BMX Racing Podcast

I know I say this for most podcasts, but this is one of my favorite interviews I’ve ever done. Julian (Jools) Allen is not only an interesting dude, with tons of BMX experience, great tips, funny stories, but also a fantastic British accent. We chat about who has the best bacon – British, Canadians, or Americans? Also sending big jumps, crashes, and building better local BMX programs.     As you will hear in the podcast, I found out about Jools when he shared one of my articles. I started to look around his XLR8 BMX School Facebook page and loved what he was doing with the kids. He’s a coach that really gets teaching. Often I feel like many skills coaches/parents are trying to skip over the fundamentals to go right to the fancy stuff. Jools takes it all the way back to the start. Teaching kids the basics of jumping, manualing, etc.       Julian Allen on Facebook Julian Allen/XLR8 BMX School Instagram

I was stoked when I had someone I’ve looked up to for a few years ask me to be on his podcast.  I was interviewed by James Wilson of BikeJames.com *Download the podcast below or check out BMX Racing Podcast on Stitcher or iTunes apps* He’s a sometimes controversial MTB coach that happens to have a little different viewpoint on performance training than most. When I say controversial, I mean he doesn’t always go with the flow of what everyone else is doing. His mind works in a way that only some of the best coaches in any sport works. These things got me interested in his website a few years ago. As I learned more and more about training, I realized James really knew what he was talking about. I’ve always resonated with his message of using the gym to maximize your bike riding. He does a great job at taking a skill on a bike that people commonly struggle with, breaking down the movements and teaching how to improve it with certain exercises in the gym. He’s also one of the only people in mountain biking that isn’t ramming clipless pedals down everyone’s throat. In fact, he’s fighting back against the industry and showing that starting on flat pedals is necessary for beginners and also totally relevant for advanced riders as well. James is so passionate about flat pedals that he just came out with a new flat pedal that in my opinion may be the best flat pedal ever built!               Check Out Pedaling Innovations here!   All of what I wrote is just scratching the surface. If you are interested in fitness and bikes then for sure go over and check out all of the great information that James has been putting out for years. BikeJames.Com For me, being interviewed by James for his podcast is a big deal. 5 years ago when I was completely sick of my day job delivering milk, I would listen to various podcasts as I worked. I spent hours and hours each day listening to any kind of strength and conditioning information I could find. I listened to the MTB Strength Coach Podcast and learned a ton. Not only was I learning about training, I was discovering my new path in life. A truck I drove to deliver milk I knew my best years on the BMX bike were behind me but I really wanted to stay involved with the sport in some capacity. I always liked the idea of teaching but never took action on this dream. So when I married my interest in learning how the body works, with my passion of BMX racing; I started to envision my new career. Now after 5 years, thousands of hours of my audio education through podcasts and audiobooks, books, seminars, internship, coaching around a hundred people for thousands of sessions… I’ve finally come full circle to be a guest on James’ podcast.   Show Notes   We covered some of these topics during the podcast – Why would a mountain biker care about what a BMX coach has to say? – Advice on training kids – Thoughts on flats and clipless pedals for BMX racing. – How the PRI system has influenced his training programs. – Why breathing is the most important thing for you to train. – Favorite exercises for improving core strength and overall power   Example of how some of some basic PRI principles can create a great core exercise  (Reach, exhale fully, ribs down, continue to breathe, control ribs and pelvis as you move)     A few of my favorite exercises for BMXers Turkish Get Up   Reactive Jump Squats  (example at about min 2:30)     Thank you James for the opportunity to be on your show and all the free knowledge you have given to so many people over the years! Please go over, check out his site! Also, if you haven’t please sign up for my newsletter. I’m finishing up some new articles that are exclusive tips just for my subscribers.  

I recorded a quicky podcast today with just myself. I had a question on my most recent blog article 3 Exercises For Beginners To Build Power that I thought I would go a little deeper in the answer than a blog post could go.     Check it out and feel free to discuss anything at all or ask questions for future articles and videos. Also if you haven’t, please sign up for my newsletter over there —->

As always it’s been too long in between podcasts. It’s difficult to get schedules to work out so I’m really happy that Brandon and I could sit down for over an hour and chat about racing and training. For those that don’t know Brandon Brown. He was a regular on the A pro circuit a few years ago until school took up too much time. He was also helped coach at the SuperCamp clinics during the summer. Now he spends his time studying the Brain, Central Nervous System, Biomechanics and anything training related. It’s not often when you get to speak to someone that has such a deep background in training and BMX racing. We went pretty geeky in parts, so if you’re not deep into training just stick with it. There are some great nuggets of info within the interview. Brandon also makes a killer offer to one or two lucky people. But you have to listen all the way to the end to hear it! Links and show notes Brandon’s Facebook Page Dr Bryan Mann on Velocity Based Training Postural Restoration Institute  IFAST University    I hope you liked the interview. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and either Brandon or I will do our best to answer it. Also, please be sure to sign up for my newsletter if you haven’t already and give Amazon and Supercross BMX some lovin! Until the next time…

I hope you liked part 1 of the BMX Racing Podcast with Tony Hoffman. Here is the rest of the interview with him.   I would love to hear what you thought or what you learned from this podcast. If you would, please leave a comment here or my facebook page  Thanks again to Tony Hoffman for letting me pick his brain, we should do it again soon!

Here is part 1 of my interview with former Elite racer, current 28-35 expert grands winner, motivational speaking extraordinaire, high level BMX trainer and really good dude… Tony Hoffman. Tony really does a great job incorporating technology into his BMX training plans with his athletes. He uses is to monitor their performance on the bike and in the gym. He also uses tech to communicate with his athletes from all around the world to gather that data and let them know exactly what they should be doing in some interesting ways. Be on the lookout on Monday for part 2 with Tony Hoffman  More on Tony at his websites and social media pages www.teamthoff.com tonyhoffmanspeaking.com facebook.com/TonyHoffmanRacing instagram.com/teamthoff

Here’s part 2 of my interview with Eddie Casillas.

As I upload some of the deleted podcasts and articles, I’m happy to re-publish this great interview.   I would imagine not everyone in the BMX world knows Eddie Casillas… but they probably should. Eddie’s knowledge and experience of training is top notch. I somehow ran across Eddie on Instagram and even in a 15 second video or picture, I could tell he knew his stuff. Eddie has an interesting story. When he’s not being dad, he’s either training some Supercross racers or keeping them bandaged up after a crash every weekend. Be sure to check out Part 2 of my interview with Eddie Hope you like this one. As always, if you do, please share it with your friends and leave some comments and questions. Check out Eddie on Instagram Facebook

Check out this Podcast interview with Big Shawn DiPrete. We go deep into weight training, mindset, and daily habits that has helped him to win a National Cruiser Championship along with many NAG 1 plates. If you liked the interview feel free to share it with your friends on social media.  Also don’t forget to support Spark by shopping on Amazon by clicking on the sidebar link on this website. It won’t cost you anything extra and will help me out a ton!  Links Website Instagram Facebook

In Episode 2 of the BMX Racing Podcast I get to chat with Bryce Betts about his new sponsor Dale Holmes Racing. His time he spent in Australia, riding with flat pedals, Supercross racing, etc. Bryce is a funny and entrepreneurial young man that all the up and coming racers can learn from.   In the second part of the Podcast I get to interview Mtn. Bike coach James Wilson. I love the stuff James puts out. He takes really good training methods and principles and puts it in a way bike riders can understand. He thinks outside of the box and constantly always has great information on his website bikejames.com Update: James recently came out with his own line of pedals to help improve on some of the shortcomings of normal flat pedals. These things are grippy, smooth and big! They’re big for a reason though. The Catalyst pedal is designed with optimal human biomechanics in mind. Why is it that we would never Squat or Deadlift on our toes for max effort lifts but we find it normal for pedaling? James, questioned this and that’s exactly why he designed this pedal to get more of your foot involved. Check these pedals out here!      Links to Bryce and James social media Bryce Betts Facebook Bryce Betts Instagram James Wilson Facebook