Ok big lakes ride today 2 very nice decents spolied by having to stop and give arms as rest anyone recomend ways of building these muscles up to aviod the stops?

I find riding more is the only way.

Don’t hold on so tight.

Pressups.

Handgrip exercisor from argos.

got to be said………MTFU….. 😀

?some sort of repetitive gripping and squeezing exercise, perhaps?

Get a Powerball
Relax your grip,
Don’t hang onto the brakes, let it run then brake,
Check your brake lever position compared to body / arm / wrist angle

Choose any of the above, all if you want.

Flatten* your brake levers a bit? – So they’re not in-line with your arms.

(*not exactly horizontal but halfway between horizontal and in-line is a good starting point)

It means you don’t have to grip to hold on** and you can still put plenty of oomph into the bars.

(**You can completely relax your grip on more or less everything but the most technical sections – it’s like magic)

Kettle bell workout does grip arms, shoulders and core.

Cheers guys coolhandluke started to do the “Don’t hang onto the brakes, let it run then brake” today and eased it off until it gets really sketchy and started to cover brakes again. 😳

simondbarnes I was thinking that today as well. The only thing that comes close nearby would be the Ice Crean run at Rivi from what we were riding today and even thats pretty tame but as close as we get local so planning lots of runs over the next few weeks down that with any luck 🙂

Cheers everyone for the info 🙂

jam bo – Member
Don’t hold on so tight.

This.

Or **** more.

Climbing wall. Does your core strength too

Pumped arms is often caused by being positioned too far back during descents. I got it all the time for 10 years till I tried positioning myself further forward, rarely been a problem since.
Less important but skinny grips are less tiring to hold if you’ve got small hands, and one-finger braking means you have more fingers to hold on with, so less squeezing is needed.

Climbing wall. Does your core strength too

When I was doing a lot of climbing the wall was mainly for technique and stamina. That’s largely to do with footwork and getting as much weight OFF the arms as possible. For strength we tended to go weight training – generally bench presses, bicep curls and dips for arms.

W8nking. Plenty on here can advise you…

Your brakes are almost certainly too low. Have seen this many times and also seen moving them mid alpine descent fix the issue. Move them inboard so you just use one finger and move them much further up than you would think. Look at pictures of other peoples bike.

I tried that but the left hand felt like cheating.

Slow pushups are the classic fix- I’d done that for the motorbike so never really had any bother on the pushbikes but it’s what I’d do.

Repeating the same thing that makes you hurt, makes it hurt a bit less each time. So, you know what to do. Get out and ride the descents lots.
Or you could just get some better brakes so you don’t have to squeeze so hard.

Apparently tying a weight plate to a broom handle and winching it up and down is good for grip and forearms.

Opened up the thread thinking: ride more, don’t grip the bars tightly; so replies 1 & 2 have it for me 😀 . A bit drastic perhaps but I’m finding having a great lump of a 2 year old is great for upper body strength! Expensive though, and a long term commitment to your riding… 😉

Buy a 29er.

No buy a 650b and do the exercises. 29’ers are for XC and abit old hat now.

if your going to use bishop bashing as an exercise then make sure you swap hands 🙂
Now moving on to gripping the bar and arm strength…
Soft hands is a real key, the harder you hold the harder it is.
Check your brake and shifter alignment.

I found climbing really improved my finger and hand strength so it was really useful, now I’m not doing any I can tell the difference.

Look at different grips.

I am really liking my macebell – really good for keeping any rotator cuff issues at bay :

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ReMY_xI8TU&index=20&list=FLDvuJ8FNiH2DwBxExVatdWA[/video]

lighter one is worth having for if you have suffered an rotator cuff injury and good for the 360 exercise :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Kore-Fitness-Macebell-5kg-FREE-IRON-SHOTS-/231025447605?pt=UK_Strength_Training&hash=item35ca3092b5

and a heavier one :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Kore-Fitness-Macebell-12kg-FREE-IRON-SHOTS-/231025471742?pt=UK_Strength_Training&hash=item35ca30f0fe

both can be made heavier with the supplied shots.

more exercises :

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUFAEkzI404&list=FLDvuJ8FNiH2DwBxExVatdWA&index=30[/video]

another option is Indian Clubs :

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRxEmMDxS7E&list=FLDvuJ8FNiH2DwBxExVatdWA&index=43[/video]

Relax your arms and strengthen your core.

Plus one for relax and get to the gym