The Athertons always turn up to the race season looking in peak form and they maintain it through the year. A lot of that work comes in the off-season, putting in the hard yards in the gym.

While you’re more likely to find us with a brew and biscuit in hand instead of a pair of dumbells, we know there are plenty of mountain bikers out there who enjoy sweating it out on the weight rack. Here are the workouts the Trek Factory Racing guys love and their benefits as explained by new coach Nick Grantham.

Gee Atherton

“Gee likes the fear you get by stacking the boxes really high. You can pick holes in this clip technically but at this point in the session the objective is as much mental as physical. These guys are competitive animals and a 30 cm box jump isn’t going to cut it. Later on in the session we’ll do it right!”

Rachel Atherton

“Strength and cvnditioning coaches often like to work in standard positions, this allows us to free-style and get in to loads of different movement patterns and lets the body encounter multiple different forces and loads so you get a lot done in 3-4 exercises, its great for shoulders and core – and I get to throw ball really hard at Rachel’s head!”

Graeme Mudd

“In English we call this a jump squat! I like this one. I like this one.”

Dan Atherton

“He’s not normal! Most people actually find it easier to work with both arms at once for balance and co-ordination. , also you wont be handling the load for as long.”