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Beyond the bike: Kieran Reilly's 4 fitness secrets for BMX dominance
BMX world champion Kieran Reilly breaks the silence on an urban myth – and reveals his gym regimen that gave him the shape of his life.
Kieran Reilly wants to make one thing clear – he has never been a Deliveroo rider. “Someone must have said it somewhere,” the BMX freestyle world champion laughs of the urban myth doing the rounds. “Sorry to ruin a good story, but it’s not true. However, if you did order from Deliveroo and I was on duty, you’d get it a lot faster than if someone else delivered it.”
To be fair, Reilly is better at serving up feasts of a different kind, such as his fabled triple flair. That one, however, wouldn’t get him five stars for a rapid delivery.
It was January 2022 when Reilly pulled off this world-first trick at Asylum Skatepark in Nottinghamshire, UK, launching off the top of an extended quarter-pipe and performing three full backflips before adding a 180-degree rotation. It took countless attempts, and the bruises to prove it. “I thought it would be like going from a single flair to a double,” he says. “But it wasn’t. I was just relieved I didn’t have to get beaten up trying to land it anymore.”
12 min
Kieran Reilly's world-first triple flair
Watch as 20-year-old British BMXer Kieran Reilly attempts the world’s first triple flair on a BMX.
Building your body: These are Kieran Reilly’s four freestyle fitness tips
Not that he’s shy of hard knocks. Reilly is now a fan of HYROX – a high-intensity interval fitness race mixing 1km runs with workouts such as sandbag lunges and sled pushes. “It has helped me massively,” he says. “I can now do significantly more in a 60-second competition than I could before.” Look out for that HYROX-inspired quadruple flair...
01
It’s a state of mind
“If you’re a BMX rider, you’re an athlete. That took me a little while to realise. Now I love training. I take the same mindset that I have on my bike into the gym. Basically, every workout you do makes a difference to your performance on the bike.”
"If you’re a BMX rider, you’re an athlete"
© Teddy Morellec / Red Bull Content Pool
02
Don’t get stale
“If I was to go into the gym every day and do bike sprints, I’d be bored senseless. It’s about keeping it fresh and trying new stuff to keep yourself intrigued and motivated. You should always be up for discovering new things.”
Reilly at the UCI World Championships
© Jeff Holmes / Red Bull Content Pool
The more time you spend in the gym, the more you improve your agility, fitness and motion
03
Assault your senses
“If I had to choose one piece of gym equipment, it’s the assault bike. When I’m on that – wow, it’s so gassy. It’s no fun at the time, but it’s an amazing bit of kit. You’re still on a bike, still pedalling, but moving your arms backwards and forwards too. It’s an all-over workout that probably helps me more than any other.”
"You should always be up for discovering new things"
© Phil Pham / Red Bull Content Pool
04
Crash-proof your body: Crashing is part of the job
“I’ve crashed throughout my career. It’s part of the job. As a kid, you bounce a bit more, you’re more agile. But the more time you spend in the gym, the more you improve your agility, fitness and motion. Those factors help when you inevitably smash yourself up.”
