Fitness

[bohomoto]

The owner of the gym I train at (Human 2.0) recently asked me to write about fitness for motorcycle riders. He has been the Chief Medical Director at several MotoGP races, so it was not a request I took lightly. The article was published today.

I'm not sure what the fitness community will think of my argument but I don't really care. I'm more interested to hear what the motorcycle community has to say. And although I'm writing for all types of riders, I'm obviously biased towards dirt biking, particularly enduro. I wrote this article with BMA'ers in mnd.

There has recently been a wave of articles about fitness-based training for motorcycles. Most of what has been said, in my opinion, is garbage. I say this in the article with much more diplomacy. Also, the mini documentaries about the training routines for pro riders are not very helpful. Either Aldon Baker keeps his real training philosophy secret or he and I have very different ideas about what constitutes good training. (I realize that he has many SX championships under his belt and I have zero but since he puts the information out there, its up for debate).

If anyone is interested in the gym I discuss, please feel free to post questions here or email me directly. There are very few gyms as good as this one in the world, let alone Canada. Ottawa is very lucky to have it. The owner and I have been discussing ways to be useful for the motorcycle community. We have discussed video-based instruction or group classes. IF you have any suggestions about how we could help meet your own fitness goals, please feel free to post here or contact me directly.

Here's the article: http://bit.ly/1J5ZFDq

Enjoy!


Side note: Patrick Mercier, who is a BMA member, is presently in the top 5 for the Offroad Ontario XC Championships. This is his second season racing and first season in the Nove A category. He is also a member of Human 2.0.

 

[Skyllz]

I like the way you explain your "flow" the way and I agree with it.

This is exactly why you can also ride much faster following someone that knows the trail or is faster than you. All you are doing is riding their flow and your less limited by your skills/physical condition given that "line" is all displayed in front of you and you can dedicate more brain power to have a better position on the bike, better gear selection, better throttle control and all instead of having to thread your own line on top of it.

Good stuff.

 

[Jessie]

Blake,
It is a superb article.
You were a great coach for us at Shawville and your article is highly valued for me.
You definitely know your stuff.
Thanks
Jessie

 

[zedro]

Very nice, agree 100%, we need to do 'functional exercises', not the isolation training that primarily works for looks, and risks putting on unneeded mass. Joe Rogan had a great podcast a couple of months ago featuring a top UFC trainer. He said most standard routines not only may not help, but could be a detriment to your given activity. Doing power squats is good for being good at power squats, etc. One thing he kept coming back to was working the feet, starting at the toes, emphasizing balance first and foremost, and working your way up the body with functional routines using plyometrics (sp?). Look up YouTube for those types of excersizes...no weights, you can do purely high intensity body excersizes, and you can see how similar those exaggerated movements mimic what a bike can put you through.

My buddy (the newb who was supposed to ride this weekend) wrote some good technical literature on body mechanics (karlviger.com). His background was in martial arts but for the past few years he got into bodybuilding competitions and still trains in a similar way. And while he could probably beat down a wild bear, his physique is totally unsuited for riding and his endurance level is shockingly low. So now he has to 'undo' a lot of that hard work and get his body working efficiently again for our sport.

Now how to integrate this with 10 hour work days...

 

[Skyllz]

My buddy (the newb who was supposed to ride this weekend) wrote some good technical literature on body mechanics (karlviger.com). His background was in martial arts but for the past few years he got into bodybuilding competitions and still trains in a similar way. And while he could probably beat down a wild bear, his physique is totally unsuited for riding and his endurance level is shockingly low. So now he has to 'undo' a lot of that hard work and get his body working efficiently again for our sport.

Now how to integrate this with 10 hour work days...

In the same way guys who train hard for MX are explosive and stupid fast for about an hour... then they gas out. Those guys are in tip top shape, but a different kind of shape

It's all about training for what your goals are