Fitness / Strenth training for DH MTB

RAFChris

Hello folks, first post on here so be kind!

I'm looking to improve my times during DH MTB races (DownHill Mountain Bike) and I'm after some advice / good ideas for training to help.

Race runs are generally 3-5 minutes long and involve short bursts of extremely fast/ hard pedaling between sections of muscular effort wrestling a 40lb bike down the side of a mountain.

I'm fairly sure that I need to be focusing on interval training for the pedaling sections (any tips on what type?) but what sort of weight / resistance training would benefit me when it comes to training for the short bursts of explosive muscle power as well as overall endurance as a typical practice day might involve 10 runs?

Thanks in advance folks!

RAFValentina

Tried spinning? Or even creating your own spin workout on the bikes? Squats will be good for building strength in thighs/glutes etc but could end up bulking you up gain weight and make the CV side harder.

Try X-train interval training... this helped my explosive power in running and my cycling has improved power wise too.... I typically do 3 minutes at level 15 then 2 minutes at the same speed (but obviously harder to do) but at level 16-17. I do this for about 70 minutes. Running also great as develops lots of muscles including core and running on terrain helps develop proprioception which is something I've suffered with because of my hypermobility and damaged nerves from compartment syndrome.

Kettlebells clean and press done rapidly and explosively may be good too as well as lots of things like general aerobics (knee drives, sprinters, burpees, geckos etc).

IronSmasher

Check out tabata, but mostly practise is going to get you faster.

solpwr

I've been doing this Polar program at polarpersonaltrainer.com
I upload my HRM data to the site. The goal of the 6 week program is to maximize cardio fitness.

The Training Zones are 1: 60%- 70% of maximum Heart Rate, 2: 70%-80% of max, 3: 80%-90% of max.

It looks like this:
Monday: 55 minutes in Zone 2
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 45 minutes in Zone 3
Thursday: 30 minutes in Zone 1 and 25 minutes in Zone 2
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 55 minutes in Zone 2
Sunday: 90 minutes in Zone 1

I liked the program. Wednesday is a bugger. Going hard for 45 minutes. I try to go pinned for 15 minutes. I do this on a stationary bike, its full on winter here now, well below 0C and snow on the ground.