About jumping in the sport of biketrial

Ever watched some videos where riders sidehop shoulder height walls and pedal up even more? Well I have and I did some research, read some books and tons of articles on the net + talked with some riders who really can get their bike on shoulder height walls.

Well the answer is quite simple F=m*v
so lighter riders seem to be much faster than the heavier ones who can jump the same height.
As jumping takes less than a second you dont have much time to achieve your top speed, so you need to be as explosive as possible. So how do you do it? Well the best way to get better at something is to practice doing it but if that isnt good enough for you and you want faster results then you need to find out what is your weak spot and improve it. If you ride your bike a lot then the problem shouldnt be explosiveness and you dont need to do much or any plyometrics as trials is a plyometric activity too.
Well most riders like me has a lack of raw power and the easiest way to improve your strength is to lift. Riders like TRA and Damon Watson had been lifting so I thought why not to try it out and the results were amazing. I improved my sidehop height 4-5inches with 4 months without even riding.

If youre interested in lifting weights for trials and dont know where to start then you should at first learn some techniques of the main compound lifts as they will be the ones you will do most of the time.
search how to squat and deadlift from youtube. These are the main 2 excercises you need to improve. Also the upperback is very important, especially lats as these muscles help you to pull your handlebar(check out a vid of DamonW and you will notice how fast he pulls the handlebars while sidehopping) perfect excercises to improve your upperback are pull ups, weighted pull ups and barbell rows. I dont suggest using the pulldown machine or any other machines, the best is to use free weights because then you will use all the smaller muscles instead of focusing just one muscle.

Anyway when you have been going to the gym for a few weeks and can safely perform squats and deadlifts you could try this workout for about 5-6 weeks if youre a beginner and see by yourself how much you have improved your sidehop height.

The program is designed by Mark Rippetoe who is one of the most famous strenght trainers in the world. I did some minor changes to make it suit to trials more.

Week 1:

Monday - Workout A
Wednesday -Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:

Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B



Note: This doesn’t include warm-up sets


Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift
**2x8 Dips

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing military press
3x5 barbell rows
**2x8 pull-ups


for the weights you should be using as much weight as you can and put on more weight every week (like +2.5kg or if thats too much then a bit less)
and its better to start with a bit lower weights and slowly go up than to start too heavy and stall quickly