Welcome to workout of the week number 35.
This time we have a general preparatory strength training workout for mountain biking.
If you haven’t seen the intro video for strength training for mountain biking, where I outlined that this is a program that an athlete of mine followed in the Years 2011 and 2012 Anneke Beerten, a three-time world champion in mountain biking.
Anyway so this is the workout she followed in the beginning of the season, the general preparatory phase.
So, what was the training goal?
It was about building strength, speciiclly functional hypertrophy and maximum strength. The training variables, we worked with 75 to 95% of the 1 RM for 2 to 4 repetitions. The exertion was medium to maximum, obviously you progress from week to week, so there is obviously a large range in exertion levels, you start with the medium exertion, and over the course of weeks, you get to the maximum exertion. And the same is true for the training efforts, so in the beginning when intensities are lower and you work on the function hypertrophy aspect, you follow a repeated effort, once you get more into the maximum strength, it becomes a maximum effort.
Let’s have a look at the exercises.
The exercises were based on Olympic lifts and derivatives of the Olympic lifts, as well as fundamental movements, squatting bilaterally and unilaterally, hinging, pushing and pulling. The exercise order was from most complex to least complex.
And if we look at a few more training variables, the training frequency, 3 days a week, the training organization was a station training, including some complexes, and the training split was a full body split.
So how did this look?
We have a look at this program and we jump right into it.
So here we are inside of this program, you get an overview of the program, the table of content and then you see three workouts on non-consecutive days. Now let’s have a look at workout number one, here you can see, we started with a power clean followed by a bench press followed by a back squat and then we had a complex of romanian deadlift and single-legged squats on the box.
If we look at the sets and reps, so you can see here 6 sets, starting with 75% 1 RM for 4 repetitions then moving on to 80% 1 RM for 3 repetitions moving on to 85% 1 RM for 2 repetitions. For the main exercises mainly the Olympic lifts, as well as the lower body we follow that approach of 6 sets, and for the upper body exercises, there are three sets. So same thing here, 4 repetitions at 75% 1 RM, 3 repetitions at 80% 1 RM and 2 repetitions at 85% 1 RM, but then only 3 sets. And for the for the complex we did more repetitions, 10 repetitions at 70% of the 1 RM.
If we have a look at workout number two, here we can see there is only one exercise in the beginning and then we have complexes. So we do the power snatch, then we do the pull-ups followed by an overhead squat as a complex, and the bent-over row with a shoulder press also here the main exercises, the same set and rep scheme, 2 sets of 4 at 75% 1 RM, 2 sets of 3 at 80% 1 RM, 2 sets of 2 at 85% 1 RM. And for the upper body lifts we did, for the complex at the end we did 2 sets of 10 at 70% 1 RM.
And if we look at the third workout, we have a split jerk as a standalone exercise, and then we have the bench row and the front squat as a complex, and the bulgarian split squat and the leg curls on a slide board. And also here you can see the main exercises, 6 sets, the same set and rep scheme, as I outlined in the previous two workouts, and then for the last complex the split squat and the slide board leg curls, we did a few more repetitions.
And if you download this program, you see a glossary of the terms, that I use. You can read a bit about Anneke Beerten, Anneke has moved on, as you could see in the introduction, she’s not an active cyclist anymore, she now gives her knowledge and experience to the younger generations as a coach.
You can read a little bit about me, you can read about testimonial from my athletes and last but certainly not least you can join the membership. But we’ll talk about that in a minute when we finish that presentation.
So let’s move back.
What are the next steps?
Number one you download that PDF, number two, you join the membership. Why should you join the membership? That’s up to you, but in the membership you get the four-week periodized program, so this was the first week of that program, and in the membership you get the four week periodized program.
You like and subscribe, grab all previous workouts here, subscribe if you haven’t already and watch the previous workout. I see you next week with the strength training program for the special preparatory period.
