I was going to wade into the SS recommendations too. Hills get more muscles than you knew were involved in cycling, the forearms get a proper work out.

And downhill, you’re spun out faster than your gear and it’s all about staying off the brakes, picking a line and maintaining speed. I’ve got some PBs on the SS on what I thought were pedally downhills where I just rode them better on the SS.

Pretty common for people to find the same, it’s a useful exercise for DH race training.

Plus there’s less time maintaining/cleaning and more time riding!

If you double down and make your SS rigid, you’ll be highlighting even more opportunities for learning and smoothing out your technique.

You think Manon Carpenter probably has less muscle tone than someone who’s been off the bike since summer? Really?

Manon carpenter probably has less muscle tone than the OP, giess who probably has the better cardio fitness?

1) what NW just said.

2) I would reckon she’d have better grip strength than most of us – certainly compared to her weight.

I’m not saying there’s no endurance element to it – obviously you need to be able to take repetitive hits, but if you have no muscular strength in the first place cardio won’t get you anywhere, and I’m also not saying other stuff like bar/control setup, fork/shock/tyre setup and not “overgripping” won’t hinder too, but… Well just cos she’s a fairly pretty she doesn’t in any way mean she won’t have masses more strength in the right places than most of us on here.

Edit – “the right places” refers to those required to ride a bike down hills fast and stay on top of said bike, and nothing else.

Based on probabilities, yes and if he doesnt he still probably has the upper hand in muscle mass. In all likelihood the OP has more grip strength and upper body strength.

Based on probabilities, yes and if he doesnt he still probably has the upper hand in muscle mass. In all likelihood the OP has more grip strength and upper body strength.

Based on what probabilities? That someone who’s not touched a bike in 6 month will be stronger than a world class athlete? Are you **** serious?

The only way to settle this is for the OP and Manon to wrestle.

3 rounds: greco-roman, arm, thumb war?

Best of 3?

Are you lot telling me that you’ve never seen some skinny arse youth/junior riders with BMIs hovering around 18 who’d likely snap in half if it got a bit windy, sail past older riders built like brick shit houses who are having arm pump issues?

I can climb better than my little brother despite him having about 0% body fat and being very gym-fit, as I have better grip strength (and technique). Doesn’t mean he’s not generally stronger than me, it’s a very specific thing.

And it’s grip strength to weight that matters, not absolute grip strength.

How does having strong legs and good cardio help with the arms exactly?

my point was riding bikes gets you fit for riding bikes. You can’t spend 6 months off the bike and expect to jump straight into a full day of riding problem free just because it’s all downhill. Of course ideal training for an uplift day is…a load of uplift days, but if you don’t have the means then I reckon riding your bike (up and) down as many hills as you can is a decent option.

As others have said SS gives your arms a workout, it sure as hell highlights my arm weakness, whether that transfers to being able to sustain the jiggling you get from downhill I dunno.

climbing is a great analogy. and to take it further, a heavier, weaker, less fit climber, with poorer technique overall, will get less tired on a boulder problem he knows how to do, compared to the lighter, stronger, fitter, better climber, who’s trying it for the first time.

To a point, obvs.

In regards to grip to weight ratio…makes Less of a difference than you might imagine as you should be supporting most of your weight in your legs, not to mention junior mx riders are fighting 200lb bikes the same as the men.

Imo its not about raw grip strength, muscle mass OR cardio conditioning. It’s muscular endurance.

I can be super fit from months of road riding, but if I then jump on the MTB and go and do a rough trail my forearms are mangled.
On the other hand if I ride my MTB more my forearms become more resistant to the beating.

Not exactly rocket science.
OP, not the most exotic equipment ever, but I’ve found one of these helps (not the exact same one):

Deadlift, shoulder press, bench press, barbell bent over rows are perfect in my experience (and squat, but that is just general advice and won’t benefit your arm pump but will help staying in any form of crouched position for a while).