It may not seem like motocross riders have to do a lot of work in their sport – all they do is twist their wrist and go. But in reality, surviving a 20- to 30-minute moto is one of the more taxing physical experiences in sports. Strap a heart-rate monitor on a rider during a race and you’ll see it’s pounding away at a high rate.
A direct comparison to this intensity would be for you to run as fast as you can for 30 minutes. After 5 minutes, your legs would probably feel like lead. After 10 minutes, it would be all you could do to keep upright and moving forward, and the next 20 minutes would be even harder.
A motocross rider doesn’t have this luxury of limited focus, though, because in addition to the pounding in his chest, he’s also taking a beating from the course: tight turns, high jumps, rutted sections – and other bikers crashing into his line, or, worse, into him.
To survive the punishment, a rider must pay attention to his fitness off the motorcycle, just as he does to his skills on the track. He needs to build up his body’s stamina so it can perform at its highest level twice a day – if he’s at a competition with a qualifying heat in the morning.
To do this, the coaches at Carmichael Training Systems prescribe a cycling-based fitness program that’s designed to build a powerful aerobic engine.
Why cycling? It’s easy on the rider’s joints, which often could use a break from the beating on the track.
Once we’ve determined that the riders are in top cardiovascular shape, we then have them build up their strength and explosive power in the weight room. This work addresses several needs.
The first is their muscles’ stamina, specifically in their upper body and arms. This helps to combat the “arm-pump problem” experienced by motocross riders. That’s what happens when their arms and hands become so exhausted from handling the bike that they start to lose their grip. It’s the same feeling that comes from doing as many push-ups as you can in a row – eventually, your arms start burning and you can’t do any more.
For a motocross guy, who can’t stop even though his arms are screaming, there’s only one thing he can do: slow down. In a race, that’s not an option.
The second part of the weight- room training involves leaping and jumping drills (known as plyometrics) that prime the rider’s musculature for the repeated ballistic track demands.
One might think the rider could develop this strength on the bike. The truth is, he could, but that would be a waste of time. Plyometric drills are more effective because the rider’s work load can be managed, measured and evaluated more easily than he or she would on a bike.
When taken together – cardio, stamina, and explosive power – the result is a powerful motocross rider who can maneuver and manhandle his bike at a higher level through the final lap.
But perhaps more important, this conditioning allows a rider to bring better technique to the track and allows him or her to spend more time honing his technique on a particular track.
Instead of merely surviving the dirt, now he can dominate it.
Dean Golich is a coach for Colorado Springs-based Carmichael Training Systems. For more information on the latest in training, fitness, and nutrition, go to www.trainright.com/newsletter.
