Quad strength?

[1xsculler]

How about back against the wall, thighs parallel to the floor as an exercise to increase quad strength for carving?

[Carvin' Marvin]

I imagine it would help prevent burn out but you’ll need to be doing some more dynamic strengthening as well. 

[SunSurfer]

You need cardio-respiratory fitness, quads strength, plus good balance reflexes, and practice at analysing what's in front of you at speed (line choice and dealing with terrain change).

Riding a non electric mountain bike as fast as you feel comfortable will tick every one of those boxes plus it's done outside and it's actually fun in its own right.

Isolated quads exercise will strengthen your quads but should be part of what you do, not only what you do.

PS: To get full value ride a hardtail! Then your quads (and calves) get a major shock absorbing, anaerobic active long travel suspension role with every descent, as well as the aerobic training in the uphill.

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by SunSurfer

[scottishsurfer]

16 hours ago, SunSurfer said:

Riding a non electric mountain bike as fast as you feel comfortable will tick every one of those boxes plus it's done outside and it's actually fun in its own right.

Defintely this . I also tend to climb in the highest gear i can manage to climb the hill, I know its not the most effiecent but it does wonders if your after sheer power and dont mind grinding your way up hills at a slow cadence.

[Odd Job]

Have a pro cyclist-like training regiment. Make cycling as boring and as grueling as possible.

If you are not regularly over-reaching and feeling signs of it, like a bleak outlook on life, you are not training hard enough, and the super-compensation during rest periods will be whack.

Also no alcohol at all since super-compensation will be affected; you're not trying 20+ hours a week just for some silly drink to nullify the effects to like you've only trained 5, right? Also you need to recover as fast as possible so you can mount on the training load ASAP; alcohol would just waste your time there too.

You should regularly feel like cycling is your job and a lot of times you're on the bike. you're hitting a prescribed dosage in terms of length of riding time and power.

Quads should be ok by then!

[1xsculler]

I appreciate the fitness and strength of all of you serious cyclists but I consider cycling, if done with cars around, to be an extremely risky behavior especially for a 78 year old and I want a weight bearing quad strengthening exercise so I might invest in a squat rack. 

[big mario]

https://www.backcountry.com/explore/train-eccentric-leg-strength-for-alpine-skiing?branch_used=true

Interesting article from many years ago about eccentric and concentric training for the legs, and the development of the leg blaster. No need for any gym equipment. I've posted this before and have incorporated this into my early season training as well.  They hurt.

[1xsculler]

8 minutes ago, big mario said:

https://www.backcountry.com/explore/train-eccentric-leg-strength-for-alpine-skiing?branch_used=true

Interesting article from many years ago about eccentric and concentric training for the legs, and the development of the leg blaster. No need for any gym equipment. I've posted this before and have incorporated this into my early season training as well.  They hurt.

Really appreciate this, big Mario!

[scottishsurfer]

53 minutes ago, 1xsculler said:

if done with cars around, to be an extremely risky behavior especially for a 78 year old

I dont know what the area you live in is like but Id suggest something more like XC or Gravel riding if you want to avoid cars.

[1xsculler]

4 hours ago, scottishsurfer said:

I dont know what the area you live in is like but Id suggest something more like XC or Gravel riding if you want to avoid cars.

I also want to avoid going over the handlebars!

 I’m going for Mario’s leg blasters!

 

[big mario]

13 hours ago, 1xsculler said:

 

 I’m going for Mario’s leg blasters!

 

Ease into them. Seriously, for as simple as they are, they're deceptively brutal and will wreck you for a bit if you go in full bore. Start with 2 sets of the minis, doubling your workload each time you do them until you get up to the prescribed 10 sets. Once you get to there, go ahead and follow the programming to the end.

mario

[1xsculler]

4 hours ago, big mario said:

Ease into them. Seriously, for as simple as they are, they're deceptively brutal and will wreck you for a bit if you go in full bore. Start with 2 sets of the minis, doubling your workload each time you do them until you get up to the prescribed 10 sets. Once you get to there, go ahead and follow the programming to the end.

mario

Can’t tell you how happy I am that you turned me on to these leg blasters. I wasn’t sure I had the range of motion required but I have no problem getting my butt lower than my hips so I’m good to go in that department. 
6 months prior to last season I did dumbell squats with 52.5 #s in each hand, 3 sets of 10 every other day and I row pretty hard about 5 days/week so I expected much less quad burn when I got on my board. It made zero difference. 
I’m hoping 3 months of leg blasters will make a difference. 
Thanks again. 

[Carvin' Marvin]

On 8/27/2022 at 12:38 PM, Odd Job said:

Have a pro cyclist-like training regiment. Make cycling as boring and as grueling as possible.

If you are not regularly over-reaching and feeling signs of it, like a bleak outlook on life, you are not training hard enough

I’m here for you if you ever need to talk. 
I’ll off my unsolicited dissenting opinion. This summer I committed to not doing any exercise I don’t find fun and this is the best shape I’ve been in 10 years.  Which happens to be pedaling a non electric bike as hard as I can followed by jumps, bumps, and berms. 

[1xsculler]

4 minutes ago, Carvin' Marvin said:

I’m here for you if you ever need to talk. 
I’ll off my unsolicited dissenting opinion. This summer I committed to not doing any exercise I don’t find fun and this is the best shape I’ve been in 10 years.  Which happens to be pedaling a non electric bike as hard as I can followed by jumps, bumps, and berms. 

Plan on hospital time, lol!

[Odd Job]

I've been competing against e-bikes this summer on the slight uphill from Frisco to Breckenridge; I drop them like they're standing still almost every time since I think they're limited to 20mph... and I think the tourons are afraid of running out of battery.

[inkaholic]

11 hours ago, 1xsculler said:

Plan on hospital time, lol!

He gets hospital time most days he's not riding. 
 

ink

[TVR]

Due to my son's FIS racing, I have relocated temporarily to Colorado. The people here are just nuts with their trail bicycle riding. It seems great for cardio and quads, as an exercise, so maybe do trail mountain biking?

Just don't hang with my group as they are just nuts.

[1xsculler]

23 hours ago, 1xsculler said:

Can’t tell you how happy I am that you turned me on to these leg blasters. I wasn’t sure I had the range of motion required but I have no problem getting my butt lower than my hips so I’m good to go in that department. 
6 months prior to last season I did dumbell squats with 52.5 #s in each hand, 3 sets of 10 every other day and I row pretty hard about 5 days/week so I expected much less quad burn when I got on my board. It made zero difference. 
I’m hoping 3 months of leg blasters will make a difference. 
Thanks again. 

How about doing the leg blasters with a 10# dumbell in each hand?

[gunslinger65]

Leg curls, super set with sissy squats. Get that nice pump in the quads. Leg press, super set with goblet squats. Slow and steady, feel the burn. Legs are sore for 3 days. Once a week that's all I need.

[big mario]

5 hours ago, 1xsculler said:

How about doing the leg blasters with a 10# dumbell in each hand?

Start with bodyweight, get through the entire cycle, then consider adding weight

[ShortcutToMoncton]

On 8/27/2022 at 2:38 PM, Odd Job said:

Have a pro cyclist-like training regiment. Make cycling as boring and as grueling as possible.

If you are not regularly over-reaching and feeling signs of it, like a bleak outlook on life, you are not training hard enough, and the super-compensation during rest periods will be whack.

Also no alcohol at all since super-compensation will be affected; you're not trying 20+ hours a week just for some silly drink to nullify the effects to like you've only trained 5, right? Also you need to recover as fast as possible so you can mount on the training load ASAP; alcohol would just waste your time there too.

You should regularly feel like cycling is your job and a lot of times you're on the bike. you're hitting a prescribed dosage in terms of length of riding time and power.

Quads should be ok by then!

Look I mean it’s certainly true that no alcohol is probably the best approach. But like almost everything else in life, having some drinks in moderation will have as little to no affect on you health-wise, particularly if it’s something like red wine. I mean even pro athletes like LeBron are very public about their love of red wine, and those guys go so far as to be sleeping in hyperbaric chambers, haha—if there was any significant concern about it affecting their insane training regimes they would absolutely not be imbibing.
 

So yeah…..lay off the empty-calories beer as much as possible but a glass of red wine some evenings won’t do you any real harm and I would strongly argue might be just the thing. 

[Odd Job]

5 hours ago, ShortcutToMoncton said:

Look I mean it’s certainly true that no alcohol is probably the best approach. But like almost everything else in life, having some drinks in moderation will have as little to no affect on you health-wise, particularly if it’s something like red wine. I mean even pro athletes like LeBron are very public about their love of red wine, and those guys go so far as to be sleeping in hyperbaric chambers, haha—if there was any significant concern about it affecting their insane training regimes they would absolutely not be imbibing.
 

So yeah…..lay off the empty-calories beer as much as possible but a glass of red wine some evenings won’t do you any real harm and I would strongly argue might be just the thing. 

Newer studies do show alcohol really has zero positive benefits (the newer ones). But hey, researchers change their mind on all the time, including the covid protocols. The resveratrol in red wine is in small quantities and the French paradox may be better explained by their non-processed diet + lots of vegetables.

I personally notice the delay in recovery following alcohol. Also the worst time to drink is right after a workout(?); so I wonder if those athletes are timing their alcohol intake for minimal effects. Maybe a couple of days into recovery between training blocks or in their off season?

I have also spent way too much money on wine the past two months. I personally do not follow the no drink thing. **** that. I'm having a port right now as I type this.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Odd Job

[Allee]

The last 2 months I've been on a GPP program which has included things like sled pushes (ugh), 85lb barbell walking lunges (just kill me), sets of 4 and 5 clean and jerks (it burns), and 140lb x20 tempo back squats (whyyyyyy). For sure a lot more lactic acid than I like. Coach says I'll be on similar stuff right up to November, so right in time for the start of the season. I'm actually looking forward to seeing if it helps with my riding this year. Last year I barely rode but I was so out of shape I was dying after 3 hours, which does not give you a great return on a $100 day out, lol.

I bought a local season pass this year again, and I'm really looking forward to all the covid stuff being done and the season being back to normal.

[1xsculler]

There is no “safe amount” of alcohol…it’s ALL poison…get any Resveratrol you want from supplements!

Refined carbs (sugar, bread, pasta, pizza crust, etc.) are poison…the less the better!

Ellenos yogurt=Häagen-Dazs, ketchup, mayonnaise, hot dogs and all processed meats from Arbys, Jersey Mike’s, Subway, etc. are problematic.

Now excuse me while I eat a little chocolate chip cookie dough with my glass of Rose, chomp on a Costco hot dog and listen to Rhonda Patrick, PhD (my longevity guru) at foundmyfitness.com of which I am a paid subscriber. 

[SunSurfer]

30 minutes ago, Allee said:

I bought a local season pass this year again, and I'm really looking forward to all the covid stuff being done and the season being back to normal.

Covid will likely be with us for a long time. Natural selection will continue to produce variants that will evade the relative immunity produced by current vaccination targets and previous variant Covid infection. While there may be a lull now, the world is not back to pre-Covid norms. There will likely be a new normal. Facemasks/coverings were very common on snow riders of all ages at Cardrona this NZ winter. 

The search will go on for effective Covid vaccines that target parts of the virus that have minimal variation.

On other points, ethanol is a dose related carcinogen. So is sunshine. So is the radiation dose you receive every time you fly.

Glucose is an essential fuel for your body, especially for your brain. The brain has very limited ability to utilise other fuels and low blood glucose levels will cause permanent brain damage or even death.

The aim is moderation in all of these things. To end on a light note....

An alcoholic is someone who drinks more than their doctor.