Cross training for biking is incredibly important for injury prevention, physical and mental conditioning. A lot of people just bike to get in shape for biking season, which is good but not enough. When only biking the same muscles become overused and important muscles take the back seat to the bigger and stronger muscle groups. For example biking is very quad intensive and the hamstrings tend to be neglected. Also the Gluteus Medias an important stabilizer muscle in the Hip complex tends to be weakened because of the over powering minimus and maximus. This can lead to low back pain, incredibley tight IT bands and could even cause knee pain. Also doing a lot of biking can be hard on the upper body as well, opening up the chest, strengthening certain muscles can really help alleviate chronic pain and prevent injury. Strengthening the core can help with more power on the bike and less back pain. The core also helps support the rest of your body, if it is strong then the rest of your muscles do not have to work as hard.
Injury prevention is also key to success in professional sport and recreational. Nobody wants to be injured or likes to be injured. The main thing is people do not realize that about 30 percent of injuries sustained through sport can be prevented through training. The popularity of downhill biking has grown and it is very rare that the recreational riders train for their extreme sport. Injury is incredibly common through this sport and even though the rider spends majority of their time riding downhill it takes incredible strength, endurance and stamina to downhill bike. The injury rate is highest in this biking sport due to the extreme aspect of it as well as the lack of cross training amongst the riders. Strength training no matter if you are a cylclist, Mt biker or a downhill biker will make you feel better while riding help prevent injury and lastly will make you a stronger biker mentally and physically!
