Speaker: Now, are you finding it tough to get motivated at the moment? Given the current
climate, I could completely understand why. If you're finding yourself buried on the sofa
surrounded by sweet wrappers, then fear not, because I have got some of my top mountain
bike strength exercise to help get you fit and in shape for when you can finally throw
on that jersey of yours, and we can get back out on the trails. Let's start with number
one. Before we get started, I must stress that
practicing a good form and good technique for weight training is really, really important,
rather than just smashing up those big weights straight away. A thorough warm-up is also
highly advised. Okay, let's kick things off with deadlifts.
Most safely performed in a gym, but we don't have a gym to have, so we're in my garden.
I've got my trusty plant pots and bar. We're going to look at how to do the safest deadlift
you can without weights, so you can get that technique dialed, and then take it to the
gym and perform it safely. All right, let's do it.
With your feet flat on the floor, bend the knees and grab the bar with your hands shoulder-width
apart. Keep your head in a neutral position by looking forwards to a fixed spot on the
ground, roughly two to three meters ahead of you. Keep your chin up, so your head stays
in the best position for lifting. Keeping your back straight and your head facing forward
throughout, lift the bar using your legs and driving your hips forwards. Drive upwards
as explosively as possible. Aim to maintain a strong spine from the beginning of the lift
to the end. Do this by keeping your chest up to prevent
your torso hunching forwards over the bar. Your shoulders should remain slightly in front
of your hands until the bar passes mid-thigh level, at which point you want to retract
your shoulder blades for a strong and stable torso. Pull your shoulders back at the top
of the move, then carefully lower the bar to the ground. The most common mistakes in
the deadlift are-- Overweight in the bar is going to throw out your technique and probably
cause you injury, and also an arch on that back. Rather than keeping those shoulders
nice and tight and back flat [unintelligible 00:02:06].
We got squats. Now, if you're in the gym, you'd perform this in a squat rack, where
you'd have the supporting bars for safety and obviously the rack to rack it up each
time. We can't do that again, unfortunately, so what we going to look at here is, again,
the technique and getting a perfect squat dialed. You can also do variations of this.
If you're not at a gym, you can do it with a kettlebell. I've got my trusty broomstick,
and this is going to act as my weights bar. Standing so the bar sits nicely across your
upper back, your feet should be shoulder-width apart.
Lowering down slowly, push your knees out to the side and your hips will move back.
Break parallel by squatting down until your hips are around knee height. However, this
depends upon your flexibility. Pushing back up keeping your core tucked in and your back
straight, explosively push up and rerack the bar. Knees burst, and if you've got no weights
around, grab your bike. One, two, there we go. Yes, perfect. It works just as well.
You've completed the squat. Now, it's time to move on. We're going to do the lunge squat
here. This is going to add a different dimension to what we just did. Standing upright with
your shoulders back and feet together, take a controlled step forward with your right
leg. Keep your hands on your hips to help with balance. Lower your hips towards the
floor and bend both knees to about 90 degrees. The back knee should come close to touching
the ground. Your front knee should be directly over the
ankle, and the back knee should be pointing down towards the floor. Push off with your
left foot and bring it forward to the starting position, making sure you keep good posture
on the way up. This completes one rep. Next, step forward and repeat with the left leg
as your front leg. Lunge squats add an extra dimension over a normal squat as the dynamic
nature of the movement introduces elements of balance and engaging the muscles to make
micro-adjustments to allow for this. Common mistakes for the lunge squat are that
people will often overstep the reach, and you won't get your knee over your toe nicely.
Either that, or they will actually under step, so your knee is gone too far forwards past
your toes. Also, rounded shoulders. No one wants to be a little T-Rex when they are lunge
squatting. Rich, why is your coffee table in the garden?
Well, it's another improvisation of mine, and one I'm going to use for the bench press
this time. Lying flat on your back on a bench, grip the bar with hands just wider than shoulder-width
apart. What I actually like to do is simulate holding my bars, so I'll hold it at the handlebars
width. If in a rack, lift the bar and shift it slightly forwards and bring the bar slowly
down to your chest as you breathe in. Push up as you breathe out, gripping the bar
hard and watching a spot on the ceiling rather than the bar, so you can ensure it travels
the same path every time. As a staple exercise for building muscle mass and strength in the
chest and arms, the primary muscles that are worked in the benchpress are the biceps pectoralis
major, with the anterior deltoids, traps, and back as secondary muscles used in the
flat barbell bench press. Benchpress will directly affect your riding
when you take some of those heavy hits or start getting tired towards the end of a long
ride. You'll find yourself struggling to hold your body up, and your riding can get sloppy.
Benchpress can help counteract some of these effects. There it is, good bench press technique.
Now, remember, when you do these, don't overweight the bar and don't be bouncing that bar off
your chest when it comes down. Okay, we're down on the ground and that can
only mean one thing. Floor time is core time. We're going to kick things off with Russian
twists. You can do these weighted or unweighted, so here we go. A fairly simple and straightforward
exercise, but with a ton of benefits, the Russian twist is a variation on your basic
crunch. Sitting on the floor and bringing your legs out straight, lean back slightly,
so your torso and legs form a v-shape, bracing your abdominal wall to engage your core.
Balancing here, twist your torso from side to side without moving your legs. Once you've
mastered the movement, you can then incorporate holding onto a weight whilst doing so. The
Russian twist isn't necessarily a mountain bike-specific exercise, but because it again
engages all of your core from your abs to your obliques, it really is a great workout
for your entire mid-body, not to mention the balance involved and building stability in
your spine. Here is the side plank. Starting in a standard
plank position, rotate to your preferred side, so your elbow is directly above your shoulder.
Shoulders should be kept back and body in a straight line. We don't want to see you
looking like a banana. Without shrugging your shoulders, lower your hip to the ground until
it just about touches, then lift back up, making sure your core stays tight. Having
a solid core in mountain biking will be at the heart of all body positions.
Another great strength exercise I'm going to show you guys is the Turkish getup. Now,
there's a fair bit involved for this one. I've come inside. It's a little bit more comfortable.
It's getting a bit chilly out. I'm going to take you through the stages of how to do the
Turkish getup now. Press the kettlebell overhead, moving the weight so the arm is perpendicular
to the floor using one hand. Lock out the elbow and pull the loaded shoulder into its
socket. Bend the knee on the side of the body that's
holding the weight and place the opposite arm on the floor at approximately 45 degrees
from the body. Drive from the foot on the working side, roll up onto your elbow, and
exhale. Once you're stable at the elbow, roll up onto your hand. Lift your hips off the
ground high enough to be able to move the outstretched leg under your body.
You'll support yourself on one arm, the heel on the straight leg, and the surface on your
flat foot, like a tripod. Take your straight leg and pull or sweep it underneath your body,
placing it next to and behind the hand on the floor. Standing up from the lunge, take
your support hand off the floor and move your body upright, keeping the weight overhead,
at which point you shift your gaze so you are looking at straight ahead. Drive from
your back foot through your hips and into your front foot, standing up from the lunge.
Make sure you keep looking forwards. Now, for the descent, it's a mirror image of the
ascent but done in reverse. Thank you for watching, then, everyone. I
hope I've been able to impart some strength training wisdom on you, so the next time you
get back on your trusty steeds, you're fitter and stronger than ever to shred those trails.
Now, don't forget. Please be careful when doing strength work. Remember, eat lots, plenty
of water when you're training, good warm-up, and practice good technique. I cannot stress
that enough. Happy shredding, guys. Thanks for watching. If you want to see more, remember,
click subscribe and give us a thumbs up for the channel, and I will see you guys next
time. Cheers. [00:08:47] [END OF AUDIO]