The Riding For A Lifetime Podcast

Isometric Training: How Not Moving Can Help You Ride Faster

Every once in a while I have a lightbulb moment that makes me realize that I have been missing something really important in my training.

Like the first time I was introduced to using mobility exercises to compliment my usual focus on “get stronger”, these moments open up a whole new way of seeing the bigger picture that leads to being a better rider.

One of these moments happened to me recently at a Steve Maxwell seminar when he was explaining how he uses Isometric Exercises in combination with sport training.

While Isometric Exercises are something I have studied and used, I never really understood the best way to use them until I heard him explain it and now I realize that they are a must have component of a training program.

In this episode of the Bike James Podcast I explain what Isometrics Exercises are, how to use them and how you can use incorporate them into your program to help you ride faster on the trail.

Show Notes:

- Isometric Exercises

                - No movement

                - High muscle tension

                - Relatively safe

- Strength is Tension + Technique

- The trick to sport-specific training is to develop your Tension and your Technique separately

- We screw up when we use strength training to teach a skill or skill training to build strength

- Use Isometrics to develop your Tension and then skill training for Technique

- Use Ramping Isometrics with 1 Set to Failure for each movement pattern

                - 20-30 seconds at 50% effort/ 75% effort/ 100% effort

- Safe for 1 Set to Failure since you don’t move

- Allows you to really focus on quality of tension instead of movement

- Helps you develop your tension producing “volume knob”

- Helps you learn how to truly tap into 100% tension

- Develops mental and physical endurance

- Keeps the body fresh for technique training (deadlifting, riding your bike, etc.)

- Pick one exercise per movement pattern and do it 2 days per week

- Use the other training time to work on movement or sport specific skills/ endurance training

- Don’t go above 80% effort with skill training

- This isn’t easy or sexy but is works

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

MTB Strength Training Systems & Pedaling Innovations

Foot Health and Cycling with NaturalFootGear.com

So, right off the bat I want to let you know why this may be one of the most important interviews I’ve done on this podcast.

Foot health and now it affects your riding is usually something most of us don’t worry about until there is a problem. However, even then most riders are usually in the dark about the best strategies to improve and maintain their foot health.

This leads to a lot of riders who just figure that sore feet, uncomfortable feet and the knee, ankle and low back problems that come with them are just part of riding a bike.

Which is unfortunate because a lot of these riders are suffering needlessly. There are things you can do both on and off your bike to improve your foot health and function, improving your performance and decreasing your pain in the process.

In this podcast I interview Dr. Marty Hughes and Dr. Robyn Hughes from www.NaturalFootGear.com. They are leading experts in the field of foot function and health and also happen to be avid cyclists, bringing a unique perspective to this subject.

In the interview we go over why foot health is so important for us, some common things that can be hurting our feet and what you can do to start improving your foot health both on and off the bike.

I know that talking about the feet isn’t what most riders think about when it comes to improving your performance on the bike but after listening to this interview I hope you’ll have a new appreciation for how important it is.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson