BMX Inspired Workouts For Power And Speed

Borrow these moves from BMX to sprint faster than ever, even if it's just to the top of your local hill.


James Herrera |

Borrow these moves from BMX to sprint faster than ever, even if it’s just to the top of your local hill. By James Herrera

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Endurance in cycling is a tremendous asset, and 95 percent of the time, it’s what will set individual performances apart. But there’s something primal and electric that appeals to us all about the ferocity of a finish-line sprint.

BMX might not immediately come to mind when you think of sprinting. (The sport made its Olympic debut in the 2008 Beijing Olympics). It’s a discipline requiring tremendous power for riders to propel themselves around the 400-to-600 meter track and over jumps. You might not know it, but BMX’s elite are some of the cycling world’s finest sprint talents.

In fact, perhaps the greatest sprinter of the modern era, Mark Cavendish, got his start riding BMX at the Douglas Cycling Centre on the Isle of Man. In his first pro season on the road, he recorded 11 wins and has (so far) amassed 30 Tour de France stage victories, as well as multiple world titles on the road and track.

Here are some foundational BMX exercises any rider can use to take their speed to the next level:

Standing Starts

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Use cones, or chalk off 25 to 35 meters on a quiet street or parking lot. On your bike of choice, come to the slowest roll possible, track stand, or go BMX-style with foot propped on a small box to keep yourself upright. Begin in a moderate to slightly heavy gear, standing up from the saddle, and start to pedal.

Once you’ve started rolling, fully engage your sprint by bringing one of your feet to the two o’clock position, then push it down while pulling back on the bars. Throw your hips forward, and let your back foot come quickly back around. Keep driving until you cross all 90 to 120 feet. For variance in your training, change things up by performing a standing start on flat, uphill, and downhill terrain. Start with two sets of six to eight efforts.

Spin Fast to Win

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Sprinters hone cadences upwards of 200 rpm, which is imperative for maintaining your drive on the pedals at high speed. For this exercise, start on a steep downhill or from a moderately fast pace on the flats. Jump into your sprint by standing up from the saddle, and hold the highest cadence possible for five to eight seconds. Aim for ten efforts per session.

Recruit Your Friends

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In a perfect world, we’d get to sprint without any hazards or distractions, but in reality, most sprints take place in a pack. Use the motivation, camaraderie, and friendly competitiveness of your training partners to stimulate the adrenaline of a race-like environment. A sprint to the next town sign is always a tried-and-true training method, as is lining up for your standing starts side by side.

Power Cleans

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It’s a fact that sprinters are strong in the gym, but it can be overwhelming to know where to start with gym training. The Olympic lifts provide the biggest bang for the buck, training your muscles to move moderate to heavy loads with peak force application. (However, they can also be complicated to do correctly, so find a certified coach to help you perfect your technique before you start increasing your weights.) The power clean in particular targets nearly every muscle in your legs, as well as the stabilizer muscles in your core and arms. Work with five sets of three reps, building load as proper form permits.

Plyometrics

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Another great tool for improved explosiveness is single and double-legged jumping. Two standards of excellence in the plyometric world are high box jumps and single-legged hurdle jumps. For the high box, start with doing a partial squat, exploding off both feet on to the highest box you can comfortably land on. Make sure that your knees don’t buckle in or out, and that you’re landing while still centered on your feet. For single-legged work, set up six to eight hurdles 60 – 70cm apart. On one foot, jump over each hurdle with minimal contact time on the ground, shooting for speed and accuracy. Try three sets of three on the box jump and three times through on each leg for hurdles.

Load vs. Speed vs. Volume

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While a base level of strength is necessary for performing plyometric and power work in the gym, key movements should focus on low rep, high load, and explosive speed. Keep moves like squats and deadlifts to five sets of five reps for strength-building and five sets of three for power.

Mike Day made the switch to gravity mountain bikes in 2014 and won the Sea Otter Classic downhill this year. He says that “the sprint capabilities I developed in BMX are crossing over tremendously well to all facets of my cycling performance on road and dirt.”

The science behind sprint performance suggests that it can lead to improvements in peak power and leg speed, no matter your cycling goal. Focus your efforts on moving heavy loads quickly in the gym, then hone your leg-speed on the bike, and channel your inner BMXer to ace your next sprint.

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