Why Grip Endurance is Critical for Enduro

If you’re joining us from the Mid Week MTB Series newsletter, welcome to the 100 Year Athlete Blog. If you’re joining us from elsewhere, sweet – we’re discussing the impact of grip endurance on performance in enduro mountain biking. 

In 2015, researchers in the UK decided to study which skills and abilities explain performance in downhill mountain biking. No one had bothered to do this yet, and it was a good excuse to hang out at a downhill track in Wales instead of a college campus in flat southeast England. 

Anyway, the researchers determined that hand grip endurance is the most important contributor to downhill speed, second only to rider skill. A separate study found that after a downhill, grip strength decreased by an average of 5.5%—a clear sign of fatigue. 

In enduro, the demands on grip strength and endurance are arguably higher than in DH. For his PhD at Edinburgh Napier University, sports scientist Lewis Kirkwood—who also happened to be a Norco Factory Racing mechanic—studied the demands of enduro. He found that riders were exposed to “…to potentially harmful doses of hand-arm vibration during the race stages at national level enduro races.” 

In case the implications of that weren’t clear enough, Kirkwood laid them out: “Hand-arm vibration exposure of this magnitude is proposed to cause reductions in grip strength which may limit braking ability, thus reducing performance and increasing the likelihood of loss of control.” In other words, as grip falters, you’ll ride slower and be more likely to crash.

To no one’s surprise, Kirkwood also found that enduro requires a large aerobic capacity. But more surprisingly, he found that muscle mass was key to ensuring that “…high velocities can be sustained over differing types of terrain.” Notice how much muscle mass 2024 EDR world champions Alex Rudeau and Hattie Harnden have. American enduro legend Richie Rude (now focused on DH) carries a ton of muscle too. 

Making gains in grip endurance will require consistent training. But there is a way to improve grip almost instantly.

A recent study of XC/marathon mountain bikers in Brazil found that handgrip strength is correlated with muscle mass and “total body water”—basically, how hydrated you are. So, dial in your hydration.  

For training grip endurance, we’ve built a free program that you can start now on the 100 Year Athlete mobile app. Check out the intro video below and click here to sign up for a free year of Grip Endurance.

To be clear, training for enduro (and gravity sports generally) requires all around athleticism. Movements like deadlifts, pull-ups, squats, and bench press—popular with elite enduro and DH athletes—improve your connection to the pedals and grips, giving you more control over the bike. 

We hope this intro to grip endurance and training helps you improve your enduro game. If you’re interested in a comprehensive Enduro MTB program (with in-season and out-of-season programming), try ours for one month free. Click here to get started.