Mountain biking offers exhilarating exercise, yet it can strain certain muscles while neglecting others. It is essential to add focused gym sessions as a supplement to improve overall strength and balance and prevent injuries.
Strength training complements mountain biking by enhancing power and longevity in the sport. Whether you love downhill rushes or challenging single tracks, the terrain demands more from your body.
There are a few strength exercises available especially for those who want to improve their mountain biking skills. Such exercises can also help in protecting your joints, and avoid accidents. Niall O’Riordan, who is a well-known mountain biker has also given a lot of advice in his website which is worth reading by all mountain biking aspirants.
In this post, let us share a few exercises that will not only enhance strength, but also helps mountain bikers.
1. Use Stability Ball for Lying Pullover
This workout works the abdomen, shoulders, chest, and back. It enhances coordination and balance.
Lie on a stability ball (or bench), hold weights, and lift them above your head. Lower the weights behind your head while keeping your hips up and core engaged.
2. Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Dumbbell Lateral Raises engage several upper body muscles, including deltoids, lets, traps, shoulders, and core.
To perform them correctly:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart.
- Hold 5-10lb dumbbells.
- Raise arms to form a T, squeezing shoulder blades together.
- Lower slowly for one repetition, avoiding shoulder shrugging
3. Seated Dumbbell External Rotation
These can lessen the risk of common mountain biking accidents, including wrist injuries, shoulder separations, and broken collarbones.
You may perform it in the way as mentioned:
- Sit on a chair or bench.
- Hold 5 lb dumbbells in both hands.
- Raise your arms into a goal-post position (elbows in line with shoulders).
- Rotate your forearms down such a way that your palms should face the floor.
- For an extra challenge, try it standing on both legs or one leg.
4. Bulgarian Split Squat
Strengthening your hip flexors, quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings through Bulgarian Split Squats will improve your biking power. This is how you do them:
- Remain level with one foot on the ground.
- Set the other foot down on the back of a bench.
- Bend your front leg at 90°angle.
- Push back up to a straight leg for one repetition.
- To intensify, use a raised step or a Bosu ball for your front foot.
- For an extra challenge, balance your back foot on a stability ball while your front foot rests on a Bosu. Adding more weight can boost gains.
5. Single-Leg Hops
Single-leg hops are a classic drill for strength and agility, enhancing balance and coordination. These plyometric moves build explosiveness to move your bike frontward and over jumps:
- Create a cross using lines or tape in a gym (or sticks if you are outside).
- On one foot, jump over the lines side to side, then front to back for one repetition.
- Perform all jumps on one leg, then switch to the other.
- Focus on speed without losing balance or relying on the other foot for support.
These are a few of the exercises that any aspirant who wants to improve their mountain biking skill can perform.
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