Shows
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastWhy Most Riders Can’t Fix Their Skills (and Don’t Even Know Why)Most riders think they have a skills problem…
But what if the real issue is how your body moves?
In this podcast, I break down why so many riders struggle to improve their cornering, manuals, and jumps — even after spending time and money on skills clinics.
The truth is, movement is the foundation of skill.
If you can’t move well off the bike, you’ll never reach your full potential on it.
You’ll learn:
✅ The difference between a movement problem and a skill problem
✅ How poor...
2025-11-0319 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastRed Bull Rampage - How To Save It From ItselfSome thoughts on the Red Bull Rampage - how we got here, where we're at and how to save it from itself.
2025-10-2317 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastThe Fastest Way To Improve Your Performance - Breathing Gears & IsometricsMost 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...
2025-10-1623 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastWhy You Need To Master The Standing Position (And How To Do It)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 techni...
2025-09-2733 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastIs "Optimal Body Position" Limiting Your Progress?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 lik...
2024-10-2524 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastUsing A Straw To Build Better Cardio?If you have followed my newsletter for any length of time then you know that I am a huge advocate for better breathing habits. Breathing is the one lever that you can pull that will improve just about everything you do on the bike, including cardio, strength and even your skills.
As important as it is, though, few riders really focus on it as part of their training program. The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of time and you don’t need fancy equipment.
In fact, a great way to trai...
2024-10-1212 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastHow To Deal With Knee Pain.As you get older dealing with pain becomes more and more of a reality. Old injuries flare up, wear and tear add up and it all leads to more and more pain. Pain leads to time off or even surgeries and surgeries definitely lead to time off. Time off leads to loss of fitness and motivation which can lead to quitting.
So one of the best strategies for riding for a lifetime is to do everything you can to address pain early and to prevent it from getting worse. Prevention is the best plan of all because p...
2024-09-1236 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastBetter Breathing = Better SkillsWhile most people come into mountain biking worried about their fitness and cardio, it doesn’t take long to realize that your technical skills play a big role in your performance. Better skills mean you can ride faster and waste less energy, as well as helping keep you safe.
Over the last several years skills training has become extremely popular, with countless videos showing you how to improve your skills and a lot of skills camps popping up. In fact, if you’re reading this then I’d bet money that at some point you have done someth...
2024-09-0527 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastTop 5 Tips To Help You Ride For A LifetimeWhen I started MTB Strength Training Systems in 2005 I did it so I could share how functional strength training could help my fellow riders enjoy riding more. I was 30 at the time and my focus was on helping riders maximize their performance, which led to my involvement with several pro riders and teams.
10 years later I turned 40 and found my priorities changing. Now I was interested in longevity as well as performance and I was finding that my old training methods weren't having the same effect.
Now I'm quickly approaching 50 (holy shit, how did that h...
2024-06-2431 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastCardio Training For The 40+ Year Old MTB RiderOver the last 5-10 years my cardio training program has changed a lot.
My old plan was to ride 5+ days a week and hit some hard intervals after my workouts. But now I can’t ride as much as I used to and my body can’t take the wear and tear of hard interval training for very long.
With this new reality I’ve found myself using different training methods that I did in the past to not only keep me fit for trail riding but also to improve my health and longevity. I’ve posted...
2024-05-1754 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastBeyond Intervals - Using Anti Glycolytic Training To Improve Performance And HealthWhen it comes to building MTB specific cardio, the best method is to actually ride your bike - that is the most sport specific training you can do. However, there are times when you can’t ride as much as you would like or you want to focus on specific qualities that you need on the trail but don’t use enough on the trail to continue to improve.
There are also health benefits that you can get from a smart conditioning program that you can’t get from riding alone. This means that if you want to max...
2024-04-2645 min
Beyond The Tape PodcastSuperDust: Nutrition, Training and Athlete DevelopmentIn this episode, we were joined by James Clare from SuperDust. SuperDust is a new and truly unique coaching company trying to break some moulds in the MTB industry. We chat about nutrition, training and how younger riders can optimize themselves to succeed in the sport. I Hope you enjoy. Thanks to our sponsors: Trek- Trek have been making bike s since 1976 and since then they have been pushing what can be done with a bike. There is a reason that some of the best like brandon semenuk, Reece Wilson, Valli Hoel...
2024-04-071h 12
The Riding For A Lifetime Podcast8 Tips To Help Low Back PainLow Back Pain is one of the most common things that riders suffer from both on and off the bike. It can ruin the good time that mountain biking is supposed to provide for us and in extreme cases can even make riders quit riding.
Even more frustrating is that there doesn’t seem to be a consistent, predictable pattern with low back pain and it is often a mystery as to the specific underlying cause. But if you ignore it then it tends to get worse until you have to deal with it.
I ha...
2024-03-0842 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastStrength Training Basics For The 40+ Year Old RiderAs you get older, strength training changes from a “good to do” to a “must do” status. Losing your strength, muscle and power are all realities for the 40+ year old rider and strength training is the best way to slow that process down.
This is the #1 tactic for riders who want to do this for a lifetime - get and stay strong and you’ll avoid age-related physical decline for as long as possible.
Plus, improving your strength, power and muscle mass can help improve performance and reduce your risk of injury, so it helps now and acts...
2024-02-161h 03
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastMy Morning Routine: High Leverage, Healthy Habits For The 40+ Year Old RiderIn this episode of the Riding For A Lifetime Podcast I share with you my morning routine that helps me set my day on a good trajectory.
Maximizing your health and longevity becomes a big priority as you get older. You can get away with abusing your body in your 20’s and still being able to get after it but if you want to be able to perform well on a consistent basis into your 40’s and beyond you have to start making good daily habits a part of your routine.
Over the last several years...
2024-01-2729 minThe Riding For A Lifetime PodcastMTB Specific Exercises You Might Not Be Using…But ShouldThe term “MTB Specific Training” gets thrown around a lot but what does it really mean?
At its core, it means using a training program that helps you ride faster, longer and with more skill. While the most “MTB specific” thing you can do is to actually ride your bike, there are certainly things you can do off of the bike that can help.
In the gym this takes the form of strength training that improves your strength and movement quality in ways that help your riding. Strength is one of the more general physical attribut...
2023-12-0840 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastMeditation For Mountain BikingIn this podcast I wanted to share my experience with meditation for mountain biking. I’ve been meditating in some way since I was first introduced to it through a Tai Chi class I took in college and I’ve found it to be a powerful tool in helping me perform better.
You can also read a summary article from the notes for the podcast below…
Meditation is one of those words that elicits a pretty mixed reaction from people when you bring it up.
Some people are totally into it, some people think it is a bunc...
2023-11-1946 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastMy Biggest Training Mistakes & Lessons LearnedSomething that I try to impress on my kids is the importance of being able to admit when you are wrong and make a change. Too often we spend our time trying to justify why we do what we do rather than trying to challenge it and see if it holds up.
But that isn’t how we grow. There is a saying about how there is a difference between 10 years of experience and the same year of experience repeated 10 times. For too many people they end up repeating the same things over and over and never re...
2023-11-1053 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastHRT for MTBSomething that I think is hard to have a conversation about Riding For A Lifetime without touching on is the subject of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). HRT has gotten a lot more popular over the last few years and is something that I think the 40+ year old rider should consider.
To be honest, HRT is something I resisted for a long time. I felt like it was cheating and if I couldn’t do it “naturally” then I didn’t deserve it.
However, as I’ve gotten older I’ve had a few things change my mind. I’v...
2023-11-0333 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastCore Training For The 40+ Year Old MTB RiderCore Strength and Core Training are two buzzwords that dominate discussions around improving your MTB specific fitness in the gym. It is pretty widely recognized that having a strong core can help improve your performance and prevent injuries but what is Core Strength and what is the best Core Training?
In this episode of the Riding For A Lifetime Podcast I cover core training for the 40+ year old rider. While a lot of the things I discuss are just good core training strategies, I look at them through the lens of the older rider and what we n...
2023-10-2736 min
The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastRiding For A Lifetime Podcast - 3 Things the 40+ MTB Rider Must Start TrainingSince turning 40 over 7 years ago I’ve realized that my training priorities have to change. I’ve been talking more about the concept of Riding For A Lifetime to help give those new priorities a name.
I’ve decided to change the focus of my podcast to focus on these new priorities and have renamed it the Riding For A Lifetime Podcast. With it I’ll be sharing training advice and interviewing experts in the field of improving performance while also improving your “healthspan”.
I got this idea from reading Peter Atia, who is a longevity doc...
2023-10-2030 minThe Riding For A Lifetime PodcastThe Best Way To Improve Your MTB Specific Grip StrengthWhile pretty much anyone who has ridden a mountain bike realizes that grip strength is extremely important, it is a widely misunderstood subject when it comes to how to best improve it for the demands of trail riding.
This has led to an epidemic of riders who lack the functional grip strength needed to most effectively - and safely - interact with their bike through their hands. This shows up as wrist pain, hand numbness, elbow issues and reliance on “winged grips” to secure the hands on the handlebars.
The problem is that there is a ver...
2023-04-0436 minThe Riding For A Lifetime PodcastTraining For A Lifetime - Steve Maxwell InterviewI have a special guest for today’s podcast. Steve Maxwell is one of the most influential people in my strength coaching philosophy and has been responsible for a lot of “aha” moments for me that have helped improve my training programs.
I’ve been following Steve for well over a decade, first as a leader in the kettlebell community and later as an expert on training for a lifetime. He has been a part of the physical culture of this country for 50+ years and knows a thing or two about how to keep fit as you get olde...
2023-02-021h 02The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastIs Overbreathing Impacting Your Health & Performance?While we all breathe, few of us are conscious of it and the impact that it has on our performance and health. This is unfortunate because how you breathe is an important factor and most of you reading this have one or more breathing dysfunctions.
One of the most common is Overbreathing. This is where you breathe more than is necessary to meet your metabolic needs, breathing in more Oxygen (O2) and breathing out more Carbon Dioxide (CO2) than is necessary. While this may not seem like a big deal, chronic Overbreathing can cause some health and...
2023-01-3113 minThe Riding For A Lifetime PodcastMedical Preparedness For The Trail & Life: Brian McLaughlin IntervieOver the last few years I’ve had my eyes opened to the importance of medical training in case of an emergency. Most of us are never exposed to the realities of incurring a serious injury on the trail and few are really prepared to do anything if something happens.
It doesn’t take much for a ride to go from fun and casual to a potential life and death situation. And even if it isn’t a life and death situation right away, a few bad breaks and things can go from bad to worse pretty quickl...
2023-01-261h 13The Riding For A Lifetime PodcastImproving Your Health & Performance With Isometrics: Interview with Isophit Inventor Brad ThorpeIt’s no secret that I’m a big fan of using Isometric Training to improve your health and fitness. I’ve posted a lot of articles, podcasts and videos going over how mountain bikers can use this powerful training tool in their programs.
But I’m not the only one out there who is obsessed with spreading the word about Isometric Training. There’s a man who has been working tirelessly over the last several years to get isometrics into the training programs of weekend warriors and high level performers all over the world.
Brad Thorp...
2023-01-1953 min
Performance Advantage Podcast81 | 15 Minute Strength Training from James WilsonJames Wilson has helped athletes get stronger and live healthier lives for the last 16 years. We talk about the whole gamut of strength training, and agree that the best workout you do is the one you do consistently. James has a number of free isometric exercises on his site, and we talk about them today. Would you believe they only take 15 minutes 2-3 times per week?
Visit MTB Strength Training Systems on https://www.bikejames.com/
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Visit our new website on PerformanceAdvantagePodcast.com for a 30% discount on our two newest courses: Fundamentals...
2021-07-2559 min
Cycling in Alignment with Colby Pearce35 Mountain Bike Fit, Pedal, and Strength with James WilsonJames Wilson is the owner and founder of MTB Strength Systems. He is a mountain bike, strength, and Jujitsu coach based in Grand Junction, CO. He is also the inventor of the Catalyst Pedal. He has pioneered many advanced perspectives on strength training for cyclists, producing content on this topic starting in 2005. Our conversation includes James’ thoughts on how power is most effectively made on the bike, how riders should stand more during training, and a model of tension during riding that is broken into four quadrants. Enjoy this discussion which is not only focused on mountain bikes; the co...
2021-04-221h 54
Moving2LiveJames Wilson Strength Coach and Internet EntrepreneurJames Wilson (in his own words): Owner of MTB Strength Training Systems. Former strength and conditioning coach for the Yeti World Cup Team. Strength coach for 4 different National Championships in 3 different MTB disciplines. BJJ purple belt and owner … Continue reading →
2021-02-031h 06Moving2LiveJames Wilson Strength Coach and Internet EntrepreneurJames Wilson (in his own words): Owner of MTB Strength Training Systems. Former strength and conditioning coach for the Yeti World Cup Team. Strength coach for 4 different National Championships in 3 different MTB disciplines. BJJ purple belt and owner … Continue reading →
2021-02-031h 06
Cycling in AlignmentJames Wilson MTB Fit, Pedal, and StrengthJames Wilson is the owner and founder of MTB Strength Systems. He is a mountain bike, strength, and Jujitsu coach based in Grand Junction, CO. He is also the inventor of the Catalyst Pedal. He has pioneered many advanced perspectives on strength training for cyclists, producing content on this topic starting in 2005. Our conversation includes James' thoughts on how power is most effectively made on the bike, how riders should stand more during training, and a model of tension during riding that is broken into four quadrants. Enjoy this discussion which is not only focused on mountain bikes; the concepts...
2021-01-191h 54
Mountain Bike RadioMtb Skills Network Podcast - "Track Stands (Ep. 3)" (May 24, 2017 #864)May 24, 2017 Mtb Skills Network Podcast Show Page ABOUT THIS EPISODE In this episode, Griff explains why learning track stands is so helpful for riding tighter and steeper uphill switchbacks. Track stands are sometimes considered just a bike trials-type balance maneuver, most often used when waiting the light to change and you want to show off. However, they’re actually a foundational mountain biking skill, appropriate for riders to learn who are at an intermediate-level or above. Tight slow-speed turns become easier once you learn to track stand, as do the the more...
2017-05-2500 min
Nourish Balance ThriveThe Importance of Strength and Mobility for Mountain BikersYour performance on a mountain bike has four pillars of support: cardio, mobility, skills and strength. Most riders only worry about one or maybe two. Could you be a good rider with just one pillar? Maybe, but why limit yourself? This week it’s been raining pretty solidly here in northern California, and honestly, I couldn’t care less. In years gone by, I'd have been donning rain gear and even spending time on the trainer in an attempt to maintain my aerobic engine, but now I understand that cardio is just one of the four pillars. I ge...
2016-01-071h 21Nourish Balance ThriveThe Importance of Strength and Mobility for Mountain BikersYour performance on a mountain bike has four pillars of support: cardio, mobility, skills and strength. Most riders only worry about one or maybe two. Could you be a good rider with just one pillar? Maybe, but why limit yourself? This week it’s been raining pretty solidly here in northern California, and honestly, I couldn’t care less. In years gone by, I'd have been donning rain gear and even spending time on the trainer in an attempt to maintain my aerobic engine, but now I understand that cardio is just one of the four pillars. I ge...
2016-01-071h 21
Mountain Bike RadioMTB Strength Coach Podcast - "Strength Matters Summit"James recently had the opportunity to attend a new fitness event, the Strength Matters Summit. Headlined by the likes of Dan John, Steve Maxwell, Mark Reifkand, Dave Whitely, Perry Nickelstein and a whole host of “who’s who” in the strength and conditioning world, it was a great chance to learn what some of the best in the world have been up to lately. Listen in to discover his thoughts about the event.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the next episode, contact us at info@mountainbikeradio.com.
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2015-04-0900 min
Mountain Bike RadioMTB Strength Coach - "Skills Training"James has been around long enough to see a real change in the way most riders think about skills training. When he first started riding mountain bikes almost 15 years ago, skills training wasn’t something he had ever heard of, much less considered an important thing to do. Listen in as James walks you through a lot of valuable information that you need to improve your skills on the bike today!
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the next episode, contact us at info@mountainbikeradio.com. We also have advertising opportunities available, just...
2015-01-2000 min
Mountain Bike RadioMTB Strength Coach Podcast - "Endurance Training"MTB Strength Coach, James Wilson, is back with another piece of the five essential elements of a mountain bike training program - endurance. In this episode, he gives listeners some important information to consider when developing, improving, and maintaining endurance as it relates to mountain biking.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the next episode, contact us at info@mountainbikeradio.com. We also have advertising opportunities available, just contact us.
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EPISODE BACKGROUND:
Endurance Training is by far the favorite subjec...
2015-01-0100 min
Mountain Bike RadioMTB Strength Coach Podcast - "Speed Training"Speed Training is an interesting topic for mountain biking because it isn’t really a part of many programs. Early on in training mountain bikers I realized that few of them had the ability to truly “tap into 100%” and that this was holding them back in a lot of different ways.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the next episode, contact us at info@mountainbikeradio.com. We also have advertising opportunities available, just contact us.
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EPISODE BACKGROUND:
Speed Training isn’t just d...
2014-12-1600 min
Mountain Bike RadioMTB Strength Coach Podcast - "Strength Training"November 24, 2014
This episode is the second part of a five-part series of MTB Strength Coach's essential elements of mountain bike training overview. What is strength training, what are the benefits, and more. Have you wondered what the "central governor" is? James shares info, tips, and insight into creating workouts and some basic periodization schemes.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the next episode, contact us at info@mountainbikeradio.com. We also have advertising opportunities available, just contact us.
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Strength Traini...
2014-11-2500 min
Mountain Bike RadioMTB Strength Coach Podcast - "Flexibility Training"In this episode, the show host, James Wilson, kicks off a series of podcasts highlighting the five essential elements of mountain bike training. The first part is flexibility. He walks listeners through a great description of flexibility training, the benefits, and how to do it as a mountain biker.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the next episode, contact us at info@mountainbikeradio.com. We also have advertising opportunities available, just contact us.
EPISODE BACKGROUND:
MTB Strength Training Systems:
"Flexibility Trainin...
2014-11-1300 min
Seat Time | A Dirt Bike PodcastTriple D's : Episode 116Fred Andrews of KR4 Performance, James Wilson of MTB Strength Training and THE Mark KariyaSupport the show
2014-02-131h 42
Seat Time : The Online Show for the Offroad EnthusiastTriple D's : Episode 116Fred Andrews of KR4 Performance, James Wilson of MTB Strength Training and THE Mark Kariya
2014-02-131h 42
The Strength Coach PodcastEpisode 102- Strength Coach Podcast
Highlights of Episode 102
"Hit the Gym with a Strength Coach"- James Wilson (MTB Strength Training Systems) discusses working with mountain bikers, their injury tendencies, how he uses the FMS and how he trains his bikers.
"The Coach's Corner with Coach Boyle"- Coach Boyle talks about "Becoming a CNP"; "Lat Pulldowns Make a Comeback"; and answers a few questions about Straight Leg Sit Ups and Knee Flexion exercises."
Coach Boyle's Functional Strength Coach 4 is here!
"Ask the Equipment Experts with Perform Better" - Erin McGirr tells us about the Perform Bet...
2012-06-011h 32