Trialer, we know that you have little time to go to the gym (or maybe you don’t even like it) and training on the bike, on weekdays, for many it is not an option.
If you’re only going to have one or two days a week (at most!) to go out with the bike, the best thing will be that you can make the most of it, that you don’t get tired quickly and that the areas and excursions go the way you want, right?
In this article we tell you how you can include your love for the trial bike in your short free time during the week, to improve your physique and your riding without having to go out riding.
And without having to go to the gym 😉
We show you how you can do a complete training to improve in trial from home with a single material, which you can easily get and hook on a column at home or a tree in the garden: we are talking about the TRX.
How to train for trials from home?
Exercising at home is not about doing repetitions and that’s it. Don’t think that because you’re at home and you’re comfortable, we’re not going to challenge you. If you follow our guidelines, you’re going to work very smart, effectively, and safely.
Whenever you are going to train, you should divide the training into three parts:
● Activation
● Main Part
● Cool down
First: Get Active
It consists of a first phase of mobility and warm-up, where you “wake up” the muscles and grease the joints, because you are going to make them work in postures and tensions that they are not so subjected to in your day to day.
So to avoid injuries and to go into the next part, warming up is essential. The process of joint mobility and warm-up should not last less than 20 minutes, and in addition to using it to prepare your body, you can take the opportunity to concentrate on training, forget about the rest of the things that have happened to you during the day and remind yourself why you are doing it. And let the motivation go up!
In this video we explained how to warm up before getting on the bike. You can use it as a guide, expand it, and focus more on the muscles you’re going to use in the next part of the workout.
We’ll give you more warm-up and joint mobility guidelines in our Off-road Rider Training App. A customized Trials, Enduro and Motocross Training Program applied to improve the physical condition of motorcycle enthusiasts.
Second, train hard
Here, the real training begins. The best thing if you are going to train for trials from home is to do very strategic exercises that have direct transfer, that is, that improve the
movements that you repeat the most on the bike.
These are the 4 exercises that we propose at Powering to help you train from home for trials with a TRX:
● Jump squat on TRX to improve your power. Why do we recommend it?
Because you improve your strength in the lower body, which you need every time you want to jump with the bike. The trx allows you to lean slightly and include the handlebar grip, which you already know helps generate brain fingerprint for better transfer between physical training and the bike. Jump as high and as many times as you can for 15 – 20 seconds.
● Raised leg traction to better transfer your forces on the bike. Why do we recommend it?
You work the entire back of your body very completely, and by removing a supporting leg you add the component of instability that you find so many times doing trials. Do 5-8 reps at full power.
● Single-leg push-ups on TRX to gain control. Why do we recommend it?
On the trial bike you find a lot of situations where your feet, arms and bike want to go one way, so you have to make great use of your balance and strength to keep everything under control. This exercise replicates those situations and makes you much more foolproof. Put a handlebar on it and you’ve got it complete. Do 8-10 reps per leg with a lot of control over the descent.
● Plank with TRX feet: a good arm-leg connection.
Your core (the muscles in your trunk) is the fundamental connector between your upper and lower body. And when you jump or every time you move the bike, you’re moving your forces up and down and vice versa.
Do you see now how important a strong core is? The goal is not for you to have six-pack abs, but for you to have an efficient core in the part you have to play for the bike.
We recommend that you practice this exercise with movements, both raising your hips and spreading your arms, to give it extra intensity. You’ll see how it makes you sweat! Do 20 – 30 seconds alternating the different movements.
Third, relax
Training for trials from home shouldn’t mean that as soon as you finish you stop in your tracks and fall on the couch. After doing three or four sets of these exercises, your body will be revved up and fatigued. If you slam on the brakes now, your recovery afterwards will be much worse.
Ideally, you should do a phase of progressive cool-down or cool-down, trying to focus on the muscles that you have worked the most during training, following your own physical sensations.
As for the activation phase, in the Powering Offroad Training App you can find more specific exercises to cool down, to practice after each physical training session or with the bike. We reveal more on our Instagram account @poweringoffroad_es.
