EP: 5 How To Stop Getting Injured ft. Adrian | RISE MTB Performance

We’re joined by Adrian from RISE MTB Performance to talk about injury prevention, strength training, and what riders should actually be doing off the bike. From common weak points to simple exercises you can start straight away, this one’s all about riding more and hurting less.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Cool. So welcome to episode five of the pedal pod with me, Gareth.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

And me Rebecca. And today's episode is going to be really interesting for anyone who rides mountain bikes and wants to stay riding longer and not get injured, which is really all of us, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I'd say so.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

So yeah, with that, uh, welcome to Adrian from Ride's MTV Performance. The man who's going to fix you if you're broken or hopefully keep us unfixed, shall we say? I.e., being able to ride our bikes at all times. So uh welcome, Adrian. Thank you very much for inviting me here. So, firstly, tell us how did he get into mountain bikes? What hooked you on mountain bikes, and then you know what came first? Was it Rise Mountain Bike Performance, or was it you getting into mountain biking?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Oh, so um, I mean, I think um I've been riding uh since I was a little kid. A little nipper. Um, and I've actually got a video um of me in my front garden um riding on two wheels for the very first time. And uh so exciting. And so as a kid, we always had uh you know bikes, we had a shed full of bikes, and uh I show my age a little bit here, but we we had um I always remember having like the boxer, the grifter, and all the rally bikes and out of the house.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

All the cool ones, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you have a burner as well? Did you have a rally burner? No, no, never got as far as the rally burner. The want for one is still there.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

So amazing. Yeah, but no, no, I never had one, unfortunately. Um, and actually, I did get into BMX when I was um uh when I was like in my early 20s, um, but I was terrible, man. Like awful. So that that that phase disappeared. But we used to go to jams quite a lot, and I think it's just kind of progressed from there. And I I I stopped riding completely for for quite a while. Um and it was it was actually I was unwell, very unwell, and I was in the hospital, and and I remember looking out the window seeing uh Cleave Hill, you know, Cleave Hill in Cheltenham. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh and I I made a promise to myself that the second I get out of here, I'm buying a mountain bike. And it's exactly what I did. I went to Williams in Cheltenham and I bought I think it was a specialized stunt jumper or rock hopper. I bought both anyway, but one came first, and that's where it started. And then uh one of the guys in the gym was like, You've got to come down to Lecky with us, and come and I I was terrified, I'm like, nah, no, it's not happening. But eventually one day I was like, Yeah, let's do it. That's why not. So went up to uh Cleve and then it it happened. It was it was this uh you know, every you must have felt it when there's that switch clicks, and you're like, What is this magic? And and it was amazing, and and ever since then it's just yeah, it's just happened.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Uh so about what year was that? Can you can you think back out? I mean, without showing your age off, you know, it was uh 1972.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Okay. Well, I was 28 then. Um I don't know, it was probably about 11 years ago, maybe 12 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

11 or 12 years, yeah. So we're talking kind of uh you know 2014, something like that, something around that kind of era. Yeah, so so actually, bikes were actually quite decent then as well. So you weren't you weren't buying something like most of us, which was fully rigid, kind of um you know, no dropper seat post, anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Oh no, there was no dropper, nothing like that. No, no, no, no. It was very basic, but um, but the smiles were just yeah, it was amazing. Yeah, lovely.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yeah, and where do you hail from originally, Adrian? Gloucester. Gloucester, Gloucester boy, yeah. What was it called? Globe. Cheese rolling for you.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Actually, um, I grew up uh at the bottom of uh the cheese roll. So there's a little hill there, Castle Hill. That's where I grew up as a kid. So and this is the weird thing. I used to see it every single year and never ever went. I've never been.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Surely it's a great source of um new clients. Yeah, they're super crumpled by the time they get to the bottom. I can imagine. I can imagine. I've always seen it and looked at it and gone, oh my god, that looks absolutely nuts. Again, like never, never having partaken in a bit of cheese rolling. But it's just downhill without the bike, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. Where's the fun in that?

unknown 4:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

So go back to then in terms of rise, then. So where did you know what what was your career up until that point? And and where did Rise spring from, so uh so to speak?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Um, so I I've been doing this for probably like 26 years now, something like that. Um, and I always wanted to specialise in something, and I I could never find what it was, and I tried many different things. Um, but then after I got into mountain biking, um, I was like, this this could be something here.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

This there could be because we're all broken all the time.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, exactly. Um, and so it it kind of yeah, the the idea was was was born and and and and so just started to plan around that and eventually started to attract a few riders in. Um and I don't know, I just found it much more exciting to to to to to work on something like that, but you know, it was and so that just sorry, that just drove me even more um to uh to go down that route.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

And and uh when did you then relocate to the Forest Adine? So when did it kind of like I suppose Rise MTB performance, Forest Adine kind of open up?

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Um so I moved here uh that was probably about 10 years ago, I think about 10 years. Um and yeah, I I wanted to do something specifically with working with mountain bikers, and that's when uh RISE occurred. But um yeah, it's just a perfect place to run a business like this. In fact, actually, one my teacher once said um when he's seen some of the clients that I've been working with, he's like, you should start the business here. Done that.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

It's done. It's done. So to get up to that point, where where you know, where did you uh kind of where did you start from in terms of your kind of your career in terms of you said you wanted to really specialise, and obviously, you know, the output or the the end was you know rise MTB performances we know today. Um, but where did that kind of like career start from in terms of you said you were in here for what 25, 26 years? So um where did you initially kind of start out?

SPEAKER_01 6:19

So I was I was pursuing a very different uh career path. Um, and I to be honest, I found it quite uh shallow and and I wanted something gone. What were you doing? Come on, we want the juicy guards. I really wanted to be a drummer in a band. That was honestly what I was I what I was we'll do a little pitch.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Come on, what's the name of the band that you're playing right now? Stamping ground. Stamping ground. How would you describe the music, Adrian? Ugly. I was really working. Go and have a little listen for a bit of stamping ground. Uh go find them on uh on YouTube or whatever platform you listen to your music on. All sorts.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Um, but yeah, I just uh I it didn't sit with me. I found it quite um uh vacuous almost to a to a level. Um and I need needed something more. I actually got injured, and that's what what where it started. Um I had a knee injury which um I ended up having surgery for, and and I went to uh I went to a physio, uh quite a generic physio, um, and it was good, but it didn't quite get me to where I wanted to be. Um so I took the uh I took it upon myself to go find someone more specialized, and I went privately and and found a specialist physio who dealt with sports injuries. Yeah. And I was like, I want to do what you do. It was so good. Um incidentally, I actually have been back and I've met her uh probably I think it was about eight years ago, and I told her, and she was like, Oh my goodness gracious me. I was like, Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Do you want to give her a name check? Yeah, give her a name check.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Regina, her name was um from Cotswold Physiotherapy. Fantastic. I don't know if she still works there now, but yeah. Um but yeah, uh, and so that that kind of got me down that line. But I I I didn't want to go uh to uni, I just like studied on my own stuff and I've uh I've paid through the nose for it, but um, it's yeah, it's paid off for me. Yeah. And it's just progressed, it's just developed from there.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool, cool, cool. And so you so you said now kind of fast tracking, you kind of relocated to the forest about 10 years ago. Um, and is that when RISE, as we know it now, first started, or was there a little bit of a journey to get to that point?

SPEAKER_01 8:34

No, um, no, that's kind of when it started, really. And no, actually, no, there was a journey. I tell a lie, there was a journey. So, in my previous business, uh, we uh started running um retreats. So, like coaching and uh like exercise, nutrition, uh skills, that kind of stuff. Yeah, and I remember uh birthing that idea again on Cleve Hill, weirdly enough. Maybe I need to go back to magic.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

On a Solstice evening or something.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Um but that that's kind of where the idea really uh became congruent. And and so um it started from there, but under a different name. And then I really wanted to just like target and specify uh you know with mountain bikers, and yeah, so that's where RISE started.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

And for those kind of first-time listeners, kind of uh or those people listening today, uh kind of summarize what RISE now does in terms of the kind of the breadth of the things that you cover um and where you kind of have really kind of specialized.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

So I put crumpled riders back together. So when you come off, if if you know if you get injured, um I'm I basically uh specialise in in uh injury rehabilitation um and clinical exercise. Um so I was saying to Jack a second ago, like when people get injured, most of the time it's taking them to a point where I feel pretty good actually. Yeah, bye then. And then they just carry on on their way. But I like to take it further than that and then you target the rehab into strength training, etc., more specific to mountain biking.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

And do you do some preventative work then as well? Because um, in terms of uh trying to, I suppose, keep us fit and healthy, as we kind of touched on right at the start, yeah, as well as that kind of rehabilitation. Prehabilitation. Prehabilitation, look at that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

And I'm not even on Cleve Hill in that. Um, yeah, so definitely uh like do prehabilitation. Most people that go through an injury um and they come in that we deal with the injury, but you quite often see other stuff happening. Um, and so we kind of unwind all that stuff. Um I'll be honest with you, most not most, I mean, in 26 years, I've never seen anyone without a dysfunction or an imbalance or an injury yet. I've never met that that unicorn client who has you know is perfect because unicorns don't exist and neither do those clients. Um, so the perfect physical specimen. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Let's probably do the love about your clients.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

No, um, yeah, I I mean honestly, everyone, and I say this is quite a bold statement, but I think everyone has uh a level of injury or uh dysfunction at some level. Maybe it's something they don't recognise, but like it's always there, always there.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

And does that come from kind of like repetition or the the the kind of I suppose the the pastime you pursue um in terms of because you said you've never met someone without some form of nickel. Um so kind of like what do you think kind of like you said causes causes that? Or is that just our inability to look after our own bodies properly?

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Yeah, I mean it it it can be from repetition. So, like if you're if you're doing a uh a bad exercise plan, then that that's definitely something that can happen, and I've seen that before. Um, even just the repetition of work, the repetition of a specific sport. So mountain biking has its uh you see this in sport, you see boxes that are quite rounded like this, you see swimmers who've got quite sway in their hips. Um mountain bikers tend to be rounded here, and you know, because of that position.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Garrett, where Gareth and I just went, straight for the camera right now.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Pretty good posture here. Yes, uh no, no. Now we're gonna be watching that all night. Hi guys.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Um so yeah, I mean that there can be so many things. I mean, uh, like even down to like this is gonna go a little bit deep here, but like even down to mental emotional states can have a big impact on that too. Yeah. I've seen people with like really bad posture, and it's all because of a mental emotional state.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Okay, okay. No, I think where I started from the question in my mind then was that I know obviously cycling, you know, it's like for probably most people at the work desk every day, you know, you're sitting in a fixed position all the time, aren't you? And actually that probably must you know shorten kind of ligaments, tendons, muscles because of the the way that we use them. And uh mountain biking is probably quite kind of uh, you know, or cycling in general is probably quite kind of uh you know, known for that, I guess, because of the position that we sit in on the bike. Absolutely. You know, as much as there's much benefits, you know, it's you know, you know, it's non-weight bearing, it's quite, you know, so actually it's it's easy on the body in lots of ways, but actually probably hard on the body in other ways.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Yeah, I mean it it's easy on the body in in many ways, like you said, but you know, if you're pedaling and pedaling and pedaling, it's a lot of volume, it's a lot of work. Um, there's a thing called the said principle, which is uh specific, uh basically a specific adaptation to imposed demands. Yeah. Um and so when you're cycling, there there are certain muscles you're gonna use a lot of, and they will get stronger. And unless you're not balancing that out, um, they'll just change their posture, they'll put you into a really uh not a beneficial.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

What's the most common mistake then you see that people do on the bikes when they're training? Because you were saying about you get that imbalance. You see people going, oh, I'm gonna hit the gym and work on my arms because my legs are sorted on the bike and then it doesn't quite work.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

You have a very good question there. Um I would say what is the most common thing? Probably overtraining. I think I think sometimes overtraining is probably the most common. I see a lot of mistakes, a lot of errors, but definitely I mean I I and I say this only last week. Um I had a uh a client on a video call um and actually said about her uh program stop, just just don't do it. I I don't want you to go to the gym at all. Um, because it was the wrong thing for her to do. Absolutely the wrong thing for her to do, which is a bit weird. You know, that's that's like not helping me with business, is it? But but for the long term of that that client, that's exactly what she needed to do. She was incredibly stressed, and then adding more uh because going to the gym is a stress, make no mistake, but you know, adding more stress to an already stressed body just makes no sense to me.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

That's yeah crazy. Yeah, yeah. And I'm guessing that you probably from a mountain bike perspective as well did uh deal with a fair amount of injuries alongside that in terms of obviously, yes, it could be the overuse injury, as we kind of just alluded to there, but obviously also you know, mountain biking is potentially a high impact sport, isn't it? Yeah, um, so you know, uh, what are the kind of like the most common things people you get knocking on the door for?

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Um, can you move your car? Um, most people come knocking at um knocking at the door because they've got uh like clavicle brakes, like clavicular brakes are just uh all the time and the clavicle is for the uneducated. Oh the collarbone.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Sorry, I knew that, but I'm like again, again, thinking about our uh our poor listeners here.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah, no, um, and uh the uh cremioclavicular joint separations, that's really common. Um knee ligaments like ACL, um yeah, quite a lot, a lot of back pain, a lot of back pain pain clients. I see that like every single week, every single not day actually, but yeah, yeah, I think it's the most common thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

So, in terms of now, kind of like kind of the things that we as cyclists can do to be able to because I guess a lot of people would want to know is you know, how can I keep myself fit and healthy? And you know, knowing obviously some of the postural things that you know and and the kind of you know, not the impact-related injuries, but the kind of perhaps the overuse injuries and the other things that you see. What are the what are the kind of key pieces that we can do better as cyclists or mountain bikers to be able to look after our bodies and and help stay injury free?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Okay, so uh I would say so. I generally tend to work on uh like a few foundational principles. So I I'll I'll look at things like are you hydrating well, are you eating correctly? Are you are you breathing well? Are you sleeping good? And these are all quite basic things, like really basic things, but they have the biggest impact on your health, they have the biggest impact on your performance. And um also like we're saying about prehabilitation, if you know, if those things aren't in place, you're more likely to get an injury. You really are. I I think that's that's quite a given, really. But also, if you do, it's how you heal, how fast you heal afterwards. That's that's the big thing. So um, yeah, so those those things there really posture is an absolute big one. Uh the mind is is probably the biggest thing. I think that's like um so underrated, but just so enormous.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

We know that as mountain bikers, though. You get to the top of a feature and you're like, Can I do this? Can I not? Like the mental game for mountain bikers is huge. So I imagine when it comes to injury, and then you're getting back on a bike and you're trying to heal yourself, that's that's such a bad thing that you've got to get through.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Absolutely. I mean, like when you get to a feature and you look at it, you're like, Oh my god, this is like Red Bull, and then you actually do it, and it's like, Oh, this is the curb outside my house.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

You know, that's that's how perspective can change on things. Um, but yeah, I get people come in and um I I even had this uh last week where um someone basically broke down because they had an injury, they couldn't ride their bike. And you're not just dealing with a physical aspect here, you're dealing with the mental emotional aspect. And if if you don't deal with that, that's you're not gonna get that person healed to where they need to be. You know, confidence is the hardest thing to get back.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Yeah, I guess uh for a lot of us, you know, myself included, mountain biking is like a it's an outlet, isn't it? It's a stress reliever. Absolutely. Um, as much as it is about kind of like the fitness or the the adrenaline rush you get running down the trail, a lot of the time it's actually you know, escape from work, be able to have give yourself some mental space to be able to you know to cope with all the stresses that life has thrown at you.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

So and it's a social side too. I mean, if you if you can't ride, you're not with your tribe anymore, and that can feel very isolated, and that can be quite a uh uh quite a dark place, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

So yeah, gosh. So how do mentally then? So what what kind of what kind of things would you work on with the client mentally?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Um so it's a good question. I quite often I will we'll sometimes go specific on you know onto like dealing with what the issue is. Um I think it's it's more about packaging it and seeing like you know what happened, what did you do wrong, what could have gone wrong, you know, what could you have done differently, and just making them uh see how they can change that. Um but honestly, just like I said, those foundational principles, if you can start working on those things, you can actually start to reduce your level of anger, like not anxiety, but everyone has that, but like your level of stress, and the lower the level of stress, the more you have uh capacity for adaptation, and when you have that, you can deal with a lot more. Yeah, so um yeah, I think that's it's not just like a one direction, if that makes sense. Yeah, it's you have to look at everything.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

So it's like a holistic package rather than just purely looking at the muscular and skeletal system. That's actually you know, it's it's the whole approach rather than than uh than one or two units because you imagine normally when you go to a physio, don't you? I'd never think about going to the physio and that talk about how you're feeling today. Not so good, actually.

SPEAKER_04 20:22

I don't want to be injured.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Do you know? I mean, no, no, I've I've had you know rehabilitation work recently, and again, even that's never been one of the questions. So it's really interesting to hear about the approach and the more holistic way of dealing with it rather than just dealing with the the the muscle or skeletal issue that you're seeing within the client there and then.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

You you can I I I think you you can't leave any of those points out. You have to address every single one because they all filter into each other, they all affect each other. I mean, if I said to you, you know, I'm I'm gonna get you to not hydrate at all for a week, I'm gonna get you to drink tons and tons of coffee, eat a crap diet, um, and basically go to bed at two o'clock in the morning after watching the news, how are you gonna feel? Yeah, yeah, you're gonna feel terrible. Yeah. So how you feel is is gonna amplify you not recovering very well from the injury.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

So that makes sense. Yeah, no, it does, it does. Because actually, yeah, so sometimes people forget those forget those real basics, don't they? You know, absolutely. I'm sure you're having these conversations sometimes with your kids too about no sleep is really important, and they're like, nah, but look, I can do six hours sleep and still be ready for college the next day.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

But you know, I will like I've worked with with World Cup riders before, and it's the same thing, you know, these guys look after their sleep, they look after their diet, they look after how they hydrate, they they focus on what how they think. Yeah, all of those things are so important, and they they they go into it like in real detail. And when I work with clients like that, I go into it in really big detail. But you know, the average guy riding maybe not doesn't consider that as quite a big deal, but if you just If you employed some of those things, just you know, getting to bed early, hydrating better, keeping a clean diet, those things can make a massive difference to your health. Guaranteed. Um, which also makes a massive difference to your performance as well. Guaranteed. Yeah. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

I like this. It's not about how many push-ups you can do at home or squats, it's about actually taking care of it. I don't think I'm winning any push-up.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Your body can only get as strong as as it's the quality of your tissue, I guess. You know, if you have poor quality tissue because of a crap diet, am I allowed to say that?

SPEAKER_04 22:43

Yeah, that's okay. Okay, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Yeah, this is an adult podcast, so you say we like you know, the and it doesn't matter how much you know you train yourself. If the if you're if your the foundation of what you're made of, the tissue that you're made of is not good quality and not strong, and your posture is aberrant, then yeah, it makes no difference. No difference.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Every time you say posture, I keep saying a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

No, this is why I keep saying it because it's quite fun. Posture.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

I bet everyone at home is doing the same as well.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

They might be if they're watching they're laughing at us on YouTube whether when they're watching it back every couple of seconds, they start straightening it up. Let's have some fun.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

So I've got to ask you. Uh, I don't know how much you could divulge, but which client are you most proud of? Because obviously you've dealt with some really big injuries. Yeah. Um, so which one do you feel like wow, to rehabilitate that rider? What a journey. But it was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Uh-oh. Wow. Um, obviously, I can't name names. No, of course not. Um I suppose if they're testament. I mean, like, I I take my hat off to Sam, like, you know, he did amazing. And look at him now. Yeah. No, I know. Amazing. Yeah. This is gonna sound like a real cheesy thing, right? But genuinely, it is every client. I I this is gonna sound cheesy. The buzz I get when a client comes in and says, This is amazing. I feel so much better. Just how the different, how much they they look different, um, how much they present themselves differently, their energy, the fact that they can move, like that's I wish I could bank that. Yeah, I really, really could. And and so, yeah, every single client that comes in and puts in the work and trusts the process, um, whether they're elite, whether they're a newbie, yeah, it's it's every single one.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Cool. One of the ones I wanted to touch on a little bit actually was was the I suppose the benefits of strength training. Um, can can strength training actually help prevent injuries? And I'm not saying this now necessarily from the oh yeah, it helps us keep us fit, you know, fitter and stronger and that kind of stuff. So there's the obvious parts, you know, we strength train and actually that then you know we're in better overall physical health. Um, but actually from an perhaps an impact protection and from a an ability to be able to deal with crashes and to be able to deal with some of the strains that perhaps mountain biking puts on your body that other sports may not. I mean, you know, rugby is another great example. And I remember reading something recently about it that a lot of it is around actually they feel they can take bigger impacts and they can take um that you know they can actually take the hits um more to if they've you know if they've trained in the right kind of way, done the right kind of strength training. I was wondering whether you kind of like buy into that philosophy. Is that something which you you would advocate to people uh to people as well?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Yeah, okay. Well, explain unwrap it for us because again, I not not everyone and myself included really understands how that kind of how that kind of works.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Okay, so like I said to you um about the uh said principle, you know, like your body will adapt to the demands imposed. If you start strength training, um your your hypertrophy, so it means you you get more muscle mass, ligaments get stronger, tendons get stronger, um, the bones become more dense, yeah, and so they'll they can take more impact. Yeah. Um and so absolutely, I think strength training is is key. I think it's critical. Um if you if you want to ride at a good good level, you really should be doing some strength training. And and with regards to can it prevent injuries, I I I would definitely put my money on yes, it it can. It can. But there's always a great side to this. So if you have uh like poor posture, today I can look at looking at Rebecca again here. I'm a real I'm a real cynical for posture and and for form. I really am. I mean, there's no such thing as perfect posture, by the way, but um sorry, um uh you know, there's no such thing as perfect posture, but anytime someone comes in to see me and they want to do like really go down the rabbit warrant, I'll always do a postural assessment. I have to. Um I have to see what's out of balance. So for example, if you know if you've got your joint is in a really good position, you're gonna get a full range of motion and it's going to be uh it's going to be optimal, right? Which means that the nervous system will put all the force or you know the impulse through for the muscles to actually activate correctly. Okay. When a joint becomes so, for example, let's use the shoulder joint. Okay, so you see this quite a lot, don't you? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So people hunch over like quite a bit, and so the the the shoulder can come forward out of the joint here and become slightly unstable. But if that's the case, your nervous system is not gonna put that much force through it, it's not gonna allow the muscles to put that much force through it because it's an unstable joint. Yeah, so yes, you can train and and you can strengthen that, but that's you have to correct that. If you just strengthen it, you're just gonna strengthen it in that position. So any impact, if the ligaments on the front are more stretched, you'll injure those straight away. So that's the only gray area where I would say maybe it doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

So what you're saying is they need to come talk to you to put together a training plan.

unknown 28:14

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

Yes. Um, just out of interest as well. Should men and women have different strength training plans?

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

Yes, there we go.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

I would say so. I mean, um, yeah, definitely. I mean, there's so you have to take into consideration things like the the female hormonal cycle. So that's gonna change. So when you know, in in the the female cycle, they're very they can be quite unstable. So you wouldn't want to start doing stability training for in those those periods, for example. Um where a guy is like just you know, plow through steady month long, yeah. Um but there's also biomechanically, women are slightly different to men, so you have to take that into consideration as well. Um, so yeah, there's there's there's definitely um points you would change and and things you wouldn't, but by and large, it it's it's going to be pretty much the same. Um, maybe the weights can be I say this, man. I mean, I've I've had women in that are so strong, and I'm like, wow, like I don't think I could lift that. So yeah, I don't know. I mean, with regards to weight, maybe not.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Yeah, but and you know, there's certain ages where the strength training is is more beneficial. Um, and you know, and that again may may vary dependent on the sex, I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Um, yeah, I mean I I'm I don't know a great deal about things like perimonopause, but that's a good time to you know to want to be training then to do some strength training.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Um that's what I was thinking from actually is like so that that obviously, you know, there's a you know osteoporosis going on during that time, isn't there? And actually, so that's so the the bones are getting weaker, potentially getting weaker. So and and strength training, as you already alluded to, is probably one of the key factors that can really help read that bone strength.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, you normally get a precursor of something like osteopenia prior to that, but again, doing uh like strength training is a really good thing to have. But then so's diet, yeah. So's sleep, so's hydration. Go back to your four pillars, yeah. Um so's posture. You're holding it now, aren't you?

SPEAKER_00 30:18

We've got to the point now where we're just like when the podcast over, you're just gonna split around my shoulders again. Um, so to you, what kind of things could the, you know, because obviously the problem, I suppose the difference between a full-time athlete and and everybody else is they actually probably have the time to do a lot of these things well, you know, in terms of you know, it's their job to keep fit and healthy. Whereas for every everyone else like us, you know, it's fitted in around, you know, our job. And it's you know, to to we probably don't have the same kind of time and energy to be able to throw it at, you know, balancing kids, balancing our sport, balancing your job, balancing being a taxi, all those kind of things. So, so you know, it's obviously uh I suppose the point I was getting to was it's a little bit harder probably for the average day um uh cyclist or mountain biker to be able to keep themselves optimally fit and healthy because of the impacts on all of those little elements you talked about about the hydration, about the kind of uh the sleep and about the nutrition because you're you're more time poor. Um so specifically on the on the the strength kind of training, for those of us that are time poor, where would you focus your energy?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Good question. If you're time poor, um I would say I get this a lot. Okay, I get this a lot where people are um all looking for the quick fixes, yeah, and there isn't one, there just isn't a quick fix. Yeah, um, but yeah, I I get this a lot where people are very time poor and and they'll say to me, you know, I can only do this, I can only do this. And it's like, okay, so you know, it you have a constraint in where you how how much you can work. Um I would say start with the smallest thing that you can and just make that the habit. Once that's a habit, start the next thing and make that the habit. And honestly, just doing that actually snowballs into suddenly six months down the line, it's a very, very different habit and a very different lifestyle, and it's a very different person because what they've done is changed how they feel and how they you know their energy levels, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if I was to push you and go, go on, if you were gonna give people their time poor, they're into their mountain biking, they need to they want to do some something strength training wise, what where would you start them?

SPEAKER_01 32:31

I like your question, Gareth. Yeah, and I'm gonna answer it.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Be specific. Stop being a politician.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

The most important exercise you can possibly do is the squat. But go on, exp unpack that for us. Why? Try doing anything where you don't squat. Okay. You know, you have to sit down to get in your car, get out of your car, go to the toilet, sit on the sofa. Yeah. Um, it's it's a whole body exercise, and you know, and it does pertain to um being on the bike as a big carryover to being on the bike. I know a lot of people would say, Oh, yeah, but deadlift, and it's like, yeah, okay. But I honestly would say squat is the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

It's go on, break it down. What's the real difference between um a squat and a deadlift in terms of the load, then in terms of spelling?

unknown 33:15

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

We could go with that down that route as well, but my my spelling is not very good. Go with but no, in terms of because obviously they're very similar exercises, I guess, on you know, on kind of you're looking at looking at them, but actually maybe then slightly different in terms of the muscles that they actually can so one of them is like you say, deadlift is a hinge.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah, squat is a squat. If you actually look at it, this the very start of the exercise, uh, and I'd I I call this a squatology when when people come in, they they often do this with me where we go through like a squatology course with clients. Well, they'll I I get them to squat spot on. First thing is is they start doing a deadlift, and it's like, well, that's just a squat. So like an RDL where you're hinging from the hips and 20 degrees in the knees, that's that's a deadlift. Yeah, that's a that's a hinge band. Yeah, a squat needs to start at the knees, not the hips. And that's where most people I see go wrong. They they they start at the hips and it's like, well, no, that's that's that's start at the hinge band. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

They're they're completely different. Um very similar muscle groups or slightly different muscle groups. You know, they're they're concentrating, you know, they're working obviously the legs, the other glutes, yeah, lower back a little bit, I suppose. Um, but uh obviously to a lesser extent with the deadlift or more specific potentially with a deadlift.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

With deadlift, you're using I I personally would say using more glutes, hamstrings, um and it targets those more. Yeah. Um in in a squat, you're in including a lot a lot more quad um uh regulation. Yeah, perhaps the word I'm looking for, gone blank. Um activity. Yes. There you go. Yeah, activation, yeah, muscle activation. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Okay. But you know, there's yeah, I mean, yeah, we could go down and then more.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

One thing people could do then, just off the top of my head, yeah. You boil your kettle in the morning for your coffee, you drink a cup of water, and then you do 10 squats while it's boiling. Yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

There you go. Good habit to start. Cleaning your teeth, do the same.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Oh, squats while cleaning teeth. Yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

When you go down the stairs, drop down the stairs, do some like try to tentative all the way down. I wonder what you're doing then.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

You just and again, and again, for everyone who's who's just listening to the podcast, oh, this doesn't he's moving his arms, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

It's a great dance move as well. I mean, sorry. Um, yeah, those kind of things I think it it's actually really beneficial. And I can't lie that I do exactly that. Sorry, you know, like before I get into the shower, it's like, okay, the shower's warming up quickly. Do a bunch of press-ups. I can clean my teeth, I do a bunch of squats or like split squats or something like that. Um, I think it's a really good way to get uh like it's no extra time, is it?

SPEAKER_00 36:04

No, no, no, no, no. I guess I never looked at it that way. It's always you always gotta almost compart compartment. I was gonna try and say compartmentalized stuff, um, but uh in terms of oh, I'm gonna go and train in the gym, so I go and train in the gym, and that's when I do my gym work. Actually, it's about including it into everyday activity, and that's probably actually uh as beneficial in terms of particularly you're saying from a habit forming perspective as it is as it is as well, but uh you know, for the fitting it into the time that you have.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

Exactly. And I think you know, just to leave the house to get into the car, to drive to the gym, you know, that's a that's an effort in itself, you know, to just stand in the same position you stood in and do like 20, 30, 40, 50 squats or whatever. Like you don't have to go anywhere, it's there, it's free. Do it. Stop being lazy.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

And I suppose the other one I really wanted to touch on, it was um the role of stretching and flexibility in terms of keeping fit fit and healthy. Because we've already alluded to, was you talking earlier on you know, the postural thing. But also in terms of um the fact that you know cycling and mountain biking is you know, you are in a set position, aren't you? So so obviously, and you know, guessing it's different to some other sports, which are probably a little bit more, you know, you're working through more planes of movement. Um so you know, where does flexibility sit within this kind of you know, you talked about hydration, you talked about obviously kind of the sleep and the diet elements of it. So, where does the kind of flexibility sit within that element as well?

SPEAKER_01 37:40

It is big, it is very big. You you should you should do it be doing it. I always say that you know, if you're doing some kind of sport, you need to stretch. If you're not doing some kind of sport, you need to stretch. Yeah, so regardless, you need to stretch. Yeah. Um, it depends how you want to do that. You can do it quite general. When you do it general, you get general results. If you if you're wanting the most out of it, you So what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_00 38:03

When you do it by quite general, you get general results. So yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Okay. So for example, you could just I don't know, click on YouTube, like, okay, I'm gonna stretch like that and just stretch around and feel good. I mean, look, then regardless, it's probably gonna be beneficial. But uh if you want to be specific and get the most out of it, then it's it's definitely worth being specific. And this is again why I do a lot of assessment with people because sometimes stretching is actually the wrong thing to do. And if a muscle is is in a lengthened position and it's just hanging on like this, I'm talking about like the upper back, for example. Yeah, I see that a lot. Why would you stretch that? And it's quite a common thing, people oh my back and they go and stretch, and it's like, okay, just kind of making the problem worse. Okay, but um so uh yeah, I think stretching is is huge, like it really is. Okay, it really is. And but then honestly, if you if you're going to go, all right, I'm gonna focus on stretching, you best hydrate. Because if you're not if you're dehydrated, it's gonna be very difficult for you to increase your flexibility. Because if dehydration affects how the tissue functions, it makes it very difficult for it to lengthen and uh and uh remodel, I guess. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

Tell us, tell us how much water should we be drinking a day?

SPEAKER_01 39:18

Um all the water.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Just constantly water.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

I mean, it's oh yeah, this is quite a good question, actually. Uh no, it's not a very good question. Um, so for example, people say, oh, you know, two liters a day. Um there's there's a there is a calculation, I think it's um your body weight in kilograms times by 0.033, and that gives you the amount of fluid you you should be drinking. But it doesn't take into consideration if someone's having five cups of coffee a day, they're gonna be going to the toilet quite a bit, so you best hydrate more. Um it they might have, for example, like box cereals for breakfast, like uh processed foods and stuff. If that's the case, hydrate more because that that's going to take hydration out of you and you've got to eat it, you've got to flush out that like terrible diet as well. Um but then if you're having a diet that's like really I I eat a lot of fruit, but I love fruit, I really do. But that yields a lot of of water, and you can hydrate that way too. And the same with vegetables, it's you know, but if you're not having that in your diet, that's something else to consider. So like watermelon, I'm obsessed with watermelon at the moment. You like do you like watermelon?

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Love it, so satisfying.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

Yeah, gone by C it's never a question I've been directly asked before. Do you like watermelon? Why have you never been asked that? I don't know. I don't know if you're doing watermelon. I'm immediately thinking of the last thing I thought it must have been a YouTube clip or the or one of the little shorts I saw, and it was some kind of form of exploding watermelon. That was it, but they were using watermelon as a rugby ball. Um I think it was like it's quite heavy, isn't it? They were using that practice they're passing. Um, and then obviously it exploded at one point. So uh hence the uh yeah, but I think it's 92% water.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

Yeah, so you know, when people say I don't want to drink water, it's boring. Which I get, yeah. Drink fizzy water. That's another way to do it.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Um why is that why is that what's why fizzy water versus water tickles your tongue? Uh you're gonna give us some like insight in hydration that you you get more hydrated for drinking fizzy water than you do for the science.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

This is no word of a lie. I actually uh read a research paper. You get more hydrated um eating watermelon. Do you? Yeah. Yeah. So I I can't remember what what what they called it. It was um electrolyte um based hydration. I think I think that's right.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

Yeah. But you know it's similar to the principle of like, for example, those electricite style drinks to allow you to be able to absorb the water better, basically. Yeah, yeah. It's something in the watermelon, I'm assuming the sodium content or something like that that uh that allows you to be able to retain water better.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

Yeah, there's so many good things in there. There's like uh I can't remember citrulline, I think. It helps with like blood flow, which then aids better performance, sports performance. So there you go. If you want to ride well, eat a watermelon every day.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

That's gonna be the top tip that's taken out of the and then everyone's gonna be coming in to pedal the bike away going, um, why is watermelon not on the menu? So I'm gonna have to tell Jace now summer menu's gotta have watermelon on it.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

Yeah, they just get rid of their bladders out of their bag and put a watermelon in there with a tube. Yeah.

unknown 42:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Sorry, there you go. I'm not I'm not endorsed by watermelons or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

Brilliant. Um, and you you were touching on earlier that you obviously you kind of have worked a lot with uh with uh or worked with some of the some World Cup riders. Yeah. You said you touched a little bit on how your approach differs with that kind of athlete. But can I go into a little bit more depth in terms, as I said, that that kind of that process in terms of um the way that you'd work with a world club athlete versus the standard mountain bike rider that you'd probably get in through the doors on a more regular basis?

SPEAKER_01 42:58

I'll be really honest, it's not really dissimilar. You know, I I still go through the same assessment protocols, etc., to find the same information. The difference is that if you have your average Joe that that um I suppose that it could be Joe or Joe, couldn't it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

We've got a couple of them working for us, it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

You can pick either one. So you could, you know, if your average Joe, like if they start making changes, if they've never trained, if they've never really addressed anything like this to benefit their health, the the gains they're gonna get are gonna be quite significant. When you're working with someone at an elite level, you have a like a ceiling, a genetic ceiling of how much you can improve. They're gonna be right up here anyway. So so the gains are very minimal. So you have to go like right down the rabbit warren to to find where in their diet can I actually find those those changes that are gonna make that much difference. Where in their exercise program, you know, is it like do they need to do more? Is it more rest? And that's something that's completely underutilized is rest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:59

Such a biggie. So go on delve into that a little bit. We'll do we'll come back. So why is rest so important?

SPEAKER_01 44:08

It's a really hard question to answer because it's like to me that may it's logic. Okay, put it this way, I'll give you an analogy for it. Okay. If you consider your uh your physiology, a bank account, yeah, like when you're using it, when you're training, when you're riding, etc., you're just drawing money out. Yeah. Okay. When you rest is when your wages go in. If you're not resting and your wages aren't going in, your money depletes and then you go overdrawn, and that's when you get injured. Yeah. So you have to have rest in order for your uh your training, if we're doing strength training, to actually take effect because every time we train, we we we we have micro-tears throughout the muscle, you know, we damage ourselves, but that's how we rebuild and we remodel that muscle or whatever tissue that we're that we're working with or that's influenced. That's how it gets stronger. So rest is it is equally as important uh as training.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

Yeah. That's cool. So one of the things we you know we used to tell our cyclists on um uh on the the British programme was always if you're not cycling, you're laying down.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

That's effectively it.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

So you'd get these and and we didn't want them to walk anywhere around the hotels. So you was like, you're not allowed to walk around the hotels. If you if you you know, why walk when you can take, for example, the elevator, you know, yeah, the lift, you gotta take the lift if you if you if you can rather than get steps in, because actually everything is then about recovery, it's training, and obviously then the recovery is where you're making the adaptation, isn't it? And the um uh and and improving as a as an athlete.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

So absolutely, yeah. But you know, I I've seen it where people um don't rest enough and they over-train. Um and when they get down, like let's say their their uh physiological bank account is getting low, that's when they start to get, oh hang a minute, this is starting to hurt. Eventually that ends up becoming an injury. But if they don't step back, and if they don't rest, it's really difficult, really difficult for them to heal sometimes. Yeah. And I've seen it where people just won't heal, and it's like you have to step back from your training a little bit and start to heal.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

So grab a watermelon, put a movie on, sit on the sofa and do nothing.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Or detectorists, if you can find I love that program. I love detectorists. Yeah, so I mean think of it like this like when you exercise, you stress your body. When you're stressed, that's a state of um catabolism. Okay, tissue breakdown, which is normal, it's physiological. When you rest, that's a state of anabolism, tissue rebuild and regeneration. You have to have both. It's like that yin-yang symbol. Yeah, you have to balance them correctly in order to get the best out of training. Your training. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm very handsy, aren't I? You are very handsy. I'm scared of knocking the mic.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

So it's a delving back into that kind of World Cup kind of approach, which is where Russ came uh came up, came up. So uh keep kind of doing a that deep dive in terms of what kind of how you'd actually get those. I suppose what you were talking about was because of those aggregation really of marginal gains. Yeah. Dave Railsford's uh male boss's uh speak was it's always about the small things, it's all finding all the one percenters to be able to add up to the difference in terms of your performance.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

Yeah, so I mean it it's literally just a case of going really, really deep in down down the rabbit wine and and how to best um how to best bolster your health. That that really is it, because that's the battery, that's that's the energy center of everything else that has to happen. You know, and that can be lifestyle, it's uh you know, it could be anything, but it could be like dealing with psychological issues. You know, I'm I'm not a psychologist by any stretch. Um if I see things out of my tech, I prefer them out get someone professional to do it. Um, but you know, it is I mean, I I don't really I I guess it's just literally going much, much deeper down the rabbit warrior with it all, being very specific. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

I hope that helps have answered that question, Mark. No, no, you have, you have, but it's just kind of like for us, is it's sometimes it's like you know, in this environment, you you we you know, we we see cycling and mountain biking from one aspect is a hobby and a pastime um now. And and uh, but actually obviously there's there's you know that obviously people out there they're looking for very different levels of performance or very different things from the mountain biking. So it's kind of yeah, it's really interesting sometimes to kind of hear about that kind of process because uh I think there's a lesson that we can all learn from it as well. You know, as you said, some of the things that they're doing are things that we should be doing equally as well, just to be able to stay fit, healthy, and be able to keep enjoying the sport that we love.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Absolutely. I mean, like I I've already said, if if you take the time to hydrate, if you take the time to get good quality sleep, um if you stay on top of your exercise program, if you stay on top of your diet, all of those things have a big effect on on your psyche. Um so I'm not saying you have to do anything with that, that's just that that's gonna be a bit affected by that. But all of those things affect your energy, all of those things affect your particular performance, your output, um which changes uh how you train, the benefits you get from your training, how you ride the benefits you get from that. Um if you get injured, how quickly you recover from that injury.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

And and how important is it in that to be able to understand kind of uh I suppose the the the type of rider that that person is or the type of riding that they enjoy? How does that kind of like impact on you the the way that you treat people? Um and I guess you know do you see where I come from with that in terms of obviously everyone has kind of like uh I suppose different aims and aspirations of what they or why they actually mounted bike. So how do you involve that into that kind of I suppose that that injury rehabilitation?

SPEAKER_01 49:52

So do you mean like what type of riding they do or why they do it?

SPEAKER_00 49:55

Yeah, both both the type of riding that do it and and why they do it, I guess. How do you you know it's uh them as an individual rather than uh than uh, you know, because obviously everyone's really different, aren't they? The reasons that they're coming to you. Yes, we might all be broken at that stage. Um but our our motivations, I guess, are very different in terms of what we want from it.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

I I mean, yeah, definitely it's very important to understand what discipline. I mean, you you can't train a BMX the same as an Enduro rider. It's not the same, it's a it's a very different approach. Um with regards to uh you know why they do what they do and to what level. Yeah, I mean it would be crazy for someone to come in and it's like, well, I only just like go around a family trail once every two or three or four weeks or something. Like, okay, you know, we're here's eight pages and you're gonna be and just load them up with loads of stuff. Yeah, it has to be person specific.

SPEAKER_00 50:48

Person specific. Yes, and you know what, it's one of my my bug words as well. I always say percific, and everyone's like, what you get the the ocean, like no specific.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

So you can edit that out, can't you?

SPEAKER_00 51:01

He's looking at me blankless all there, he's like, nah, nah, nah, I'm leaving it all in, it's better. Yeah, it's that good. Yeah, um, yeah, it has to be perfect. He's thinking about the recovery. Yeah, he's thinking about recovery, and he's at the time he's after this.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

Um yeah, you you have to be specific. I mean, the there's always there's a saying which is that the best program is a program a client will do. And so you have to understand how much they're gonna want to do and how much they're where they want to be with that.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

See, that that was where I was getting to with it. It's brilliant. You hit the nail on the head then, because actually, you know, you're I suppose the uh you know rehabilitating from exercise. And I'm one of the worst for it. It's like, I know I should be doing this, but actually I haven't got the time, I haven't got the energy, you know, I haven't got you know, so it's kind of factoring those things into about how you actually treat someone. Yeah, I'm great if you're doing it on me, that's fine. I could come along, yeah, you could do it. I'm there, I've given that time, haven't I? It's that bit's the easy part, I guess. It's the part when you're not with the uh you know the injury specialist, you're not with with Adrian from Rise that actually is the part that's harder. And I bet that must be also quite frustrating for you. It's like, yeah, did he do those exercises last week, Gav?

SPEAKER_01 52:13

No, no, no, you're a model climate. I failed again. No, I I think you you kind of have to feel your way a little bit because uh so when people come in, I I give them their exercise, exercises or rehab program, whatever. Um, and I say, uh, you know, how'd you get on? It's like, yeah, it's really easy. And you can see if some people actually exceed that. Ah, right, I can load you more, I can do something a bit more sexy with it. Um, and some people it's like, oh yeah, well, I I did that one, I did that one. It's like, right, okay, I need to pull back on this and I need to make sure everything that I'm giving them is um that's gonna get the biggest bang for the buck. Yeah, you know. Um I think it's just a case of like analyzing your client. Yeah, so I mean it's all every time it's always specific. I hate generality, I really specificity or the one.

SPEAKER_00 53:03

That's why Rebecca and I hear go, give us some top three tips. Yeah, be really generic in here. And you're like, no, I don't want to, don't, no, don't, don't make me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

So yeah, I think um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:17

So I answered that. Yeah, no, you did. It's brilliant, actually. It's really it's really interesting it's really interesting because actually you said it's it's gonna, yeah, obviously every client you treat is different, aren't they? So it's every client, yeah, and it's understanding how that kind of like that approach changes with the different clients that you're working with.

SPEAKER_01 53:34

But that's why I love my job. Exactly. Because it's it's not uh run of the mill, every single person is different, every single person needs something new and and unique and uh and uh it's it's a new challenge every time to to solve that puzzle. Yeah, and and that's why I love it.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

Yeah, well, we're we're fast coming towards the end of this podcast, and I want to kind of like kind of kind of uh kind of just go off piece a little bit here and actually you know what kind of now in the moment most excites you about mountain biking or perhaps over the next 12 months kind of uh really kind of go I'm really excited about that development or this or that in the in the industry as a whole rather than injury rehabilitation as Pacific. So summer. I hope when you say that. Yeah, yeah. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 54:23

I mean, like honestly, just like riding in the winter is great. Yeah. Um riding in the summers. When do you last ride? Actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:34

But when I did last ride, it's I didn't remember seeing you. I think it was about six weeks ago.

SPEAKER_01 54:38

Yeah, not even since then. Yeah, uh a road at Bike Park Wells, and it was um yeah, actually, it was very fortunate. We just I had a bit of a technical, and then it was like, gotta stop. Heaven's empty, and I'm like, woo. Um what was the question again?

SPEAKER_00 54:54

What are you most looking forward to over the next kind of 12 months? And you've been there well ahead, actually, yeah, summer, you know, well, hopefully, some dry trails, wouldn't it? That'd be that'd be luscious. That's something that gives you that motivation to really want to get outside and ride.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Yeah, uh honestly, I yeah, just the sum. I'm so over the winter now. It's been it's been what 18 months of rain. It feels like it, doesn't it? It's massive. It's massive. Yeah, I think the other thing is um I'm getting excited because I'm looking at bikes again, and I see you led me like so. What what bike do you currently ride, Adrian? Um, what do I ride? Yeah, I ride uh Mondraker uh Superfoxy and Crafty. Oh, very nice.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

So very sexy. Yeah, what are you looking at? Um what's tempting you away from the Mondrakas?

SPEAKER_01 55:40

Actually, I uh white. Yeah, yeah, I'm tempted. I was meant to come up actually demo one, but like life got in the way. I had to do my exercises. You were doing your rehabilitation and you're stretching and your posture. Yeah, um, yeah. So that could be bike or pedal bike. Oh, e-bike. Yeah, yeah, and it's not cheating. Yeah, I heard what you said. Yeah, no, yeah, definitely e-bike. I have way way more fun on an e-bike. Yeah, it's so versatile.

SPEAKER_00 56:08

Yeah, go on, go on, go into that for us. It's like why uh why why do e-bikes really do it for you over kind of uh the pedal bikes of the moment?

SPEAKER_01 56:16

I'm a busy guy, Gareth. So I can uh you know, like I I can go out and I can get like five laps in in an hour or something like that. Yeah, you know, and and just being able to do that is just amazing. But then if I've got more time, it's like ah, okay, don't don't ride in turbo all the time, eh? Um and um yeah, you you can really push yourself on them. You can just push yourself really hard, like like I think it was I think it was Sam actually. Yeah, um we were going out by um uh Barnhill. Yeah, and he's like, Wanna race to the top? Like, yeah, and we raced to the top. My eyes nearly fell out. Like my heart was pounding so hard. So, you know, it it's not cheap. It's definitely not cheap. You've got it's a lot more weight of bike to move around on the trail.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

Is actually because you we touched on, you know, you're talking about strength training earlier, yeah. And actually, yeah, it's you know, there's and we talked about obviously differences between training different types of people, yeah. Um, but obviously the weight of the e-bike must play and actually it's almost as I'm I hate to say this, but it's almost like a slightly different sport, isn't it? Because obviously it's gonna put different loads on you.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Uh absolutely, and and I know when I went for and got my first e-bike, um, which I still have actually, uh, the the difference was huge. Like riding down steep stuff. I came came away like, wow, my shoulders were just like ruined. Yeah. Um, so I had to do a lot more work there to to strengthen them, strengthen them up. Um, so yeah, it's it's very different. So let's not cheat.

SPEAKER_00 57:41

I love the fact that people still feel that they have to say that because that's the that's the sad part about it, actually. They're just scared to I was gonna I was gonna uh name plug my pull in there. There you go. So so uh sorry we digress. Um talking about kind of um myths that you'd like to unbunk as well. Is is there kind of kind of like any real kind of ones out there around kind of you know your training or injuries in mountain biking that um uh kind of like you'd like to kind of like go, actually, it's just nah, it's just it's bullshit. You're gonna open the box here, aren't you? No, no, no, it's just I thought it was great. It's like it's there keep burning ones that people come in and you hear time and time and again, and it's like, oh I should do this, I should do that. And you, you know, and you're like, no, actually, you shouldn't. What swear words am I allowed to say? Once you aren't, we can beep out.

SPEAKER_03 58:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

Um, I I tell you, I I've got to be honest, one of my biggest bug bearers is um the clickbait stuff on YouTube. Oh, that drives me insane when people are saying, you know, resolve your back pain with just this exercise or just this stretch. And it's like, wow. You know what?

SPEAKER_00 58:56

I'm just the worst it is, I'm probably taken in by it as well. I remember seeing one actually, it was only last week when it's like, oh, you can sort your shoulder out by just doing this one simple stretch, and I was like, wicked! Yeah, that's not true.

SPEAKER_01 59:07

I mean, like I see so many so much of that, and um oh, do I don't want to call people out. I wouldn't call people out. Um, I've seen a um quite a prominent um like cycling exercise app that's basically saying this this one called what cycling app. No, I don't know what it's called.

SPEAKER_00 59:29

Take it away.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

Don't don't don't genuinely don't know what it's called, but they're saying like you know, resolve your back pain just by stretching this one or this one muscle is involved in like majority of back pain. And it's like, I get it, but so general, and that annoys me because it's it's it's just not true. Yeah, you know, I I looked at it and said, Well, you've got five portions of that muscle, you also have a superior, inferior, medial, lateral, superior, like yeah, what part's tight? Yeah, you know, what part is is dysfunctional and why? Where does that work to? Are you working on the rest of it? And and so that's what bothers me. Those are the kind of myths. It's like don't just when you see stuff like that, and when you see the clickbait of this one exercise, and you'll be able to ride Red Bull. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:12

Not that I've seen that, but you know, that kind of that's that's the new rise one next week, isn't it? Like and subscribe, follow our channel.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:22

But yeah, those kind of things, I I I don't like that. I that that really bugs me.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:26

So if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:29

Yeah, I think honestly, just look at it logically. It's like, you know, to think, does that really make sense? Try it. I mean, actually, saying that I say try it because if it works, more power to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:41

Fantastic, fantastic. So um to really kind of uh wrap things up, where can more uh people find out more things about Rise um and what you and what you do? Where's the best place to send them?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:51

Um I guess the best place is uh on the website. Um I have a website online which is uh www.risemtv performance coaching dot co.uk he's he's looking at you know I I I've got a video of me online somewhere trying to say my email address. It took me like 10 times. It's so bad. But anyway, um, there's Instagram as well, Facebook page too. Um so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:16

And you where are you based in the in the Forestine, the lovely Forestine?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:19

Yeah, in in the this wonderful bike park we live in. It is so, isn't it? Let's face it. We open the door and we're literally living in a bike park. And yeah, and and it's an amazing, it's an amazing community here of people and and companies, and yeah, and yeah, it's just awesome. I love it. Fantastic. I love it. Um yeah, I only I mean in Lidbrook, just down the road.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

Fantastic, fantastic. No, no, again, again, and actually, yeah, you know, you can combine your your ride here with a visit to go and get fixed afterwards.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:50

This is true. Yeah, actually, a lot of people do. A lot of people drive quite away, yeah, and they try they come up and it's like, should I should I ride first or afterwards? And it's like, oh, okay. What is the answer? It depends on what they're doing. Sometimes it's like actually uh yeah, ride first. Ride first, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:09

I was assuming it would be ride first because actually, ride first, particularly if you're actually going in to do some stretching or things like that, probably the body's a little bit warmer. Also, obviously, you know, kind of it's like the if it's training, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

If it's training, train first, and then you're kind of ruined for your ride, then. Yeah, yeah. But if it's coming in for treatment, there's no point getting a treatment and going out and then you know, wasting all your money because you've just done it all. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:34

Brilliant. Well, thanks you so much, Amy. Thank you for the time. Yeah, really appreciate this. It's amazing having you on the uh on the pedal pod for episode five. So if you've enjoyed this uh this episode, then make sure you subscribe, uh, share it with others, like, and all that kind of stuff. You know, we can still sound and don't forget your posture. Yeah, high fives. Cheers, guys.

unknown 1:02:56

Thank you.