Trail running, hiking, and mountain biking ask one thing of your body that flat-ground cardio doesn't: tolerate descent. The eccentric loading on every downhill step is what destroys quads, knees, and hips by week two of a big season. This class trains for it.
Most trail injuries don't come from one bad step - they come from miles of accumulated load on tissue that wasn't ready for it. Train the prep work, run the trails.
Anti-rotation, anti-extension, and anti-flexion work so your trunk holds its position when your legs start screaming. The bridge between hip and shoulder doesn't get to fall apart at mile 8.
Hip IR and ER mobility for stride freedom. Glute med strength for lateral control on uneven ground. Hip flexor durability for the long climbs. The hip joint is where trail miles either feel good or get ugly.
Slow-tempo lowering of squats, lunges, and step-downs. The descent is where most quad and knee damage accumulates. Train the eccentric capacity in the gym so the trail doesn't have to.
Trail Prep is for people who run, hike, or bike on actual mountain terrain - not flat bike paths. Beginners through ultras welcome. The work is scaled to the person, not the room.
If you've found yourself nursing knee pain by mid-season, getting "tight hips" you can't shake, or just feeling like trail miles wreck you more than they should - this class addresses the root cause.
This is the spring-and-summer face of the Mountain Athlete class. Same class, same time slot (Tues / Thurs at 1 PM) - the programming shifts with the season: progressive build through spring, dialed-back maintenance work mid-summer when trail volume is heaviest.
Roughly 60 minutes. A warm-up + mobility flow, the main strength and durability work for that block, and a short cool-down.
The specifics shift week over week and phase over phase - progressive load in the spring build, lighter and more mobility-focused mid-summer when you're already burying yourself on the trails. Same clinical reasoning that runs the 1-on-1 work, scaled to small group.
