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The Riding For A Lifetime Podcast

The Riding For A Lifetime Podcast

By: James Wilson - MTB Strength Training Systems
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About this listen

 This podcast is dedicated to bringing the 40+ year old mountain biker the best training strategies to help them ride stronger now and for year to come.Copyright © 2012 James Wilson. All rights reserved.
Episodes
  • The Fastest Way To Improve Your Performance - Breathing Gears & Isometrics

    The Fastest Way To Improve Your Performance - Breathing Gears & Isometrics
    Oct 16 2025

    Most riders try to get faster by doing more cardio or riding harder… but the real performance breakthrough comes from learning how to breathe better and control your tension.

    In this podcast, I’ll show you how to use Breathing Gears — a simple system that matches your breathing to your effort — so you can stay ahead of fatigue, climb stronger, and ride longer without gassing out.

    You’ll also learn how to use Ramping Isometrics to train your breathing control and strength off the bike.

    Together, these two tools can make a noticeable difference on the trail in just a couple of weeks.

    ✅ What you’ll learn:

    How to “shift” your breathing before the trail forces you to

    The 3 Breathing Gears every rider should know

    What to do if you struggle with nasal breathing

    How to train your breath and body with Ramping Isometrics

    Why these are game changers for 40+ riders

    Whether you’re looking to crush climbs, improve endurance, or simply enjoy your rides more, this is one of the easiest (and most overlooked) upgrades you can make.

    👉 Get started with my Strength & Cardio Basics for the 40+ MTB Rider program here: https://www.bikejames.com/40-sc-guide/

    Do what most riders won’t… and you’ll perform like most riders can’t.

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    23 mins
  • Why You Need To Master The Standing Position (And How To Do It)

    Why You Need To Master The Standing Position (And How To Do It)
    Sep 27 2025

    One of the biggest upgrades you can make to your riding is learning how to master the standing position. Once you feel strong and stable when standing up then you’ll unlock a whole new level of performance and fun.

    Why? Because standing up is where all the magic happens:

    (I recorded a podcast going over this, if you prefer you can listen to it here.)

    • It’s the position you use to execute every technical skill on the trail.
    • It’s your strongest, most powerful pedaling position.
    • It makes technical climbs easier—letting you maneuver your bike, use ¼ and ½ pedal strokes, and avoid pedal strikes.
    • You can “cheat” with bodyweight, using gravity to help turn the pedals over instead of relying only on leg strength.
    • You can ride more upright, taking stress off your neck compared to being hunched over seated.
    • You save your crotch from getting mashed into the saddle during hard efforts.
    • And you’ll gain a big advantage over riders who stay shackled to the seat.

    Yes - standing pedaling is harder at first. But only because you need to build the right skills and strength. Once you do, you’ll never go back to spending so much time grinding away sitting down.

    Here’s how to speed up that process…
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    33 mins
  • Is "Optimal Body Position" Limiting Your Progress?

    Is "Optimal Body Position" Limiting Your Progress?
    Oct 25 2024
    Perhaps no term gets thrown around more when talking about riding your bike than “body position”. It is recognized as being an essential part of your riding skills and performance, but what does the term really mean? For something so important there is a lot of confusion surrounding it. Do you want to be in a low “attack position” or in more of an upright “throne position”? Do you want your weight on your feet with little to no weight on your hands or do you want to have weight and pressure through your hands? It seems like the answers to these questions depend on who you talk to and what system they preach. There is a whole industry around this question, with qualified skills instructors from various backgrounds each trying to convince you that their version of body position is the best. Well, what if I told you that the whole concept is kind of nonsense. I mean, obviously how you stand and hold yourself on the bike is important but the idea that there is an ideal body position when riding your mountain bike is incomplete at best. The reason that I don’t like this term or the discussions around it is because it leads riders to believe that there is an ideal body position that they need to try and get into and maintain while riding. But this idea may work when doing drills in a parking lot, it isn’t how riding your bike works in the real world. On the trail you are participating in a dynamic relationship between your body, the bike and the trail and these three things are rarely static. Conditions change all of the time and this means that your ideal body position is constantly shifting as well. In fact, the worst thing you can do for your performance and safety on the trail is try and maintain an “ideal” body position. Instead, you want to change your body position to match the needs of the trail. For example, let’s say that you are riding a section of trail that starts with a relatively flat section before feeding you into a technical rock garden that proceeds a short climb. What is the ideal body position for something like this? You guessed it, there isn’t one and you have to shift your body position to meet the needs of the moment. When you are on the flat section you can get into a traditional position where you are keeping more weight on your feet than your hands and you are maintaining your position as you pedal. When you get to the rock garden you will need to preemptively shift your weight forward in anticipation of needing to perform a rear weight shift to unweighted or even lift your front wheel to help get over the first trail obstacle. As you proceed through the rock garden you will need to dynamically shift your weight forward and backward to weight and unweight your front end to help you flow through the rocks and trail obstacles. Your body position will be very fluid and dynamic as you use your weight shifts to help navigate your bike through the technical trail section. When you get through it and hit the climb you will want to stand up and shift your weight forward, putting weight on your hands and applying aggressive pressure through the rear wheel as needed for traction. If there are any obstacles on the climb you will also need to shift your weight back to float the front wheel over them before getting back into your aggressive climbing position. So in this scenario you have gone from a “light hands, heavy feet” position to a dynamic position with a lot of front to back weight shifts and finally an aggressive standing position with your weight slightly forward on your hands. So what is the right body position? The right body position changes depending on the demands of the moment. It isn’t based on someone’s theory of what the optimal position is and is certainly isn’t a static thing, However, I see riders all the time who would try to ride through this same scenario trying to use and maintain a single body position (usually seated). This is usually due to someone telling them that it was the optimal position and that they need to stay in it as much as possible. With that said, though, there are a few commonalities to the different good body positions you need to use on the bike. One of them is having a strong spine where you avoid leaning over at the low back and instead rely on your hips for leaning forward and shifting your weight back. The other thing is to have your elbows in a strong position somewhere between being pinned to your ribs and being pushed out into an extreme “scarecrow” position. Like body position, the specific position your elbows should be in will change but being at the extremes is almost never the best place to be no matter what the “elbows out” crowd will lead you to believe. Lastly, your feet should be in a mid-foot position so you are balanced at your feet and aren’t fighting the forward lean created by being on the balls of your feet. The mid-foot position allows you to more easily shift your weight forward ...
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    24 mins
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