Fitness Training for Racing

[600+]

Now, before you flame me :)

You see all those big racers doing strict fitness routines etc etc. Do any of you have a proper fitness training regime that you follow? And if yes what is it?

Thanks

[metalmonkey]

Yeah don't eat bad food that makes you put on weight....

Also gym training, and martial arts as much as possiable I don't have to worry about weight that much now, more my fitness level, last i checked I was running 11.1 on the beep test with 2 injuries. Should point out I'm 5 7" and 10 1/2 stone, want to drop weight back to 10 again.

depends on how serious you are I guess, In know a racer that doesn't drink at all, I have cut my drinking back alot, but I find I have to for work, traning and riding. Its up to you but it also saves me money. So no vices lol!

Also core strengh is important as well so work on that. Thats what I'm gonna do, I was doing that anyway so I'm just gonna build my fitness up again to past what it was. But last year I was training 4 times/week so I was doing it before racing.

Also its much easier to drop body weight than knock it off the bike;)

[Tim in Belgium]

I don't race a motorbike but tend to run twice a week, covering about 20 miles, mountain bike once or twice a week, and try to go to the gym once, and swim once a week. I do the odd duathlon, triathlon and adventure race, the odd trackday and ski holiday, oh and surf a little bit. I hope each activity helps the other to some degree. I agrre for bike racing core strength & endurance would figure highly, along with low weight as blue thunder suggested. I tend to eat & drink a little too much to be a true athlete ;)

[flymo]

all depends on how serious you take it, plus I dont think a typical club race takes as much out of you as a 45 min superbike race!

Typical club race is 15 mins max. To be honest though I was fairly fit when I started racing but got a shock after the first race. This is one of those things whereby you really do use muscles that you wouldnt ordinarily.

for example, you can get really saw hands due to the heavy braking and thighs take a pounding with all the moving around.

plenty of sleep helps the night before.

[metalmonkey]

I find that to be true, also even say after riding all day you will find parts that are sore, (depending on how hard u ride) that haven't been before, I would say its to work out areas, that a normal work out that doesn't take into account but general fitness will help, I would have thought. Also the fitter you are the quicker you heal from injury.

Yup lots of sleep and water is a must, I would have though during summer you will want at least 4 of litres of water. If you dehydrate you lose concertaion, also you will feel rough. I will go through 1 litre when I train, may be more it depends, so always drink water!

[flymo]

I find that to be true, also even say after riding all day you will find parts that are sore, (depending on how hard u ride) that haven't been before, I would say its to work out areas, that a normal work out that doesn't take into account but general fitness will help, I would have thought. Also the fitter you are the quicker you heal from injury.

Yup lots of sleep and water is a must, I would have though during summer you will want at least 4 of litres of water. If you dehydrate you lose concertaion, also you will feel rough. I will go through 1 litre when I train, may be more it depends, so always drink water!

Then again if you came to one of our club meets at Anglesey you wont see much water getting drunk at the bar the night before :rolleyes:

[lukemillar]

I find it's mainly lower body stuff. I grip the tank with my thighs under braking and take weight through them, when hanging off. Also, moving about the bike uses leg muscles.

However, I'm not a racer, just a trackdayer and like Flymo says a club meet raceday will consist of 2x15 mins races (tops!) and a morning warm up! Given that a trackday would be about 7-8x20 mins sessions, you looking around ~2 hours in the saddle, which makes a big difference.

[600+]

I have been trying to find some fitness regimes on the internet and have only come across 2 sites and they both say the same. Mainly the tell you to work on core strength, your bycepts, trycepts, shoulders and neck. But was wondering whether someone has sthing specific?

[kern0079]

It is a huge mix of people that I race with. Many do nothing at all but eat and drink (and also have a gut). I simply do cardio workouts (running and biking), which will do more good that you can imagine. Along with that simply eating healthy will go a long ways.

In our endurance series we typically will run a 50 minute shift per rider and that will kick your butt if you have a gut. The other thing I have found from these long stints is that at first my hands will blister quickly. You need to ride hard on a regular basis to keep your hands calused and in shape for those long stints.

[TheMickster]

I bought a book called Motocross Training Handbook by Mark Thompson, lots of good advice.

You need to be seriously fit to be competetive in motocross, So if you follow that you would be more than fit enough for circuit racing. I think the general idea is that the fitter you are the better able you are to concentrate 100% for the whole race.

Gives you advice on everything from diet, weight & CV exercises, preparing yourself for raceday etc.

Think you can get it for about a tenner off amazon.