Preparing for a mountain bike holiday requires more than just packing your gear; it’s essential to build the right fitness foundation to enjoy your trip to the max. From strength training to endurance, the right training can improve your riding on technical trails and reduce injuries.
We have teamed up with Atlas Ride Co to bring you these training tips. Ben has traveled with Atlas a few times before and they always go above and beyond to provide a first class MTB holiday experience. With trips to a wide range of dream MTB destinations, Atlas have your next trip covered.
In this free guide, we’ll cover seven essential fitness training tips to help you ride stronger, longer, and more confidently on your next Atlas Ride Co MTB holiday.
Tip 1: Start early.
If you have some work to do before your trip then don’t leave it to the last minute and expect to turn up fit, strong and able to bang out 4000m + of descending a day after only a week of training. The minimum amount of time you really need to progress is a month: 3 weeks of training and then a week to recover so you go on your trip feeling fresh.
Ideally you will give yourself 6 to 12 weeks to make some real progress before you go. It will make a huge difference to your riding.
Tip 2: Make a plan.
Start by looking at how much time you can dedicate to your training; both riding and strength training.
Can you train before work, at lunch or in the evenings? Can you do long rides on a Saturday for instance?
Once you have done that you can start building a rough weekly plan. Aim for 2-3 strength sessions per week, an endurance ride and possibly some sort of intense ride or intervals too.
Now put them in your diary or phone calendar so they actually happen. The key is to be consistent between now and your holiday, so book them in and make them happen!
Tip 3: Get on top of injuries early.
That dodgy knee or lower back that bothers you on your Sunday morning ride is not going to magically get better when you ride for 5 days straight, In fact it will get worse. It will spoil your trip and you will end up missing riding. That sucks, not to mention the wasted cash!
So, get yourself booked in to the physio or sports therapist or even a good strength coach who can get on top of things early and get you fixed up.
Tip 4: Get strong.
If you do nothing else to prepare, then for most people you should simply focus on being stronger. Whole body training sessions are usually best rather than body building style upper or lower body workout splits.
You don’t need a gym or loads of kit. In fact a simple bodyweight programme done consistently in your garage will be very effective if you work hard.
Whilst we want to work the whole body, some key areas to work on are the shoulders, core and hips. When these three areas are strong it helps you to build a strong riding position. To learn more about proper riding position, check out this video:
Tip 5: Build your base aerobic fitness.
If you are hitting the bike parks of Morzine or doing a lift assisted holiday, then you might not think this applies to you, but having improved aerobic fitness will benefit all riders whether you are pedalling or riding a DH rig.
By improving your aerobic (low intensity) fitness you will get less out of breath on long descents. You will recover faster between runs. You will recover faster in the evenings. You will struggle less with the altitude. You will simply have more capacity to ride and have fun.
You can develop your aerobic fitness by doing low intensity indoor or outdoor rides of 45 minute to 3 hours or more. These rides should only be a 4/10 for intensity, or zone 2 heart rate (in most hr systems). You should not feel any burn in your legs and you should be able to talk normally to a riding buddy throughout. Go too hard and this won’t work. It needs to be easy!
Tip 6: Ride back to back days.
If you normally only mountain bike once per week then a full week of big mountain gnar is super tough on your body. A few times before you travel, you should try to ride on back to back days, and ideally do some shuttle/uplifted days to prepare the hands.
This is the most specific prep you can do, so don’t overlook it. Also, make sure your travel insurance is in place before you do these rides in case you crash and hurt yourself and can’t go on your trip!
Tip 7: Mobility – Learn to look after yourself.
To compliment your MTB strength and other training you should try and find time for some basic mobility work. The great thing is that this can be done little and often so you don’t need to find big blocks of time.
Just a few short 3-5 minute sessions each day or a couple of 10 minute sessions can make a big difference. Learning to do some basic mobility will also help you when you get to your Atlas accommodation. Spending a few minutes in the morning before you go riding and then again after your post-ride shower you can really help your body to recover, making sure you have the best riding trip, ever.
Special Offer:
When you book a riding trip with Atlas Ride Co you will receive an exclusive discount code for The Strength Factory’s range of online training programmes to make sure you turn up in the best shape possible.
If you have any questions about this article or about anything MTB fitness related, then you can reach out to Ben for a guaranteed reply. Just fill in the contact form on the website.
