus on getting stronger or doing more volume with the main movement patterns and the exercises that train them - Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, Carry and Rotate.
  • I’d also break them up into unilateral and bilateral exercises

You want to use a variety of set and rep schemes, with the bulk of them focusing on the 2-4 sets of 3-8 reps. 

• 2-4 sets is enough volume to build strength and power without excessive fatigue.

You don’t need to train to failure to see results and IMO it should be avoided as a 40+ year old rider.

• There is a lot of science that tells us that you don’t need to train to failure (or beyond) to see results.

Don’t use bodypart training and instead focus on total body or upper body/ lower body splits.

• Using bodypart training split (where you train the body by body parts like Chest, Back, Legs, Biceps, ect.) is a great way to build muscle but not the best way to build functional strength and power.

Don’t Overdo Circuit Training

• You don’t want to turn everything into Circuit Training, where you do 3-4+ exercises in a row before repeating the Circuit for the specified reps.

Use Isometrics to help round out your strength and safeguard your health.

• Isometrics are exercises where you create tension but don’t create movement.

Build up the intensity of your workouts over several weeks.

• You don’t want to come out and go as hard as you can in Week 1 of a new program. This gives you little room to improve and means that you will be maxing out your recovery abilities too soon.

Change your workout every 4-8 weeks, with longer periods with the same workout being better.

• I’m convinced that we change workouts far too often and that the 40+ year old rider would do better with changing workout every 6-8 weeks.

Last Piece Of Advice Is Not To Lift For Social Media Or Look To It For New Ideas

• Lifting to look cool on SM is a young person's game.

What does this look like in real life?

• I’ll link to a copy of my current training program here for you to check out. This is also the format I use in my online training program, especially the Ultimate MTB Workout Program.

These are the basic parameters I focus on with my own training and the clients I work with who are in the 40+ crowd.  Focusing on doing fewer things but at a higher level of focus and mastery is one of the themes I like to push with these workouts.

You can and should train hard, you just have to be smarter about when and how you push yourself to the limit.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

In this episode of the Riding For A Lifetime Podcast I share with you my morning routine that helps me set my day on a good trajectory. 

Maximizing your health and longevity becomes a big priority as you get older. You can get away with abusing your body in your 20’s and still being able to get after it but if you want to be able to perform well on a consistent basis into your 40’s and beyond you have to start making good daily habits a part of your routine.

Over the last several years I’ve developed a morning routine that I feel has helped me slow down the performance decline and maximize my results from training. Remember that training actually breaks your body down and how well you support the recovery process plays a big role in how hard you can train and what results you see from your training.

You can stream this episode or download the MP3 file by clicking the link below. You‌ ‌can‌ also find the podcast ‌on‌ ‌‌Itunes‌,‌‌ ‌Podbean‌,‌‌ ‌‌Spotify‌‌ ‌‌and‌ ‌all‌ ‌other‌ ‌major‌ ‌podcasting‌ ‌platforms.‌ ‌

Click Here To Stream This Episode or Download The MP3 File

The three things that I do every morning are…

1. Hydrate with water and electrolytes, particularly sodium.

First, hydration with sodium. After waking up I drink 16 ounces of water with a supplement called LMNT (I pronounce it Lemon T but it is supposed to be pronounced Element), which contains 1 gram of sodium along with 200 mg of potassium and 60 mg of magnesium. 

Yes, I know that the FDA says that we should be limiting sodium intake but there are a lot of holes in their recommendations. Robb Wolf is a founder of LMNT and he has done a lot of great work on illuminating the difference between what we’re told by the FDA and what the research on sodium intake actually says.

While a fat, pre-diabetic person who doesn’t exercise and eats a lot of fast food probably doesn’t need extra sodium, if you are reasonably fit, workout on a regular basis and try to eat whole foods then odds are pretty high that you could stand to use more sodium in your diet.

Several studies have shown that there is a sweet spot for sodium intake between 4-6 grams a day that result in optimal health outcomes. Restricting sodium intake to less than this has been linked to higher incidents of high blood pressure and cardiovascular death (ironically the things we’re told that low sodium diets are supposed to protect us against).

By starting your day off with a gram of sodium you are hydrating your body in a healthy way since water without sodium can throw off fluid balance. Sodium helps to regulate fluid outside your cells and potassium helps to regulate fluid inside your cells so your body needs these minerals to maintain optimal fluid balance. 

If you don’t get enough of these minerals from your diet then your body will leach them from your bones - along with calcium, which can weaken the bones and is something you want to avoid as an older athlete. 

I usually take another 1-2 LMNTs throughout the day, especially if I’m doing something that causes me to sweat a lot, like going for a bike ride. If you have low energy, brain fog, muscle cramps or even recurring headaches it may be a result of low sodium intake, in which case increasing your sodium intake can have a massive impact on your health and performance.

The second thing I do is spend 10-15 minutes doing some kind of breathwork. I’ve talked a lot about how better breathing can impact your health, performance and even your mood and so starting the day with some focused breathing drills can make a big difference in how your day unfolds.

My two favorite breathing drills are Box Breathing or Wim Hof style breathing. 

Box Breathing has you assign a time to the four parts of your breath - the inhale, hold at the top of the inhale, the exhale and the hold at the bottom of the exhale. By manipulating these four things you can create a change in the body’s internal chemistry, which will result in changes in the body over time.

For Box Breathing you start with 3 seconds for each part of the breath, so a 3 second inhale, a 3 second hold at the top, a 3 second exhale and a 3 second hold at the bottom. As this becomes easy you can add 1 second to each part of the breath cycle but make sure that you keep each part of the cycle the same length, hence the term “Box Breathing”. While your goal is to work up to 5 seconds or longer, you are getting results from whatever length works for you.

The Wim Hof style of breathing goes in the opposite direction, having you breathe as deeply and as quickly as possible for 30-40 breaths. On the last breath, do a comfortable exhale and then hold your breath. 

When you feel the urge to breathe then take a deep breath in and hold once more, this time for 10-15 seconds. Then you breath out and start the process again, repeating 2-3 more times for a total of 3-4 rounds. 

While they are very different and deliver slightly different overall results, both of these methods alter the blood chemistry, which results in adaptations in the body, and they both act as a form of meditation, which has also been shown to have positive health benefits.

If I had time I would do both of them every day at different times during the day. As it stands I can commit to doing one of them in the morning and so I like to alternate between the two breathing methods. I will say that the Wim Hof method is more stressful and so you want to make sure that you are in good health and then ease into it.

The last thing I do is take a shower and finish with 1.5-3 minutes of a cold water rinse. You can be a gangster and just take a cold shower but I like to shower like normal with hot water and then finish with the cold.

Cold exposure like this is part of a traditional way to harden the body and has been shown to have a lot of health benefits. Improved insulin sensitivity, improved mood and improved stress response are all documented benefits of cold water exposure and there are several other anecdotal benefits that people have reported as well.

Most of the studies have been done using cold water swimming or plunging but a lot of experts in this area say that you just need to get uncomfortably cold to see benefits. This is why a cold shower can work and is better than nothing. Doing a cold plunge is probably better - inducing a shiver response delivers unique benefits to cold exposure, which is easier with a cold plunge - just exposing yourself to cold water for a few minutes in the morning can have long term health benefits.

After that I’m ready to start my day. The biggest time investment is the breathing, drinking the LMNT doesn’t take long and I’m taking a shower anyway so I may as well finish with some cold water exposure. All told I’m about 30 minutes into my morning and I’ve already invested in some pretty good health habits. 

Having daily habits like this helps you do something every day towards your goal of riding for a lifetime. You can’t workout every day but it is good to do something every day to keep momentum and help you feel like you are moving forward on a regular basis. Plus, it amplifies the results from your other training and riding.

Of course, this is just my routine and it won’t work for everyone. But even if you can’t follow this routine or find it doesn’t do anything for you then the takeaway message is to have something that you do everyday that moves you closer to your goals. 

And if you have any questions or would like some advice on creating your own routine then let me know, I’m always happy to help. 

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

MTB Strength Training Systems

p.s. Just like you need daily habits to help keep you fit and healthy, you need a strength training routine to offset the effects of aging and give you the strength needed to ride for a lifetime. In the 40+ MTB Rider Training Program I show you how to use the best strength training strategies to help you improve your riding fitness while maximizing your time and avoiding overuse injuries. 

I also include a section on Breathwork and show you how to assess your breathing and several different training methods to help you improve your cardio in a unique way. If you need a workout plan that takes into account the realities of being a 40+ year old rider and gives you the tools and workouts to improve your health and fitness then click the link below to learn more and get your copy.

Click Here To Get Your Copy Of The 40+ MTB Rider Training Program

The term “MTB Specific Training” gets thrown around a lot but what does it really mean?

At its core, it means using a training program that helps you ride faster, longer and with more skill. While the most “MTB specific” thing you can do is to actually ride your bike, there are certainly things you can do off of the bike that can help.

In the gym this takes the form of strength training that improves your strength and movement quality in ways that help your riding. Strength is one of the more general physical attributes, meaning that what works for an athlete in one sport will generally work for another.

About 80-90% of what you do with an athlete will be the same from sport to sport but there are some MTB specific things you can do to enhance your results. And no, this doesn’t mean using light loads and high reps because you need to build more endurance.

In general, getting stronger in the 2-4 sets X 5-10 reps range will get you what you need. You can benefit from time spent outside of this range but this should make up the bulk of your strength training. You should also focus on the basic movement patterns of Push, Pull, Squat and Hinge.

But once you have the basics covered there are some exercises that will help your MTB specific results.

You can stream this episode or download the MP3 file by clicking the link below. You‌ ‌can‌ also find the podcast ‌on‌ ‌‌Itunes‌,‌‌ ‌Podbean‌,‌‌ ‌‌Spotify‌‌ ‌‌and‌ ‌all‌ ‌other‌ ‌major‌ ‌podcasting‌ ‌platforms.‌ ‌

Show Notes:

1. Windmill

• If there was one exercise that I wish every mountain biker would add to their program it is this one.

2. Elevated Lunge

• This is something I started using a few months ago and I really like it for improving a rider's Standing Pedaling ability.

3. Bent Press

• This is a forgotten exercise from the history of strength training.

4. DB Cheat Curl

• This is the best exercise you can do to improve your MTB specific explosive hip hinge, which is important for manualing, bunny hopping and jumping.

By adding these exercises into your routine you can make sure that you are getting the most out of your gym time. If you need a program that incorporates these things be sure to check out the Ultimate MTB Workout Program and the 40+ MTB Rider Workout Program.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

In this podcast I wanted to share my experience with meditation for mountain biking. I’ve been meditating in some way since I was first introduced to it through a Tai Chi class I took in college and I’ve found it to be a powerful tool in helping me perform better.

You can also read a summary article from the notes for the podcast below…

• Meditation is one of those words that elicits a pretty mixed reaction from people when you bring it up.

Meditation is something that people have been using for thousands of years and with modern science we have some answers as to how it works. But it is still something that you have to make time for and do.

I promise you, though, that the effort is well worth it.

If you are interested in learning more about how to use breathwork and how to get the most out of your meditation practice then check out my Guide To Better Breathing for MTB.

In it you’ll learn how to assess your breathing and ways you can improve it, along with practical tips on how to use better breathing on the trail to improve your cardio along with how to use it to help you prepare for competition.

I hope this podcast has inspired you to start your own breathing/ meditation practice, let me know if you have any questions I can help with.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

Something that I try to impress on my kids is the importance of being able to admit when you are wrong and make a change. Too often we spend our time trying to justify why we do what we do rather than trying to challenge it and see if it holds up.

But that isn’t how we grow. There is a saying about how there is a difference between 10 years of experience and the same year of experience repeated 10 times. For too many people they end up repeating the same things over and over and never really grow or gain experience.

One of the areas in my life where this is most apparent is training. I’ve been working out for over 35 years, I’ve been a professional trainer for over 20 years and I’ve been working with mountain bikers since 2005. And in that time you better believe that I’ve made some mistakes and learned some valuable lessons.

In this podcast I wanted to share some of those lessons with you. Hopefully you can learn from some of these mistakes and avoid the same problems I ran into. 

You can stream this episode or download the MP3 file by clicking the link below. You‌ ‌can‌ also find the podcast ‌on‌ ‌‌Itunes‌,‌‌ ‌Podbean‌,‌‌ ‌‌Spotify‌‌ ‌‌and‌ ‌all‌ ‌other‌ ‌major‌ ‌podcasting‌ ‌platforms.‌ ‌

You can also read a summary article from the notes for the podcast below…

Not doing any “isolation” or “bodybuilding”/ Focusing too much on “functional training”

I’ve talked about this a lot lately but something I’ve been doing more of in the last few years is more isolation and bodybuilding type training.  

I came up at an interesting time in the strength and conditioning field where we were making the switch from bodybuilding to Functional Training. The problem is that you need “isolation” exercises - which build isometric strength and joint strength - and you need bodybuilding type training to build and hold onto muscle mass.

You can train like a bodybuilder and still be functional if you are doing other stuff outside of the gym. Plus, as you get older muscle mass becomes a valuable commodity and needs to be trained for.

Using too much unstable surface training

This is one I haven’t been using for a while but back in the day I was really into unstable surface training.

I was around when the Swiss Balls first got introduced to the fitness field through a guy named Paul Chek. The rationale behind UST seemed good and I ended up with every size Swiss Ball you could get and used them for just about everything.

The problem was that I couldn’t get strong or add size, I just got better at balancing on things while lifting weights. Several studies have shown that UST lowers motor unit recruitment, results in lower strength and muscle gains and have very limited carryover to other activities.

In other words, it may look cool on Instagram but the results are lacking.

Giving too much weight to strength training

This is a common mistake with new strength coaches.

I had seen how getting stronger had helped me and so it made sense that getting stronger would make you a better athlete. I had literally tried to talk some of my athletes into skipping sport training so they wouldn’t miss strength training.

The problem is that strength training is only the most important thing you can do if you are really weak, and even then your sport training should still take precedence. The only thing that will make you a better mountain biker is time on the bike and strength training is supposed to support that, not take away from it.

Thinking that Long Slow Distance training was a waste of time

This is a bit of a tricky one because context matters a lot here.

One of the first things I got known for in the MTB world was advocating for the use of High Intensity Intervals instead of Aerobic Base Training for MTB. Back in 2005 this was unheard of since roadie training programs dominated the scene. 

A lot of riders who followed these programs felt that they weren’t actually in shape for training riding when the season started and they had to ride themselves into specific MTB shape for a few weeks. Something else that we observed was that riders from areas where they could ride trails year round (SoCal and Australia for example) were some of the best in the world. 

Riding counts as cardio training and doing so much distance riding on a road bike that you don’t get time on your mountain bike isn’t the best idea. But if you aren’t trail riding much then you do need to have some distance training in your program.

Long Slow Distance training is also good for recovery and your basic metabolic health. 

So if you are getting several hours of riding in each week then you can use LSD for recovery and if you aren’t then you need to have it as part of your overall cardio training program.

Changing exercises too often

Something that carried over from Bodybuilding to Functional Training was the idea of “muscle confusion” or the need to change your exercises on a frequent basis so the body couldn’t fully adapt to what you were doing, which was supposed to keep you from hitting a plateau and seeing constant improvements from your training.

In fact, one style of training emerged that became very popular - Crossfit - which was based on this idea to the extreme and you never repeated the same workout twice in a row. Even for those of us who subscribed to the idea that you needed more consistency than changing things every day I still would change exercises every 4 weeks.

While the theory behind it seemed solid, science and real world evidence suggest that there is a middle ground that is much longer than most of us realize. 

One thing that changed my thoughts on this was when I did Jim Wendler’s 5-3-1 Program and saw that NOT changing exercises very often had benefits as well. The 5-3-1 Program is a powerlifting program that has you doing the same basic exercises for months at a time.

Change comes from how you cycle the weights and reps in a very specific way in order to increase your strength in the lifts.  The fact that you don’t change exercises means that you get a lot of practice with the lifts, which also helps with building strength.

Eventually you run into a wall with your progressions and have to switch things up but that takes months, during which you are doing the same basic exercises but still seeing results, which shouldn’t happen if you needed to change exercises to keep progress coming.

It turns out that you should run on at least a 6-8 week cycle to get the most out of an exercise. 

Now I’ll pick a core exercise for each of the 4 basic movement patterns (push, pull, hinge and squat) and do an 8 week cycle with them.  I’ll have other exercises that I do that I will change up after 4 weeks if I’m maxing out on them or if I just want to do something new.

I’ll start out well under my max effort and build momentum into those max efforts in the final weeks of the cycle. I’ll end with a deloading week where I cut back on the sets and reps but try to get at least 90% of my max lift for the movement in week 8.

Changing exercises is entertaining and it makes you feel sore but it doesn’t allow time for you to really get the most out of the exercises. IMO, it’s also safer and easier on the joints since your body gets a chance to get used to the exercises and find a groove for them, which feels safer and easier than grinding through new lifts all the time.

Discounting the value of stretching

Stretching became a bit of a dirty word in the Functional Training world due to some studies that showed a decrease in strength and power immediately following static stretching. The cool thing to do was “mobility training”, which tended to focus on movements through a joint's range of motion.

While helpful, I’ve found that mobility training can’t fully replace static stretching. 

Stretching isn’t about trying to lengthen muscles or loosen joints, it is about being able to relax into positions and working on getting deeper into your range of motion until you are in the range you need for function and safety. For me it is also a form of breathwork since you use my breathing to help me relax and get deeper into my range of motion.

Mobility training helps with being able to move through and control your range of motion and stretching seems to help you improve and maintain it better.I recommend picking a basic stretch for the major muscle groups and hold them for either 15-20 seconds or for 5 breaths.

Focus on using your breathing to help you relax - if you don’t get any deeper but your breathing is more relaxed then you have accomplished something important.

Overhyping kettlebells

This is going to sound sacrilegious so let me explain what I mean by this.

Kettlebells are a great training tool and I still use them a lot in my training. I just went so far down the kettlebell rabbit hole that I started to discount the value of other training tools, especially the dumbbell.

The truth is that you can do everything you can do with a kettlebell using a dumbbell, plus you can do some things you can’t do as easily like Cheat Curls. Some exercises like the Single Arm DB Snatch are also easier to do than the KB version of the exercise.

I also find that pressing exercises with the KB hurt my elbows - I know, it doesn’t make sense until you’ve abused your elbows like I have - and so using DBs makes it possible to lift more weight and do it more comfortably for my joints.

Finally, you can get a good pair of adjustable dumbbells for a few hundred dollars - I recommend and use the PowerBlock style - while getting pairs of KBs costs more and takes up more space, making DBs a great option for smaller spaces.

I still use KBs for swings, lower body lifts and rowing exercises as I find them to be great tools for these purposes. I just find that some people think that using dumbbells is somehow inferior to kettlebells and that is simply not the case.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

p.s. BTW, I have a DB program that uses the best MTB specific dumbbell exercises and combines it with the concepts I talked about in the 5-3-1 program. You stick with the same exercises but cycle the weights over the 12 weeks to build strength and efficiency in the movements that really help on the bike.

This is one of my best programs for riders who are new to strength training or just want a super simple, highly effective workout program using a pair of dumbbells. And as a bonus, if you purchase the MTB DB Conditioning Program this week I’ll send you a free copy of my Guide To Better Breathing For MTB. Just send me an email with your receipt and I’ll get it to you.

Click on the link below to learn more and get your copy of the DB Conditioning Program today. This was the first program I sent to Aaron Gwin when we started working together and if it can help him ride faster then I’m sure it can help you too!

MTB DB Conditioning 12 Week Program

Something that I think is hard to have a conversation about Riding For A Lifetime without touching on is the subject of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). HRT has gotten a lot more popular over the last few years and is something that I think the 40+ year old rider should consider.

To be honest, HRT is something I resisted for a long time. I felt like it was cheating and if I couldn’t do it “naturally” then I didn’t deserve it.

However, as I’ve gotten older I’ve had a few things change my mind. I’ve now been on HRT for a little over a year now and in this podcast I wanted to share my experience with it and some things you should know before looking into it.

You can stream this episode or download the MP3 file by clicking the link below. You‌ ‌can‌ also find the podcast ‌on‌ ‌‌Itunes‌,‌‌ ‌Podbean‌,‌‌ ‌‌Spotify‌‌ ‌‌and‌ ‌all‌ ‌other‌ ‌major‌ ‌podcasting‌ ‌platforms.‌ ‌

You can also read a summary article from the notes for the podcast below…

The first thing that got me to rethink HRT was having several friends of mine go on it and seeing their results. Their feedback was that they were recovering faster, getting less sore from training, had more energy and they were sleeping better. Of course, they were also seeing some benefits from the aesthetics side as well.

I have certainly seen myself losing ground in all of those areas despite my best efforts.

I also realized that I was using modern medicine to steal extra years of life - I have had antibiotics save my life at least twice. I figured that if I was going to use modern medicine to extend my life then why not use it to maximize those stolen years?

So I swallowed my pride and contacted a Hormone Replacement Therapy doctor and started to process.

The first thing I learned was that I was going to have to pay for it out of my own pocket. Insurance doesn’t cover comprehensive blood work that includes hormone levels and it also doesn’t cover HRT.

The medical establishment isn’t here to optimize your health, instead it makes money off of you being sick. Despite the fact that HRT has been shown to have a positive impact on mood, energy levels, lean body mass, production of red blood cells, bone mineral density, cognition and some cardiovascular risk factors, because it is a preventative measure instead of an intervention it isn’t seen as important.

So the first thing you need to know is that your regular doctor may not be on board with the idea simply because they don’t have much experience with it based on their lack of exposure to it through the medical insurance industry. This means that you will most likely need to find a HRT doctor and just explain to your regular doctor that you are going to keep them informed about what is going on but that you are going to use someone else for HRT.

After getting my first blood work done I found out that I was in the healthy range for everything but that some things like my A1C and triglycerides were creeping up. My dad was a Type 1 diabetic and my mom has a history of high cholesterol and so that made sense from a genetic history perspective.

Based on my results, my HRT doctor prescribed a regime that addressed what I was low in. This led to the second thing I learned, which is that HRT is about more than just testosterone. 

Something else that is often out of whack is thyroid levels, which are important for energy levels through carb and fat metabolism. Beyond that I also had B12, DHEA and Vitamin D levels that were below optimal levels.

This means that it is important that you find a doctor that addresses all of your hormones and not just testosterone. I started a HRT regime that included testosterone, thyroid, Vitamin B12, DHEA and Vitamin D.

It took a couple of weeks but I started to feel the difference in my energy levels and how sore I was getting from training. Through the process I was also getting regular blood work done through my HRT doctor to make sure that everything was moving in the right direction.

After being on it for a year I saw my hormone levels optimized and my triglycerides cut in half. Sleep, energy and soreness levels from training are all improved. I’ve also added about 8 pounds of muscle and seen my bodyfat levels drop (I’ve never been fat but I was certainly getting soft and having a hard time staying as lean as I used to).

Something that I changed was switching from the testosterone cream to shots. This was just a personal preference because I liked just having to do a shot twice a week as opposed to rubbing the cream on my groin every day.

BTW, HRT isn’t just for men - my wife started it as well and has seen benefits from it as well.  Yes, she’s on a low dose of testosterone but it certainly hasn’t made her “manly”.

I’d also like to point out that there are some risks with HRT and that not everyone will benefit from it the same way. However, the risks are pretty small compared to the potential benefits IMO but that is something you will have to decide for yourself.

I hope this podcast has given you something to think about in regards to HRT and if it would be right for you. If you want to optimize your healthspan and be able to ride for a lifetime then it might be an important part of your long term strategy.

Yes, it will cost you more than not doing it but you are most likely heading off other problems that can cost you more down the road. So do some research on the benefits and risks and then, if you think it is right for you, find a HRT doctor that you can talk with.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

MTB Strength Training Systems