Who’s up for a little mountain biking? 7Hues Fitness

Who’s up for a little mountain biking?

Personal Training:
Lesson: Mountain Biking

Heavy Pedal

Never underestimate the power of mother nature and all her benefits to change your mood and general health. The environment that surrounds you has a enormous impact on how you perceive the world and how you feel on any given day. Studies have proven that once you hit the ole dusty trails, and immerse yourself in a forest or natural landscape, your stress levels are reduced, blood pressure decreases and your overall well-being increases. It will get your heart pumping for sure. What better way to experience the great outdoors than to eat some dust and get intimate with thorny bushes on the trail. Seriously though, mountain biking, more than any other activity, allows you to quickly get off the beaten path and enjoy the solitude and majesty of nature. This month we cover some exercises to help prepare you for the outdoors.

EXERCISE 1
Inverted row/push-up
Find yourself a suspension trainer, like a TRX to perform this next workout, because it helps build the upper body, strength in the chest, back, shoulders and arms. It also helps stabilization in your shoulder and core muscles of the torso and hips.

Technique 1 – Inverted row: While lying on your back under a fixed horizontal bar ( make sure bar is high enough to allow your straight arms ), grip bars slightly wider than shoulder width. Maintain alignment through knee, ankle, shoulder and hip, now pull your body up to the bar. Return position, and repeat.

Technique 2 – Push-up: With your hands shoulder-distance apart, put your body in plank position with straight legs, balancing on your toes or knees. Keep your alignment straight. Slowly lower your chest to the floor over 3 seconds and push back to start position, then repeat.

Technique 3 – Pyramid: Start off with 5 reps of horizontal rows, then follow up with 5 reps of push-ups. Then hit 4/4, 3/3, 2/2, then 1/1. Afterwards, go back up again, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5. If you can knock out the full workout, add one rep on top of it for extra build.

EXERCISE 2
Step bound
You produce power on a cycle one leg at a time. So good training would be with one leg at a time. This exercise does just that. Because it’s a single-leg workout, the balance is tested, increasing stability in your core, hip, knee and ankle.

Technique: First, stand facing something similar to a weight bench or box with right foot on bench or box. Engage your abdominals and push through the right foot and hip, jumping as high as possible. Land on the same foot and repeat, with small pause between the jumps.
Do 5 Sets of 5. On each leg.

EXERCISE 3
Side-lying pikes
When riding your bike you need a strong and stable core, that way you will have better control, and it will make your power delivery on your pedals more effective. Having a strong core will also reduce lower back pain.

Technique: First, you want to lie on your right side, left hand behind your head, right arm on the floor, with your palm down, just in front of your torso. Slightly roll back, try to maintain your alignment, lift your legs and upper body, and pivot your right elbow, until your left elbow and left knee touch. Return back to your start position and repeat the process.
Do 2 Sets of 20. On each side.