6 Awesome Mountain Bike Exercises

July 5, 2014

YOUR OWN MOUNTAIN BIKING TRAINING PROGRAM!

Here are 6 awe­some train­ing exer­cis­es you can use to get you moun­tain bik­ing faster, stronger, and with few­er injuries, from our friend Steven Moniz at Mon­vi­da Sports.

SQUATS

Squats work your glutes, ham­strings and quads. Start with your feet shoul­der-width apart, your core tight and spine neu­tral. As you come down, bend at your hips and knees, mak­ing sure your knees don’t pass your toes, and stop when you’re par­al­lel to the floor. On your way up, empha­size press­ing through your heels.

SINGLE LEG DEADLIFTS

Sin­gle leg dead­lifts empha­size the pos­te­ri­or side of your body by work­ing your glutes, ham­strings and quads. Start off by bal­anc­ing on one leg then lean for­ward, mak­ing sure to keep your core tight and spine is neu­tral. Stop once your upper body is par­al­lel to the floor. Squeeze your glutes and ham­strings on the work­ing leg to get back to the start­ing position.

PUSH-UPS

Push-ups are an upper body exer­cise that improves upper body strength by work­ing your chest, arms and shoul­ders. Place your hands shoul­der-width apart and bring you chest as close to the floor as you can with­out touch­ing it. As you return to the start­ing posi­tion don’t lock out your elbows. Also make sure to look at some­thing a foot in front of you to pre­vent you from bob­bing your head and reach­ing to the floor with your chin clos­er to the floor rather than your chest.

LUNGES

Lunges are a low­er body exer­cise that work your glutes, ham­strings and quads. You’ll be start­ing lung­ing out mak­ing sure that your knee does not pass you toe and that most of your weight is on your front leg. Also make sure you back leg is bent and as you come back up press through your heel. Repeat with your oth­er leg when done. Through­out this exer­cise make sure that your chest is out, core is tight and spine is neutral.

BENT OVER ROWS

This a great exer­cise to bal­ance the body from becom­ing too chest dom­i­nant from rid­ing the bike all day. Bent over rows work your back and arms. Start with your feet in a stag­gered posi­tion and your body bent over and par­al­lel to the ground. You will then row the weight­ed object up, mak­ing sure that you keep your core tight and spine neu­tral. Slow­ly low­er the weight and repeat.

PLANKS

This exer­cise strength­ens your core and builds endurance in your arms, shoul­ders, and core mus­cles. Start on your elbows with your spine as straight as pos­si­ble. Hold this posi­tion for the desired length of time, and do not twist or sag at waist. If you want to mim­ic being on a moun­tain bike, do the plank on your hands, it strength­ens the sta­bi­liz­er mus­cles in your shoul­der joint. Per­form 3 sets of 20 rep­e­ti­tions with 30 sec­onds of rest inbe­tween. Hold them for 25 sec­onds, and then increase your time accord­ing­ly. To improve endurance, per­form the exer­cise in a cir­cuit for­mat — one after anoth­er with very lit­tle to no rest.