Whether you are just starting mountain biking or already are a seasoned biker, there’s no escaping the pressure of having to unlock the next level of your MTB skills. After all, mountain biking is all about becoming the best version of yourself in terms of fitness and biking capabilities.

Becoming an MTB pro takes a lot of time and hard work but there are exercises you can add to your workout routine to help speed up your progress:

Build your endurance with cardio exercises.

It’s not a secret that one needs a lot of endurance to thrive in mountain biking. Increase your endurance by gradually increasing your riding distance and engaging in other cardio workouts such as HIIT, jumping rope, and running on the treadmill.

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Your core works very hard when you are mountain biking, and many bikers don’t even realize this. Enhancing your core strength with sit-ups and leg raises can help improve your MTB fitness.

Practice on different terrains.

There’s no better way to improve in your sport than to get more exposure and experience in the field. Try uphill climbs, rough terrains, and other MTB challenges that you haven’t unlocked yet. This will expand your skillset for mountain biking.

Best Exercises to Improve Your Leg Strength

Overhead squat

One of the benefits of the overhead squat is that it helps you identify your weaknesses. As you develop strength and mobility for the exercise, you have the opportunity to perform it correctly. You can strengthen all the major muscle groups in your lower body with the overhead squat. The overhead squat puts more emphasis on keeping your torso upright than the air squat or the back squat. Quadriceps are recruited more during this version of the squat than in other versions. To stabilize the barbell overhead, the core and upper body must also be significantly engaged.

Deadlift

Deadlifts and their variants will also be useful for cyclists. Exercises requiring explosive leg strength benefit greatly from the activation of the hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps. These muscles are also important in endurance sports such as swimming and running. In addition to keeping them strong and in tip-top condition, deadlifts also significantly increase strength while preventing injury.

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Jumping lunges

When properly executed, this exercise will target the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors, and calves as well as enhance lower body strength and power. When performed correctly, you will target your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors, and calves. This will also engage the muscles that stabilize your core and hips, those that rotate your body, and even those that stabilize your ankle.

While it is understandable to feel some pressure when your squad is unlocking MTB milestones one by one while you’re stuck in the same spot, it’s important to realize that each mountain biker is unique from another. Be patient with yourself and give yourself enough time to master new MTB skills. In the meantime, you can try our suggested workouts above to help with your progress in mountain biking.

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