This week workout was shot immediately after last weeks strength workout (check it out here). It fits into a a full day of the Fit4Racing program. Although it’s just one element of the full program, it’s a great workout to try and see how you stack up against pro riders. but out of the Enduro vs Downhill pro, who will win?

As always, we need to stress the importance of safety when performing these workouts. Although this workout isn’t particularly dangerous, if you are attempting it you should warm up well by raising your heart rate, mobilising and practicing all of the movements in the workout. This will also ensure you get the best from the workout and not spend your first round getting up to speed.

Why This Workout?

We have chosen this type or workout and the movements within it for many reasons, let me explain.

As mentioned above, the riders had already completed a strength element prior to this workout, namely squats. With that in mind, normally when your aim is to strengthen a muscle or muscle group, you would perform a primary lift followed by “assistance lifts”. The purpose of these assistance lifts is to increase the strengthening properties of the primary lift, but also balance muscles in the same or opposing muscle groups. Basically creating a more wholistic, functional strength.

We like to combine movements into capacity building workouts so you get more than just “fitness” when you train, you also get exactly what you need as a rider – functionality.

Lateral Burpee Box Jumps: It has been said that box jumps should not be included in conditioning workouts. I completely disagree. Unless the purpose of the box jump is ONLY to increase power/speed. In this workout the purpose is to increase the variety of hip movement and stress on the same muscle group as the preceding strength element of that day. Combining the box jump with a burpee further adds variation and increased conditioning benefit. Ultimately, the purpose today goes beyond the traditional sports science manual to a much deeper need of the riders – functionality and cognitive function under fatigue. It is all well and good increasing your numbers and satisfy your need for data led training however, we are not road cyclists, we need function, agility… preparedness.

Assault bike: This element is a pre-fatigue/pacing burner. It sits with the other movements to add intensity without danger or breakdown of movement. This means the riders can push their limit and be at one with being uncomfortable. Because off-road bike sports are demanding of the whole body, the Assault bike (or any air bike of this type) is great to keep the core and upper body active and contributing to the demands of this workout, very much like intense riding.

Toes to bar: There are few movements which compliment core and hip control, grip and capacity more than toes to bar, if any. Yes, this is a very “CrossFit” type movement however, it is fantastic at building the body into a single, well honed machine. An obvious core builder, involvement of the lats, forearms and hips make this one of our favourite movements for riders. As shown in the video, this is a very scalable movement, try knees towards elbows first before going full tilt into the final movement.

Workout Format: Interval training is undoubtably bang-for-buck for increasing all elements of fitness. Today, the riders completed 3 sets of 3 rounds with 2 minutes rest between taking a total time of 16-20 minutes. Interval training can contribute to strength increases when done in the same training session. If this were a steady state cardio piece, say 20 minutes on a bike at the same pace throughout, it would be more detrimental to the preceding strength work.

All in all, this workout was designed to increase the riders ability on the bike. As with most of our workouts, the priority here was not to increase any metrics but to create a better functioning and capable rider. Consider that when you are deciding on your next workout.

Workout Details:

3 rounds of:

10 Calories Assault Bike (can sub for 30-45 seconds hard turbo trainer)

5 Lateral Burpee Box Jumps (20 inch box)

10 Toes to Bar (or scale to knees to elbows, straight leg raises or knee raises)

What Next?

If you like this workout, or at the very least see what benefit it can give you for riding, check out our other content on the website, especially the programs. Links are below, choose your discipline and start working towards being the ultimate rider.