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Edited Date/Time
3/19/2021 12:23pm
The question i have moto bros, is it better to be a bit heavier and have muscle or to be lean and skinny for moto? I ask because last summer my weight was around 165-170 all cardio work but never felt "strong" so after heavy gym time this fall and winter I'm floating around 195-200. should i keep cutting and try to get weight back down to where i was last year at risk of losing all my progress in gym or stay where i am and ride my 125 harder?
edit:
left this key info out
38 years old
5ft 11"
edit:
left this key info out
38 years old
5ft 11"
That said, if you got the technique and seat time, I'd get the beach muscles and stay lean so you can look good on and off the bike!
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Thanks guys keep the advice coming
this is all coming from someone who is overweight lmfao
The positive side of the tradeoff is that my bike/rider combo is lighter and I get a lot of holeshots. I also usually win drag races to any given corner in that situation.
What's the outcome? Stay lean and you'll have a better performance advantage early in the race but may suffer later. Gain muscle and you'll have a power/weight ratio disadvantage, but may be stronger late in the race. On a 125, I'd lean toward the lighter side if I were you. On a 250 or 450F, the muscle sure helps.
It's worth noting that Ricky Carmichael took advice from Jeff Ward, who told him to hit the weights a little bit. RC was training with Johnny O' at the time, and Wardy casually mentioned that Johnny could outrun, outswim, and outbicycle Jeff any day of the week, but Wardy still felt he could win MX races (and proved it,) over O'show because of muscle mass. It was about that time that RC started becoming invincible.
This would be a great subject for a kinesthetic study.
There's so much to consider, but speaking anecdotally, I would stick to where you're at. Maybe do some cutting through diet and increase the cardio before getting into the swing of things, but continue the gym work as well. At my leanest, I felt sick a lot and would fatigue easily. Right now, I've got more work I want to do on body fat, but I'm in the best shape I've ever been in. I try to run 30+ minutes most days of the week and do higher rep, lower-weight lifting 4-6 days a week.
Maybe it's not THE most optimal for racing, but like someone else said, there are severely overweight and unhealthy people who can outpace me and go the distance in longer races. At an amateur level it doesn't have to be perfect. On the other hand, my life beyond the track is much better as a result of that program and I also feel a bit more protected against injury. Whatever small sacrifice I'm making in terms of absolute performance is worth all of the upsides everywhere else.
Black with this makeup are way over represented in sports that require explosive power- think 100 metre sprints- and vastly under represented in endurance sports and in elite swimming because their greater mass has them lower in the water.
Pit Row
One last thing I'll share is your comment about not being meant to be that light. For some that really is the case. Since at least 11 or so, I've carried a bit more weight in my midsection than I'd like to. Whether I weighed 160 and did tons of cardio or weighed 200 and didn't workout or diet at all, it's always been a battle. I'm currently around 185, good bit of muscle mass, and all of my tests show that I'm at around 15% body fat and have low visceral fat. I experimented with a few strict "long term" diet changes to see if I could knock that little bit of fluff around my gut off-from keto to vegan and all calorie restricted-but each time my body fat would spike up to around 21% and I'd feel some awful side effects along the way.
With that sort of "testing" to find what works for me and what doesn't, I've just stuck to a relatively high protein diet that fall under my weight loss calorie target, cut out added sugar and simple carbs, and have increased the frequency of my cardio and weightlifting to the numbers I mentioned before. My only "supplements" are 5,000 iU of Vitamin D with a Vitamin K supplement to boost absorption, and I use PNG hydration products (sponsor) during my training and racing. My weight isn't dropping and even my body fat percentage hasn't changed all that much, but the body composition finally is, and I feel awesome mentally and physically.
Just feeling better in that sense is probably more of an advantage than anything else. The mental edge of not worrying about getting tired or blowing up and knowing you put in the work so you can push harder is huge.
Riding style also plays a huge role in this topic. Did Peick ride like a bulldog because he is a bigger dude, or is he a bigger dude because he rides like a bulldog?
I think everyone has that sweet spot of muscle mass and flexibility and you can "feel" when you're at the right ratio for riding.
For me it's around 180 and I'm 6'. Any heavier and I feel too restricted on the bike, significantly lighter and I feel weak.
you and I seem like we have a lot in common, also i should have said this as well but i have a pretty good grasp on what works for me diet and fitness wise now as i dropped a large amount of weight the last 2-3 years so there's that. When i was at 165ish, sure i was lean but had some lose skin and just never felt "right" if that makes sense.
Technique is definitely big. I've seen pro MTB guys get wasted on the track when they should be just getting warmed up.
Edit: I swear Ryan Hughes didn't just type this. LMAO.
Cardio is cardio whether you skinny, fat, or muscular. A fat guy with good cardio won’t be killing any marathons, but he will finish. A skinny guy with minimal cardio would struggle to run a 5k.
I’ve always been my best when I was stockier, I was stronger on the bike and controlled it better and used less energy. Those saying you can’t be in good shape if you’re muscular have no idea what they’re talking about. If you know how to train and diet, you can be pretty stocky and still have great cardio.
Definitely pumped up, which from my experience is all technique. Guess my point was I'm in great overall physical condition. Minimal body fat, but built and strong. But it doesn't seem to translate to my racing as I don't get to spend nearly as much time riding as I can in the gym during the week. Also evident by the guys smoking two packs a day beating me in motos.
So the original question of should he drop back down or stay where he's at simply made me think the weight and/or gym time, at most amateur levels, probably doesn't help or hinder as much as time, technique, and experience on the bike.
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