Great fitness off bike and very poor on bike

Regis
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Regis 10/12/2019 10:11am
10/12/2019 10:11am
Breathe

Pick three spots in the track to take a big deep breath. Loosen your grip with your fingers.

I am willing to bet you are holding f you breathe and don’t know it. Back when I raced SX, both triples and the finish line were my moments of relaxing my fingers and making sure to get a nice feel breath
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kkawboy14
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kkawboy14 10/12/2019 11:01am
10/12/2019 11:01am
I’m willing to bet your trying to go to fast, Win practice, be factory!

Just ride, slow down to go fast!
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SoCalMX70
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SoCalMX70 10/12/2019 11:04am
10/12/2019 11:04am Edited Date/Time 10/12/2019 11:05am
Didn't read all of the replies, but I'll tell you from experience... After shedding 50lbs the last year and a half and doing a ton of cardio, I didn't feel "great" on the bike until I started doing strength training. Right now I only do a full body routine once a week with the other 3 days being some mix of rowing/hiking/running. That one day of strength training has made a massive difference!

One other thing. I used to workout 5-6 days a week AND ride. As soon as I cut down to 4 I saw better gains. Your body builds itself when you're resting... Let it rest.
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RCMXracing
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RCMXracing 10/12/2019 11:17am
10/12/2019 11:17am Edited Date/Time 10/12/2019 11:21am
Are you breathing? Are you? BREATHE!
No. 1 cause of being gassed.
OP you didn’t say what your experience level is... ?Regardless, if you are tense and not flowing that causes arm pump and you also hold your breath. Also proper breathing technique is VERY important.
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Agent717
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Agent717 10/12/2019 11:31am
10/12/2019 11:31am
I recently had this same issue and it was completely new to me. Never had arm pump or poor bike fitness before. My issue was dehydration related. I started drinking 1.5 gallons of water per day, sometimes more the day before riding. Problem solved.

As long as you’re exercising as much as you are that amount of water is fine. For those that aren’t exercising consistently, that’s probably too much water.
1
theycallmeebryan 10/12/2019 11:35am
10/12/2019 11:35am Edited Date/Time 10/12/2019 11:37am
All of the exercises you listed are leg workouts. While motocross requires a lot of leg endurance, you also need upper body endurance. As others have said, there is no replacement for seat time. I do a lot of road cycling as well, but I've found that stationary rowing mimics a lot of the motions you do on a motocross bike. You don't need a super expensive Concept2 Rower like the pros use, but if you can afford it go for it. I use this $200 magnetic rower and it works great. I try to row 3 days a week and once in the morning of a ride day before i load up my bike.

Warm-up laps are critical. You shouldn't just hop on your bike with a resting heart rate and try to log heaters. Allow your heart rate to come up slowly. Make sure you focus on the fundamentals very early in your ride day. Your very first few laps on the track, keep reminding yourself to squeeze the bike with your legs, keep your toes pointed in, don't death grip the bars, BREATH (very important), look ahead at where you want to go, stand as often as you can, stuff like that.

Another thing that a lot of people overlook is the steering stem nut torque and steering dampers. I've noticed a huge difference in upper body endurance on the track due to this. Do your bars flop to one side when the bike is on a stand? It really shouldn't. Make sure the steering stem nut is just tight enough where the bars barely fall to the side. You may think making the bars harder to turn will require more upper body strength and make you pump up quicker, but thats exactly opposite. Tighter steering will allow you to relax your grip on your bars just a little bit, and it makes a huge difference.

Also, make sure you are well hydrated even before you ride and stay well hydrated and fed throughout the day!
dutch_rider 10/12/2019 11:51am
10/12/2019 11:51am
RCMXracing wrote:
Are you breathing? Are you? BREATHE! No. 1 cause of being gassed. OP you didn’t say what your experience level is... ?Regardless, if you are tense...
Are you breathing? Are you? BREATHE!
No. 1 cause of being gassed.
OP you didn’t say what your experience level is... ?Regardless, if you are tense and not flowing that causes arm pump and you also hold your breath. Also proper breathing technique is VERY important.
Amen to that. If you breathe more , your muscles get way more oxygen. And they won't get tired to fast.

I do kickboxing 3 times a week for my physical training. Especially in the beginning with sparring i didn't breathe enough. So after two rounds of 3 minutes i was completely gassed.

I can recommend that to anyone. Martial arts for moto training. Not only to get physical stronger but also for better mind and body control.
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StartedTooLate 10/12/2019 11:54am
10/12/2019 11:54am
Jackyy231 wrote:
I do a lot of fitness off the bike. My fitness consists of lots of cycling, running, gym. I cycle 4 times a week and gym...
I do a lot of fitness off the bike. My fitness consists of lots of cycling, running, gym. I cycle 4 times a week and gym 2 times a week. I also add in balance and the general flexibility training. I have great fitness off the bike I can run for miles. My issue is soon as I throw a leg onto the bike. Shattered within 2 laps and bad arm pump. How should I approach this?
Yeah but do you REALLY know if you are fit? It is easy to ride a bike around and tell yourself you are in good shape. But can you really put down the power? How fast can you recover when you go deep into debt? There are tens of thousands of recreational cyclists who think they are fit...and 99%+ of them would get blown off the back in the first 10 minutes of an actual sanctioned cycling RACE....in Cat 4, let alone Cat 3 or Cat 1,2,P.

After a long time off...I started cycling again. After about 150 hours of base fitness work I thought I was getting back to decent a base fitness. Ha! I started riding the in mountains on some of the old climbs I used to do when I was racing...talk about DEPRESSING. There was a climb I used to regularly do in the 38:00-40:00 range. 2700 vert in 7 miles. My best time ever was 36:20. (A well known US Pro who has ridden the Tour holds the record at 35:00). After slogging up this thing a dozen times...I have yet to even break an HOUR. But I look like a fit cyclist. I can go on the local group rides and hang with the fast guys. I feel good on a dirt bike. But am I fit at a competitive level? LOL....not even close. So I got a power meter, and have started doing some structured training, and I am starting to make incremental gains.

That would be my recommendation to you. Get a power meter. Build a base level of fitness...and then start doing structured training. You have to suffer. It is going to hurt. Bad. Cycling is easy to fool yourself with. You can go ride a lot, and think you are putting in work. It takes real discipline to put in the work.


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ProKawi24
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ProKawi24 10/12/2019 4:44pm
10/12/2019 4:44pm
There's no substitute for seat time. Certain arm/hand exercises will help a lot but your diet is very important. Not just for riding stamina but for arm pump. It's amazing how food and liquids can impact arm pump so much but it's true. I used to always release some of my grip when in the air, control the bike more with the legs.
Flatliner
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Flatliner 10/12/2019 5:51pm
10/12/2019 5:51pm
I definitely train bodybuilding oriented. It’s all about seat time. Nothing else.

When I was at my biggest I was around 10% body fat and 225lbs on a 125. I rode 3 days a week. That was enough to be able to ride a 20min moto at full blast.
Chance1216
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Chance1216 10/12/2019 11:35pm
10/12/2019 11:35pm Edited Date/Time 10/13/2019 9:37pm
Jackyy231 wrote:
I do a lot of fitness off the bike. My fitness consists of lots of cycling, running, gym. I cycle 4 times a week and gym...
I do a lot of fitness off the bike. My fitness consists of lots of cycling, running, gym. I cycle 4 times a week and gym 2 times a week. I also add in balance and the general flexibility training. I have great fitness off the bike I can run for miles. My issue is soon as I throw a leg onto the bike. Shattered within 2 laps and bad arm pump. How should I approach this?
Changing my diet was the biggest thing. Jogging on treadmill with ten pound dumbbells also helped me quite a bit. I set the treadmill up with different intervals of incline and speeds, while switching between hammer curls, regular curls and front arm raises. It doesn't seem like much and it sounds like a weird thing to do but, it worked for me. I'll be quick to say I don't race but a four hour poker run through technical terrain isn't an easy task.
chump6784
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chump6784 10/13/2019 12:45am
10/13/2019 12:45am
Do you pump up on race days and practice days or just race days? Could be mental, I can go 20 minutes hard on practice days but after a few laps on race days I start to pump up, especially if I get a good start and have people breathing down my neck
cable
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cable 10/13/2019 6:42pm
10/13/2019 6:42pm
cruise the first lap or two for a warm up. you are trying way too hard.
Gravel
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Gravel 10/13/2019 8:46pm
10/13/2019 8:46pm
I’ll echo what several others have said.. You’re probably holding your breath. I use daily to do that during races, couldn’t make a lap without problems but I could ride desert whoops for hours and never slow down. Just relax, slow down enough to do everything right and breathe, you’ll be faster than ever within a couple races
braaap
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braaap 10/13/2019 8:51pm
10/13/2019 8:51pm
Regis wrote:
Breathe Pick three spots in the track to take a big deep breath. Loosen your grip with your fingers. I am willing to bet you are...
Breathe

Pick three spots in the track to take a big deep breath. Loosen your grip with your fingers.

I am willing to bet you are holding f you breathe and don’t know it. Back when I raced SX, both triples and the finish line were my moments of relaxing my fingers and making sure to get a nice feel breath
Best improvement I ever made in my riding conditioning is to focus on consistent breathing. Lack of consistent breathing equals sure arm pump.
Dropbear
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Dropbear 10/13/2019 9:43pm
10/13/2019 9:43pm Edited Date/Time 10/13/2019 9:44pm
Ride hard in practice for about 4 or 5 laps. Feel and expect the pump.
Then rest for up to an hour if you can. Should be good after that. Worked for me. Oh yeah and ride an absolute minimum of twice a week.
Ron_Shuler
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Ron_Shuler 10/14/2019 6:42am
10/14/2019 6:42am
Jackyy231 wrote:
I do a lot of fitness off the bike. My fitness consists of lots of cycling, running, gym. I cycle 4 times a week and gym...
I do a lot of fitness off the bike. My fitness consists of lots of cycling, running, gym. I cycle 4 times a week and gym 2 times a week. I also add in balance and the general flexibility training. I have great fitness off the bike I can run for miles. My issue is soon as I throw a leg onto the bike. Shattered within 2 laps and bad arm pump. How should I approach this?
Every thing you are doing only works if you are doing all of this training mixed in with lots of MX seat time
soggy
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soggy 10/14/2019 6:45am
10/14/2019 6:45am
Jackyy231 wrote:
I do a lot of fitness off the bike. My fitness consists of lots of cycling, running, gym. I cycle 4 times a week and gym...
I do a lot of fitness off the bike. My fitness consists of lots of cycling, running, gym. I cycle 4 times a week and gym 2 times a week. I also add in balance and the general flexibility training. I have great fitness off the bike I can run for miles. My issue is soon as I throw a leg onto the bike. Shattered within 2 laps and bad arm pump. How should I approach this?
do you do a good aerobic warmup before riding? helps a ton (jumping jacks/jump rope etc)

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slimchugga119 10/15/2019 8:43pm
10/15/2019 8:43pm
Funny not one mention of WARMING UP. Seat time is crucial. But also warming up. I’m an Ex collegiate sprinter/jumper and now strength and conditioning coach. In college we warmed up 35-45 min before a 20 sec race... why? Cause you have to get blood flowing and heart rate up. If you are cold and jump on the bike blood rushes to areas that muscles are firing. And floods those areas with massive amounts of blood. What people refer to as “feeling a pump” in the weight room. Isolated areas with build ups of blood aka arm pump. You’re starting cold, your neurons and CNS in your forearms are firing thousands of times a minute. That drastic change forces blood into the area which is all the pressure you’re feeling. You have to get a good sweat going before you are warmed up. I’m gonna prolly get blasted for this cuz most guys here talk shit about sports, but watch any professional sport. They all have pregame warm ups for 45 min to an hour. EVERY SPORT. I love sports and I love MX. Been riding on and off all my life. No one wants to look like a squid running around your local track for 10-15 min to warm up, but I promise if you went out and jogged a mile, got your heart rate up, and started sweating, your arm pump would disappear.... completely. A solid 15 min warmup. Not 30 jumping jacks and some pushups. You need to get a REAL sweat going and get your heart rate to at least 140-150 for 10 min before you’re ready. Why do top level guys warm up on the rower/bike/SkiErg for 30 min before their Motos? As far as Weight lifting being no good as many guys seem to say I won’t go into anything on that other than it does translate.. not 100% but it lays a great foundation that you need as an athlete. If you train correctly to develop type 2 muscle fibers (quick twitch) and focus on stability, unilateral and dynamic movements, building a solid core, reactive exercises, and prehab exercises to strengthen tendons/ligaments/connective tissue to prevent injuries, and of course building a higher aerobic threshold you will ABSOLUTELY feel better and last longer on the bike. Not your typical static movements like Curls, shoulder presses, leg extensions, and other accessories movements will not help you on the bike. You’re not training to be a body builder. Motocross riders are athletes. And they need a program to better them athletically. You can’t expect to get better on the bike with a personal trainer in the weight room. You need to find a strength and conditioning coach who actually knows how to build better athletes, not show you how to make your “bi’s and tri’s bigger”
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Mit12
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Mit12 10/15/2019 11:44pm
10/15/2019 11:44pm
You are holding your breathe. Focus on breathing.

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