FIRST LOOK: PRAEP ProPilot Ride Kit
Strength and balance are requirements for mountain biking - so how can you do specific training?
If you need to gain upper body strength and balance, a gym pass or some freeweights are a good place to start. But if you take a swipe or scroll through social media, you'll notice plenty of athletes combine their strength work with balance and agility. At this point, you see fit balls coming into play, or a bosu, slack lines – and tools like the PRAEP Propilot Ride Kit we have just been sent for review.
The Propilot is a set of 780mm bars and grips mounted in a triangular block. While you can bring your own 31.8mm or 35mm bars and your own grips, the triangular block is where the challenge comes in, thanks to flatter, and rounder edges.
You can have easy balance points on the flatter side, harder on the side with more of a bevel, or the most extreme on the side which is narrow and rounded. Doing push ups, or typewritter moves, or planks, or other exercises using the Propilot will help you recruit different muscles to aid in balance, while also improving your strength.
The $259 kit here comes with 780mm alloy bars that can be trimmed down if needed, and some very solid silicone grips. But you can bring your own bars and grips and get the key parts for $149 instead.
It's simple to set up, and with a 5mm allen key you can change the bar angle to get the right load and challenge. PRAEP have some workout videos online to help you get the most out of the equipment.
We've got this set out to our Fitness whizz Anna Beck, to see if they're a handy tool to have in the workout armoury, or whether you should just mix up your push ups instead.
You can get these kits in Australia from Rotation Destination.
