One of the best experiences of my coaching career was being able to work with Aaron Gwin at the beginning of his riding career.
I had a connection with Rich Houseman, who “discovered” Aaron at a local SoCal DH race. Rich called me and told me that I needed to start helping this kid because he was going to be great.
I had the chance to work with Aaron for about 3.5 years, before he was a sponsored rider and then through his time with Yeti. Aaron was actually the reason that the Yeti team hired me because he was impressed with what I was doing with him and wanted to make sure that I was the strength coach for the team.
Over that time he came and stayed with me to train and I had the chance to see him go from an unknown rider to the best American DH racer in a generation, getting 10th in his first ever WC race, finishing as high as 3rd in a race and placing 5th overall after just a few years of racing.
I learned some valuable things from working with and observing him and here are the top 3 things I took away from our time together.
Don’t make excuses.
Keep your emotions in check - never too high or too low.
Staying injury free is more important than maximizing performance with your training program.
I hope you got something from these lessons as well. You don't have to be a pro racer to apply these things to your own training and riding.
Until next time...
Ride Strong,
James Wilson
Performance Breathing for MTB - Taking Your Cardio To The Next Level
Fear - What's Your Relationship With It.
Rider Q&A - Ebikes & Maintaining Your Gainz
Medical Training for MTB - Dealing With The Inevitable
The Science of Coaching and Learning Mountain Bike Skills
Better Breathing for MTB - Improve Your Performance, Recovery & Mindset
Becoming The MTB Warrior
Why You Don’t Want to Use Your Ankles to Absorb Shock on Your Mountain Bike.
Rider Q&A Podcast - Feet Turned Out On Pedals, Strength Standards & Situational Training
The Power of Better Breathing with Chuck McGee III
Dan John Interview
Grip Strength Training, Avoid the Attack Position and Isometric Help Your Cardio
Trackstands, Are Flats Bad For Your Knees and My Favorite Riding Shoes
The 3 Axioms of MTB Training, Handlebar Rise & Isometric Training for Low Back Pain
Inside Hand Pressure for Cornering, How Many Sets Do You Need & My Wim Hoff Experience
Why Mountain Biking Is Not A "Gender Neutral" Sport...And Why That's Alright.
Riding For A Lifetime Podcast - The 3 Pillars of Sustainable Training & Riding
3 Tips for Training During the CV-19 Pandemic
Sleep Coaching with Nick Lambe
Primal Skills Camp Recap: 3 Lessons to Help You In The Gym and On The Bike
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Coach Carvalho Podcast
From Corner2Corner
Golf Podcast: next on the tee
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The MeatEater Podcast