For our recent Online Practice Jam (in which I practiced with everyone else), I filed the following Session #2 Activity Report during week #2.

I’m posting it here because it shows a practice regimen progression (not a riding skill progression) from a post I published in early November titled, What does putting chunking and proficiency-based goals into an MTB practice session look like?

Can you tell me what I added?

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Description:

I first warmed up with 5 minutes of fakies and skinnies. I then leaned against a different pole and did 10 static high manuals, getting 5 decent attemps of 10. I then did 5 butt buzzes, followed by 5 slow-speed low and short manuals. Examples of the latter:

In retrospect, I think those low and short manuals might be a good body rehearsal warmup for all manuals because they force me to briefly keep my hips back and low while keeping my arms straight.

I took a 10-minute break to do more skinnies and fakies and then did a set of 10 slow high manuals but from a near-dead stop, a homework assignment from Patrick Mitzel. He calls these 'static manuals.' I got 5 decent ones out of 10. 30-second video:

After a 10-minute break of fakies and skinnies, I started a new drill: adding the leg/arm extension move to a high manual but on a slope. The slope makes the high manual easier and allows for a less dynamic leg/arm extension to help learn the move. The landing is softer, too.

I chose a tabletop ramp in our local skills park for my slope. My first attempt was the best. The next 6 were quite poor. 20-second video:

I only did 7 attempts because I noticed that my right shoulder was developing a weird ache -- different than tired-sore. I decided to quit for the day.

Analysis:

1. I'm pleased about my second day of this detailed structure for a practice session:

At home:

5-minute session planning
5-minute mental and/or body rehearsal of a specific 'chunk'

OOn-site

10-minute riding-related warmup with a specific mental focus, eg, palm pressure on bars
10-minute body rehearsal
10-15-minute sets, 30-seconds between attempts
10-minute breaks, either reviewing videos or leisurely practicing some other skills

At home:

Video review and written reflection

2. As for my 6 of 7 poor attempts at the leg/arm extension, I reminded myself that when learning a new skill or a subset of that skill, it helps to make lots of errors because it cues the brain for plasticity. I guess I did good!

My plan for Week #2 (which I wrote prior to the session report above)

(I adjusted my intention for this 2nd practice session of week 2 because my 1st practice session went much better than expected. I wanted to give Patrick Mitzel's 'static start' drill a try and then move on before my first attempts at doing the leg/arm extension on a slope drill.)

Week 2 plan

I was too ambitious with my plan last week. Besides more extended family activities than usual, I started a Zone 2 cardio weekly target of 150-180 minutes. I hit that cardio goal (4 jog/runs) but only did 2 of my planned 3 riding practice sessions and 2 of my planned 3 off-bike rehearsal practice sessions.

Such is life! I don't feel bad about it because I've prioritized my health/strength-improvement activities. This week I'm adding some resistance training to the cardio, including focusing on my right hamstring. If all goes well with it, I'd like to start more aggressive bunny hop drills next week.

Since this week includes a Thanksgiving weekend here in North America, I will be more modest in my practice jam session frequency. But the intentions will be the same since I had a setback and a seeming resolution last week. I want to see if the answer sticks!

Two riding practice sessions, 30-60 minutes each, with a focus on high manuals (a 4-part chunk of the bunny hop launch) but improve my proficiency, aiming to get 3 decent attempts in a row out of every 10 attempts, and 7 of 10 overall.
Two off-bike rehearsal practice sessions (at home) for the bunny hop, 10 minutes each, including slow-motion and eyes-closed movements

MTB Practice Lab

Online MTB practice jam: My week 2 session #2…