DH Training Thread

[nitrous to burn]

OK. This is either going to fail or go well. I have noticed that 4X have one, so why can't us Down Hillers have one. Generally post all of your training, nutrion and dietary techniques, as well as asking questions which some of us may answer. Also maybe your preperation before race day or on race do which helps you to rise well. Props to Parker for the original Idea.

At the moment my training techniques are pretty bland. Ride my DH bike for both skill and fitness training doing either urban or trail riding etc. Then use the HT for BMX track usage which helps with my burst energy for 4X and sprints in DH. I also pump weights with 10Kg dumbells and traditional crunches and pushups supposely help me pretty good. Dietary is generally what my parents feed me, not eating too much, and trying not to eat any shit food like maccas, or only very small amounts.
Bananas are good before race runs too.

Please don't flame me if you think this is a bad idea. I will ask for it to be deleted if you think so.
Tom.

 

[todd28]

I just ride my DH bike and occasionally get out on the roady and XC bike. Eating well helps, but im not very good at sticking to this one Keen to see what other people do.

 

[l +Jarrod+ l]

Me: Bananas are great before race run. Usual work out every second day helps core strength. Ride as much as possibile. Ive found bmx also helps somehow. cutty/cutty tracks are great to.

 

[Sketchl]

DH Routine

Strength Training: 3 time per week
- Glutes; swats; deadlifts, swings...etc
- Upper body; chin-up, DB presses
- Core - planks; renegade rows

Cardio: 3 times per week
- Interval training; 30s-1min x 5-7 reps

Recovery: as much as possible
- Massages
- Mobility & stretching

Nutrition:
- Eat regularly
- Include protein in all meals
- Avoid refined carbs

Skills; as much as possible
- Ride all disiplines, DH, trail, DJ & 4X
- Practices turns & pump track

Then let loose...................

 

[Blythy]

doing push runs works my calves out yes I find banana's a great form of energy, whenever I go for a ride I always eat one before hand.

a couple of weeks ago I went rockclimbing and turned out to be pretty darn good (not to stick it up myself), I had been before but ever scince I took up downhill I have improved at rockclimbing substantially. supposevely mountain bikers have excelent core body strength, which makes us good climbers.

my daily training/fitness (weekdays) routine is as soon as I get home from school, ride half way up to the top of the mountian (because im singlespeed at the moment) walk the rest (the distance of the whole ascent would be about 1km) do about 1 and a half hours of downhill riding/practice riding from about 4 till 5-30. then latter on in the night about 5 minutes of stretchin most ligaments. then 60 proper sit ups, 30 slow push ups, 20 ab crunches on each side, 2 minute leg raise lie down, 2 minute plank, then 1 minute leg and arm raise on both back and stomach. does me well. I play alot of sport at school and at home too.

I think this thred will be very usefull to many people

cheers

Blythy

 

[jacko13]

Riding at the moment....
sold both my bikes, new ones coming..

SO really what most of my training is:
Building track
Riding built track
Repairing ridden track.

That goes alright, hard work build tracks ive found. especially when its muddy.

Good to see above post showing types of workouts etc..

 

[Jimass]

Exercise bike
DH Bike
XC Bike
Light weights/push ups/etc.

Running/circuit work.

Eat healthy, no shit food. Wholegrain/meal bread with fresh fruits.

Pretty much it.

 

[flamshmizer]

I get out as many sundays as I can to ride DH. Friday arvo's are almost always push runs, I find a solid run down, small break then a brisk push up while discussing previous shredding of gnar to be more taxing on cardio and leg muscles than an 20 minute jog, and my joints feel loads better. I eat semi healthy, would be better if I didn't work at a bakery

I work a labourers job 5 days a week and a couple of k's to and from work so I don't get a lot done during the week as far as excercise goes, but a good few hours of parkour on Wednesday arvo keeps that core ripped. In fact parkour teaches balance, good core strength and good landing techniques, as well as giving you great body position for attacking things smoothly. I'd highly recommend it for those who want to do some really fun cross training.

 

[Staunch]

Training? What training?
I just ride ma HT during the week and DH on the weekends, that's all the training I do
Eat heaps of shit too

 

[scblack]

Not really a plan as such but here's my weekly routine:

• Ride the DH bike for about 2-4hrs push runs almost every weekend.
• Commute the roadie to work once a week, thats 35km each way.
• Do the Warrior in Sydney CBD weekly at lunchtime once a week - boot camp style group training. He is a trainer for the worlds best surfers presently (Kelly Slater etc), has been fitness trainer for a couple of NRL clubs. Farkin hard sessions.
• The odd weights sessions.

 

[Davo94]

Anyone use any of the programs on this site? http://www.bikejames.com/
I'm thinking of it but I'm still kinda uncertain

 

[Sketchl]

I'm on the programme and can highly recommend it....just need to put up with a very enthusiastic American acsent!

PS. I think Aaron Gwin's consistent results speak for themselves.

 

[djsmitt]

most of the training i like to do is majorly mental. when im not racing i like to do as many big hits as possible and always push myself hard in practice that way when it comes to racing your more metaly prepared and dont have to push it too far and make a mistake. DH is much much more of a mental sport than physical and thats what i like to work on more but otherwise push runs are great, especially when there repeatative and if your pushing up the hill fast. and also your riding so its great fun! i find running, pushing up etc a bit boring so i try focous my exercise purely on riding.
hope this helped.

 

[Morgan123]

Monday: Gym - Arms + Cardio
Tuesday: Ride (Couple of hours, push runs)
Wednesday: Rest Day
Thursday: Optional Ride(Couple of hours, push runs)/Gym(Core + Cardio)
Friday: Ride + Gym - Arms + Legs
Saturday: Riding or Gym
Sunday: Rest day (Usually go out riding though )

Basic plan im trying to do so far. Diet's not too bad but could be better (just polished off a bowl of noodles), lost a few kgs over the last couple of months with this. Gotta get some decent gym programs together.

 

[eyes]

Chainless runs... /end thread

 

[Ozza]

Chainless runs... /end thread

I actually did this last season, came round one when it came to pedalling and I blew up! Definately a approach which shouldnt be to frequent.... Its also really specific to the track design aswell! Learning to hold your speed and braking less can be really good, but does it outweigh learning to crank out a good run, were to be changing gears, braking as late as possible into sections at race speeds etc ?

 

[jon55sey]

Riding is sick. Whatever kind of riding your doing, its all good. Even if its ya missus. All helps with core strength. Bit of donkey calf on the side, so your calves look like Eyes' and Chris Kovarik's.

Xc riding helps bulk too. Fitness and then bombing the DH bits on a sketchy short travel bike. Would ride Xc so much more if I had a good bike for it.

I find my fitness in racing Bmx. Wednesday night gates, Friday night clubby. Explosive strength and leg speed.

Diet is pretty much a Subway diet, as its the my place of employment.

I do have a Gym membership, but only manage to get there maybe 3 times a fortnight. I don't kill myself on big gut busting squats and bench presses though. Smaller weights, more reps.

 

[mutters21]

I started doing training with a personal trainer,

I do 2 Half hour sessions with him a week
I try to train at home everyday.. 1 minute flat out on the exersize bike, 30 second cruiz, flat out again for a minute, 30 seconds slow, flat out again. then i do 20 push ups. 15 situps but when getting to the top you punch into the air 30 times, then go back down, up and 28, down and 26 and so on, all the way down to 0. Then i do 12 biecep curls left then right, then both together, then one on each side to 12 if that makes sence? I then jump on the tredmil, 1 min warm up jog, then 2 mins flat out, 1 min fast jog, 2 mins flat out. Back into the push ups and sit ups and stuff.. then repeat all that again ^^

I ride my downhill bike 2-3 times a week (when ever i'm not at work FML)

Eating- I eat heaps of carbs and protien because i'm not the biggest kid of the bunch and i'm trying to bulk a little just so i can through my bike around a bit more.. So i eat lots ans lots of pasta, fish and chicken. I have 3 poched eggs on toast every morning along with a protien shake. For lunch i'll usualy either have 3 chicken or tuna sandwiches with fat free mayo and cheese and some salad or pasta. I eat lots of bannanas.

When you train, try and get some protien into your body before you train so you are able to train harder without DYING! After training, now this is the MOST IMPORTANT PART make sure you get protien into you within 20 mins of training because at this point your body is craving food and needs it bad! It will store whatever you give it, so insert protien and carbs here. Defenetly the worst time to get junk food, so remember when your coming home from a ride, AVOID MACCAS!

Anyway i think thats it? And believe me, you will notice the difference i can pedal soooo much harder now, just try and be as anal about all this as you can.. and good luck Oh, and drink atleast like 1.5-2 litres of water a day!

 

[todd28]

I started doing training with a personal trainer,

I do 2 Half hour sessions with him a week
I try to train at home everyday.. 1 minute flat out on the exersize bike, 30 second cruiz, flat out again for a minute, 30 seconds slow, flat out again. then i do 20 push ups. 15 situps but when getting to the top you punch into the air 30 times, then go back down, up and 28, down and 26 and so on, all the way down to 0. Then i do 12 biecep curls left then right, then both together, then one on each side to 12 if that makes sence? I then jump on the tredmil, 1 min warm up jog, then 2 mins flat out, 1 min fast jog, 2 mins flat out. Back into the push ups and sit ups and stuff.. then repeat all that again ^^

I ride my downhill bike 2-3 times a week (when ever i'm not at work FML)

Eating- I eat heaps of carbs and protien because i'm not the biggest kid of the bunch and i'm trying to bulk a little just so i can through my bike around a bit more.. So i eat lots ans lots of pasta, fish and chicken. I have 3 poched eggs on toast every morning along with a protien shake. For lunch i'll usualy either have 3 chicken or tuna sandwiches with fat free mayo and cheese and some salad or pasta. I eat lots of bannanas.

When you train, try and get some protien into your body before you train so you are able to train harder without DYING! After training, now this is the MOST IMPORTANT PART make sure you get protien into you within 20 mins of training because at this point your body is craving food and needs it bad! It will store whatever you give it, so insert protien and carbs here. Defenetly the worst time to get junk food, so remember when your coming home from a ride, AVOID MACCAS!

Anyway i think thats it? And believe me, you will notice the difference i can pedal soooo much harder now, just try and be as anal about all this as you can.. and good luck Oh, and drink atleast like 1.5-2 litres of water a day!

My health teacher said when you are having eggs for protein while training never have more than 2 if you are consistently doing it (every day). He also said half an hour after training? Which is correct?

 

[hazza6542]

My health teacher said when you are having eggs for protein while training never have more than 2 if you are consistently doing it (every day). He also said half an hour after training? Which is correct?

Yeah no more than those two eggs if it's consistant, thats what I've been taught all my life really by a crazy nutrients and health crazed mother