Guest Article By Matt Mooney – Owner of MTB Fitness
There’s no better feeling than ripping through dry, dusty trails. The sun on your back, slight wind in your hair and almost feeling too hot in just your shorts and t-shirt. We all love riding in the summer. Winter get’s a little…different. It’s cold. Wet. Snowy. Dark. The opposite of those lovely summer days.
Ride Illinois invited me to share this blog post with you to help you as a mountain biker get fitter through the winter, despite the challenges it brings! Here’s 6 tips to help you build your fitness through the winter, despite not being able to ride as much.
1. Find A Way, Not An Excuse
It’s all too easy to find all the excuses in the world through the winter. “It’s too dark.” “It’s too cold.” “I’ve had a long day”. Sure, it’s tougher to train and ride through the winter, but ensure you focus on finding a way rather than an excuse. Some reading this will have the option of a fat bike or road bike to be able to ride through the winter. Others won’t and turn indoors for their training fix. No matter what situation you are in, it all starts with mindset. Rather than obsessing over what you can’t do…focus instead on what you can do.
2. Set A Goal To Look Ahead To
A carrot on a stick to aim towards is great to have to keep you focused on those dark, cold days when you REALLY don’t want to train. Set a goal for the spring. It could be a guided ride, a race, a riding holiday or a weekend away riding. Whatever the aim is, make sure it excites you, challenges you and really gives you something tangible to aim for. It will really help motivate you.
3. Get Stuck Into The Weights
Weight training is essential for all mountain bikers. The benefits are ginormous. It makes you more injury resistant, helps improve flexibility, decreases aches and pains, helps you feel stronger on the descents and makes you much more efficient and fitter on the climbs. Weight training benefits all cyclists. Whether you decide to hit the gym and lift weights, or train at home using resistance bands and your bodyweight, winter is a great time to get stuck into a solid training regime. Head to mtb.fitness if you’d like help with that.
4. Buddy Up
Rightly or wrongly, we often find it easier to let ourselves down than we do others. Find someone who wants to train hard through the winter and buddy up with them. It could be a riding buddy, a colleague or a friend. Whoever it is, buddy up with them. You can agree to meet to ride and train at certain times. You can text each other each day and check in. You can compete. Having someone to bounce off really helps keep motivation up!
5. Work On Your Skills
Sure – you may not be able to head out on your usual rides when the trails are soaking wet or deep in snow, but you can find other ways to work on the bike. Why not learn to track stand in your back yard? Or Wheelie on your driveway? Or bunny hop outside your home? It all harks back to tip 1 – focus on finding a way and on what you can do, as opposed to what you can’t do!
6. Do Intervals On An Indoor Bike Trainer
Winter is a great time to hit the indoor bike trainer. Whether you ride on the ones in the gym or get a turbo setup at home, indoor bikes allow you to work hard in all weathers. Intervals are a great way to build your fitness on a static bike. They essentially involve you going hard for a period of time, then backing off for a period of time and repeating several times.
A basic example;
Note: Before doing these intervals, be sure to check with your doctor or physician that you are safe to do so.
What this type of interval workout does is really raise your heart rate and breathing rate. You repeatedly push beyond the usual limit you ride too. This helps force your body to improve and get fitter and stronger.
I hope you found these tips useful! See winter as a time to really knuckle down and work on your fitness. While many other people back off, use it as your time to go all in and work on your fitness!
I’d love to help with that. Head to mtb.fitness for more info on the Training Programs I sell through MTB Fitness.
Thanks,
Matt Mooney
About the Author: Matt Mooney – Owner of MTB Fitness
Matt is the owner of MTB Fitness, he’s originally a Personal Trainer by trade and an obsessed mountain biker. He blended the two to create MTB Fitness. MTB Fitness has a large following of over 500,000 mountain bikers on social & thousands of customers spanning 57 countries. It helps mountain bikers get fitter, faster and stronger on the bike so they can enjoy riding even more!