Mountain Biker David’s brutal 10minute set of step ups
When I first met mountain biker David he told me the biggest issue he had during rides was maintaining his speed when riding up steep hills, his legs would fatigue quickly.
After our initial assessment David presented with some movement deficiencies (unable to perform a sufficient squat) and poor strength levels for his size (no strength training background). Due to his busy schedule and therefore limited training time with me, the priorities were filling the gaps of his current programming.
David’s lifestyle includes a physical job as an electrician, and he also participates in regular mountain bike riding. Since he was already receiving some aerobic training stimulus through these, the most efficient training methods to improve his riding would be strength training, strength/power endurance training, and high intensity aerobic training. The reasoning behind this is that it will allow David to repetitively produce the high force contractions needed to propel himself up the steep hills. You cannot have strength/power endurance without a high level of strength first.
We added the high intensity aerobic training method seen in the video to David’s programming, which I originally learned of after reading a conditioning article from Juggernaut training systems: http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/04/12/conditioning-how-to-do-it-right/
At the Strength Shed we are always looking to improve our methods, and if you look through our photo album you will see many pictures of smashed PB’s by David, the most recent being a 14/1560 rank for one of his splits. So in my opinion this is definitely a method worth trying to improve conditioning for sports requiring repetitive displays of higher force outputs e.g. the rugby codes, basketball, strongman, crossfit. You will have to vary the movements used to get the most carryover to your sport, and do not sacrifice technique in the name of getting more reps in – better to start light and increase the weight if needed. Another thing to consider is that this a high fatigue producing method, so the rest of your programming/recovery methods must account for this when initially introducing it.
Strength Shed mountain biker David performing a brutal 10 minute set of step ups.
Some of the PB’s David has smashed since starting at The Strength Shed
I am currently writing an article about the conditioning methods we use for team and strength sports, if you would like to stay updated on our content sign up for our newsletter.
Nick – Head Physical Preparation Coach at The Strength Shed
