Meet My Athletes: Can you relate to any of them?
Mountain biking is the common thread that connects my diverse clientele. However, each individual brings a unique personal history and goals to their program. Let’s meet some of the awesome characters I'm currently working with.
The Entrepreneur: He's been training hard for 20+ years. This high achiever is not one to take a rest day until it's forced upon him. When I'm working with this archetype, the programming and adherence is the easy part. Staying on top of the rest and recovery is the hard part. Luckily, my coaching app now has wearables connectivity so I can keep an eye on his HRV and sleep scores.
The Squamish Local Trail Rider: She started strength training with me a year ago and I've loved the educational component of this program. I'll never get bored of seeing beginners make rapid gains! She’s hypermobile and as such is a little injury-prone. Constantly building her stability by adjusting tempo is one way we're helping her to feel more durable and strong.
Degenerative Hip disease: He started strength training for the first time with me last year. He’s trying to get the most out of his body while delaying an inevitable hip replacement. We've worked on teaching him how to discern good pain from the kind of pain that is going to set him back as well as showing him how to get the best recovery between sessions so he has gas in the tank for riding and the durability to push hard. I enjoy the challenge of modifying lower body exercises for this Athlete so we can keep those legs as strong as possible without aggravating things. The most rewarding part of this partnership is that he is now enjoying regular exercise throughout the week rather than riding on the weekends and spending the week in pain.
The Highway Commuter Weekend Warrior: He's been weight training for over 10 years and graduated into my program after some extensive back rehab with another trainer You can't keep this guy indoors. But he's got a few too many miles on his knees and they need careful managing. We choose our days to push and when to back off the loading. But knee strength is key to stability so we build strength through slow tempo and big range of motion when we can. He's going from strength to strength - I hear he's been seen sprinting.... Maybe those knee braces are just decorative now?
The Free IG Influencer Free-Rider: He'd never set foot in a gym before working with me. There seems to be a new crash every week, so durability is this Athletes number one priority while adaptability is my keyword for his programming! Learning the basics of lifting for MTB-specific strength and hypertrophy is moving him forward quickly and I can't wait to see how far he can take his strength and how it ignites his already insane riding.
The Desk Job Guy: This Athlete has been in and out of gyms and Physio clinics for a decade. He has a long-term fear of back pain. He’s now enjoying skiing (shredding) and golf again. Now Mountain Biking is the last piece of the puzzle. And this Summer we're going to get it! While lacking in confidence, he can do everything right now. He only needs to learn how to use his core intuitively to progress from “functional” to “strong”.
The Downhill Racer: He'd never been in a gym until he started with me this year. This Athletes goal is to go fast! And he knows that MTB-specific strength will help. He’s benefiting from the Newbie gains and seeing improvement quickly while learning the basics. he has the advantage of being young and injury-free. As a blank canvas, he's able to focus on learning the skill of strength training, and the newbie gains are coming thick and fast.
The Enduro Gal: 10 years of high-performance sports, She has a history of Olympic and powerlifting in a CrossFit environment. But wanted to find something that would help her stay strong and in bike shape through the summer without eating into her work and riding schedule. My MTB-specific approach means that every session moves the needle for her while still keeping her fresh for rides.
Can you relate to any of these riders? I wanted to illustrate the variety of individuals in the Mountain Biker category. We're all individuals and we need to be treated as such if we want to achieve long-term success. That's why my approach is personalized. I believe, that no matter your personal goals or challenges, there’s a place for you in my program.
If you're curious about how my program might work for you, you can book a free, no-strings call with me to see if we could be a fit.
Have questions or comments, drop them in the comments below!
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