Looking for recommendations for kettlebell programs for mountain bikers.
I ride mainly trail and all mountain. Currently in my first sweet spot base and progressing from build to speciality but April 2021 for start of the season. I don’t race but looking for a program to compliment my riding and reduce injury.
Looking for training I can do at home during lockdown. I have a 12, 16 and 24kg Kettlebell and am competent in the basic movements e.g swing, clean, snatch , TGU
Look up Dialed Health. He has structured programs you can pay for, but follow his Instagram and find an endless supply of MTB-specific KB movements and workouts.
I like Steve Cotter’s material. His Extreme Kettlebell DVDs aren’t exactly recent and it shows in the production, but the content is still excellent IMO.
I put my foot behind me on a box jump or weight bench and grasp two kettle bells by the handle and then lower myself until the bells are touching the floor and then return by straightening my leg. the rearward leg simply holds still for balance with the top of my toes flat on the bench/box.
I am following Pavels program from simple and sinister.
Basicly warmup, add flexibility and mobility then
100 one arm swings 50 each side 10 reps per set and almost a full recovery between sets anti glycolic i believe its called
10 turkish get ups focus on perfect motion
Repeat until strong
Started with a 16kg bell in both now doing it easily with 26kg gyms are closed so I can’t start working with a heavier bell.
I find the program highly effective and have seen many positive benefits after 31 sessions.
I like contralateral swings (I think that’s what they’re called) lots of bang for your buck in this movement. It’s basically a split leg single arm swing. So if your right foot is forward you swing with your left arm. Good for the posterior chain and grip. Also, tempo waiters squats for eccentric knee flexion and anti rotation.
As far as implementation I pyramid. So if I’m in a base cycle I’ll start very conservative and increase sets and reps through weeks 1-2-3 then work my way back down during weeks 4 and 5. Deload on the weights and bike at the same time. For a build/specialty cycle the same. Build during weeks 1 and 2, back off a little on week 3, deload. maybe with a little more caution since bike fitness takes priority.
For the first couple of weeks i did it almost daily, after 40 sessions i am maintaining with 3 times per week, nordic ski season started so i try to balance out but i am very impressed with the program and think it has real benefits for cycling since it targets area us cyclist tend to neglect
Even practicing TGU with a shoe on fist or water bottle has some benefits,
I’ve managed to do a 50lbs tgu after down a certain program (my heaviest was 35lbs before that)
But weight isnt necessary. After doing that 50lbs i got a 15lbs in order to have a lighter weight to do it for “reps”
I do it twice a week. I’ve been riding the other 5 days.
In the simple and sinister book he says do it 6 days a week if it is your main thing, I believe he says 3 days if you are doing something else. I’ve still gotten stronger doing it 2 days per week though.
If you are time limited, you can get a high return on only doing some kind of posterior chain movement (like swings) and a core/total body movement (like get ups).
