Getting in shape for the new season

Im sure im different than pros or really serious people..

I feel like im in my best shape when i do cycling 30 mins 3 days a week in the 150-160bpm range. Also a lot of front squats, face pulls etc to strengthen the back for good posture.

Same size and similar stamina when riding.

I’ve realized that I don’t support enough of my body weight with my legs, and regardless of cardio level - my legs bonk out when pushing hard.

I signed up for a men’s hockey league this winter to hopefully get some core and leg strength built up. Who knows if it’ll work, but figured it won’t hurt. I’ve already felt sore in “riding” spots after my first skate.

Start cycling and strengthening your legs. Do squats, leg presses, etc to make your legs stronger then cycle, spin, row, bleachers, battle ropes or whatever you want to gain some cardio endurance.

I’m gonna be honest with you. The walking stuff for 50 minutes is great as far as burning a few calories but it’s not going to help you when doing 20+ minute motos. Hiking is a “nice” and somewhat relaxing exercise (unless you’re extremely out of shape but it doesn’t sound like you are.) You want to do some high intensity interval training. You wanna hit it hard and In short bursts.

Leg day bro

Run. Get a heart rate monitor, download strava or whatever app you want, and run. Every day or night. Offset your running. Mon/wed run 1 mile at a fast pace. Tues/Thurs run 2.5 miles at a moderate pace. End each run with 5-10 100 yard sprints. Friday rest, race on the weekends. Try to increase your running to 2.5 miles and 5 miles, and use strava to monitor your times. Keep pushing your pace. What people dont understand about running is the real benefit is not the physical and aerobic training, but the mental training. Once you learn how to control your mind and push through the suck, and keep going, it'll translate into huge improvements on the bike.

Squats, pushups, and rowing are also huge.

6 days a week of this (1 cheat day)

Wish I had an answer to this.

Riding is enjoyable for me for three laps, then I cant hold on.

Each time I go out the arms pump up quicker and quicker.

I am 5'10 180 lbs -- Had this issue at 160 lbs as well, just not as bad.

More riding, plus bicycle time

Drink more water, roll your forearms with a tiger tail, don’t hold on so tight, ride more, focus on your riding and not your arms. There’s so many things that can cause arm pump. No one will be able to give you the reason why you’re getting it.

What I do with some very good results (both in fitness and as far as being lean and ripped bro):

10KM run on a treadmill (watching SX from the past weekend) followed by full body workout - Every monday.
By full body workout I mean mostly calisthenics exercises: pull ups, push ups, crunches, dips and weighted squats.
5KM run on a treadmill followed by full body workout - wednesday, friday.

Unless you are aiming to be a top pro, this should do the trick.

Im prob going to get shit for this. But i did invest in a 4armstrong to stretch my forearms. It made a difference. Arm pump isnt 100% gone, but its pretty damn reduced. Do whatever you can to keep your forearms stretched and loose.

OMG...there is no possible way I can "un-see". this.

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Ride. The best thing you can do is put on the bike tons of hours. You ride smoother, your resistance improves and you have fun! If you can..

I used be a pro rider in the 70's and knew some of the top riders in the world, like Jeff Ward, and Brad Lackey. Bob Hannah also lived with a couple friends of mine for a while, and I can tell you with 110% certainty, that running is the one single most important thing you can do to to increase your endurance. If you pick just one thing to do, and you do absolutely no other exercise, running is what you should do.

Bicycling does not even remotely compare to running, although some people may mistakenly think it does, and that is a fact, however, if you can't run for whatever reason, then bicycling outdoors, or on a machine is an alternative.

Other very simple exercises are squats as was also mentioned, meaning you bend your knees until your upper legs are around 45 degrees to the ground if you can. If you can easily do maybe 20 squats in a row without your legs getting tired, you should try doing them while you hold a weight, like maybe 15 - 20 lbs etc. Do them slowly.

Push ups as was mentioned, but do them slowly.

Sit ups as was mentioned, but do them slowly. If you can easily do maybe 20 situps in a row without getting tired, try holding around a 15 lb weight on your chest while you do them. Do OT put your hands behind your head when you do them. Fold them across your chest. Also try to keep your back as straight as you can when you do them as this will increase the intensity.

Simple arm curls with a weight are good.

Holding the bars loosely as was suggested is xlnt. If you can ride hard without having a death grip on the bars the majority of the time, you are not sitting or leaning too far rearward.

As far as riding goes, the single best suggestion I can think of to minimize the amount of effort it takes to ride, is to always, always, always sit on the gas tank when sitting and lean forward. The goal is to be in a position where the bike is not pulling on your arms, because that will year most people out in a hurry. Many people might think they are sitting far forward and leaning over the bars, but in my experience, they are not. You may have to rotate your bars forward more to make it easier but that obviously depends on where they are currently positioned.


OVER TRAINING

This is very easy to do when one is out of shape and is trying to get into shape. The only thing I can suggest is that if one area of your muscles are even moderately, sore, do not exercise that group of muscles until they are barely sore at all, because if you exercise to the point of straining a muscle where you can no longer do a particular exercise, you will have to wait a week or more until, it is better before you can exercise it again and during this waiting period, you just lost a lot of what you had gained.

My guess, is that it will take you around 6 months to get close to where you want to be, so in reality, it is way too late to start getting in shape for the start of the season, but it is never too late to start getting in shape in general.

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I know I joke around a lot, but seriously, for me, the best riding I'm capable of is when my legs are strong to hold on to the bike.

Running - best bang for the buck.

yup, start at the bottom and work your way up. in regards to motocross, it doesn't matter how strong ones arms are if they can't stand up.

As has been said training like running, rowing, alot of leg exercises work best. But another thing that works along with the exercise is training at the track. You said you can ride 100% for 10 minutes then maybe 50% for the rest of the time. Try riding 75-80% for the 20 minutes or so and build up stamina that way. I have done this in the past after coming off of knee surgery and it has helped.

You could try this Concept2 rowing machine. It's a great low impact workout for 80% of your body plus cardio all at once.

They send you a workout of the day and you can choose between short, medium and long. They have a website you can log all your workouts and keep track of your progress.

It's good to mix this in with weight training.

Cut out sugar, i recently realized how sugar kills my stamina. Also get a pitbike if you have room for a small horseshoe track (or no snow on the ground idk where you reside lol) ride on it each direction for as long as you can hold on everyday. I really believe that the best way to get rid of arm pump is seat time

Ride, ride, ride some more.

i just bought one of these a few weeks ago, since running hurts my knees bad as ive gotten older. The rower is definitely a hella work out.

Adjust your diet. What and the amount of food/water is as important as your hours at the gym/track.

run up the hill(work up in grades as you progress). walk down. at top do 20 push ups at bottom do 20 core exercises. 30 minutes. 3 days
2 days weights shoot for 45 minutes with little rest between reps
this with eating right and you will be a new man in a short time.
sleep......sleeeeeeep. lol so important. 7-8 is a proven fact for brain and body.
ride as much as possible have fun

Everyone has a different approach to getting to where you’ve described. For me it’s MTB and light weight training for bone density and muscle retention. Seat time on the motorcycle is also a big part of my program and critical also as it creates muscle memory and specific conditioning toward your goal. Diet should be designed with the goal in mind also, if it is not don’t bother with the rest. Hydrate!