Video: 5 Exercises for Hip & Shoulder Range of Motion & Stability

Can you believe it's been a good six years now since the Enduro World Series has come on the scene?

In those six years one thing is now clearly understood, EWS athletes are participating in an annual gym training program to boost their performance. The topic of training is obvious and driven by the desire to ride harder and better. Talk isn't just rippling through the enduro race scenes across the world, but more importantly the millions of average mountain bikers out there.

As a coach, I am intimately experienced with this shift because for nearly three decades I've been privileged enough to be part of four major sports "training transitions." DH in the late 1990s, and Motocross, Snowboarding and the PGA Tour in the early 2000s.

I believe enduro was not only the beginning of a revolution in bike design, but also in parts evolution, clothing and protection manufacturing, creation of hundreds of enduro race events, and more. Of course, there has to be a negative to come with the many positives. All our new-fangled longer travel bikes are allowing an increase in speed and with it the need to prevent and recover from injuries. Ask any EWS athlete why they train and injury prevention will probably only be second to the desire to win!

So let's celebrate progression in our sport and respect our new PRs by being physically ready in all aspects of our riding/racing and be prepared for the 2020 season. To help you accomplish that goal, let's start with phase one of a mini-training series. Stay tuned each month as I'll provide timely circuit workouts you can use as part of your training program.

It's always a good idea to start the season with a Self Movement Evaluation. Click to do that now. Once you've evaluated yourself, you're ready to move on to the program.

Phase one. This five exercise circuit, a.k.a. superset, focuses on hip and shoulder range of motion and stability. You will need an exercise ball, a moderately heavy dumbbell, and an optional box to stand on. The superset will be metabolic in nature so you will see a nice heart rate response during each set as well so wear your heart rate monitor so you can track your changes as you work through the next few weeks till phase two.



Variables:
Exercise #1- 6-10 reps each side
Exercise #2- 2-4 times around total
Exercise #3- 10-15 reps
Exercise #4- 8-15 reps each leg
Exercise #5- 4-8 reps per letter
Rest 90 seconds and perform 2-4 sets

I want to challenge you to three gym training sessions per week. You can try a schedule similar to this:

Monday - Off
Tuesday - Gym day- do this circuit and whatever else
Wednesday - Ride, Interval type workout
Thursday - Gym day- do this circuit and whatever else
Friday - Off or Skills day
Saturday - Gym day- do this circuit, then go ride or visa-versa
Sunday - Big ride day

Don't forget how important rest days are. This is when you give your body and brain the chance to accept and absorb the stress you have imposed upon it during your training sessions. You do not improve while training, it's rest that allows you to improve. Be smart. Rest.

I'm Coach Dee, ambassador for @yeticycles and trainer to thousands worldwide. I'm a 51-year-old enduro racer, and have used my techniques to win two overall season championships as a Masters racer in the @BigMtnEnduro series. Want or need to take it up a notch? Check out my coaching membership here.

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