Winterization for the Body
By Tim Crytser
Another great season of motocross has drawn to a close, as the leaves all over the northeast turn their brilliant colors of red, orange, and yellow. This is always a tell-tale sign that another chapter in our motocross careers has closed and the time to reflect on our successes and failures is upon us. Hopefully, you had more successes than failures and are able to look back on your recent season as a memorable experience. Whether you failed or succeeded actually makes no difference at this point; what you do from this point forward is what's important. Now is the time to review your program and decide how you are either going to improve on it or make sweeping changes and finally get into the type of condition that you have always aimed for. This look back should happen whether you are an aspiring pro, mid level B rider, or a weekend warrior want-a-be. The time to winterize our bodies is upon us and how well you perform that winterization will determine whether you have a cracked block come spring time, or a body that is primed and ready to go.
A Time for Reflection
In order to prepare for the future, you must first start by looking into the past. Determining your strengths and weaknesses from the recently completed season will guide you in laying out a plan for the upcoming season. Everyone is racing for different reasons and everyone aspires to differing levels of success. But no matter what your level, the off-season is the time to determine where you want to be when its time to throw the old leg back over the bike for another season. If your desire is to qualify for Loretta Lynne's, then you need a serious plan and that planning starts in the off-season. Even if your goals are a little less ambitious, and you just want to be able to make 3 laps without feeling like you just went 15 rounds with Tyson, you need to start your conditioning right now. Remember, it doesn't matter what class you ride in, training year-round is an important element to insure yourself against injury and to keep your body in the best condition possible.
Reflecting on last seasons results is a very important part of the off-season program. If you didn't have quite the season you had hoped for, be brutally honest with yourself when evaluating last season's performance as only you will know the real reasons why you may have failed. Think about what may have either kept you from reaching your full potential and also keep in mind the factors that may have helped you succeed. Make a list of the things that both helped and hindered you and try to eliminate the bad while expanding on the good. This list can include anything ranging from an unsupportive girl friend, lack of money or time, hanging out with the wrong friends, or just flat out being too lazy. If conditioning was a factor that kept you from reaching your goals, now is the time to do something about that and determine that it is not going to happen again.
The Bike is Put Away….Now What?
The first thing you should consider after the bike is put into hibernation is your state of injury. If you made it through the season relatively unscathed, then after a short mental break you should be good-to-go. If you weren't so lucky and maybe had an injury of two, then your main focus should be on fully recovering before starting your off-season training. Once you have evaluated where you stand and taken the appropriate break, the focus of your off-season training should be on strength/endurance training, along with aerobic-based cardiovascular training. Strength training is the nucleus for all other conditioning, and higher levels of strength will ultimately yield higher levels of cardiovascular and muscular endurance in the preseason. Since the upcoming winter weather will most likely prevent you from venturing outside or maybe even using your garage as makeshift gym, it is a good idea to join a gym if you don't already belong to one. One of the easiest ways to fail next spring is to let the winter time blues grab you by the throat and choke the life out of you. One way to prevent this is to start a routine now while the weather is relatively nice. The winter time blues along with the hectic holiday season is still a few weeks away, so my advice would be to not wait any longer. Get moving before the excuses start to pile up.
Time to Dust off the Weight Bench
The off-season is a time for doing what we call "conditioning lifting." This type of lifting allows the muscles and joints to recover and prepare for the next season by increasing your base level of strength. This will help decrease the chance of in-season injuries by strengthening the musculoskeletal structure. This training, although not as sport specific as pre-season or in-season training, is a necessary segment of a good year-round physical conditioning program for motocross. This segment of training should consist of "multiple joint" exercises, such as squats, lunges, incline press, pull-downs, shoulder press and seated row. The core muscles or ab region should be strengthened by performing abdominal crunches, side (oblique) crunches, leg lifts and back extensions (see “ Time To Get Started ”
The off-season training program should be performed for 6-8 weeks to establish a core strength base. Depending on when you plan to start racing again in the spring will dictate how long your off-season program will be. It is very important that the last four to five weeks of training be performed at a much more intense level than the first few weeks both in the weight lifting portion and the cardio portion. In the weight lifting phase, in order to gain the desired musculoskeletal strength, training should be progressively increased by adding resistance and decreasing repetitions. In the cardio phase, in order to gain the desired aerobic base, the cardio effort must be broadened by increasing time and exertion level. Off-season training should not be discounted as a time to take it easy; instead, it should be about getting stronger in your weak areas and gaining the upper hand on the competition. The off-season is where the tough get tougher and the weak, well, they just sit in front of the TV and wish they had what it took to become a champion!
Off-Season Training Program Details
The following program is generic in nature and should be adjusted to fit your needs. For example, you may find that you need more leg strength versus upper body or core strength. Here, you will have to do some self evalution and determine your strengths and weaknesses. Once you do this you will be able to customize the routine to maintain your strengths and improve your weak areas. Perform 3 to 5 days a week with a day off in between workouts. Warm up for 10 minutes on a bicycle/rower or any other cardio machine you have available, and then begin ( or follow this ). Perform some type of aerobic activity (running, cycling, playing basketball, etc) on the days that you don't weight train.
|
OFF-SEASON STRENGTH |
Sets |
Repetitions |
| Warm-up, stretch |
At least 10 minutes |
Rowing machine or other cardio equipment |
|
Squats |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Reps; Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Reps; Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Leg Press |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Hamstring Curls |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Bench Press |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Bent Over Rows |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Military Press |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Dead Lifts |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Captain’s Chair: |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Weighted Abdominal Crunches |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Back Extensions |
3 - 4 |
8-10 Weeks 1 & 2 4-6 Weeks 3 thru 6 |
| Cardio Activity |
20-30 minutes cardiovascular activity on the rowing machine. This should be performed at an exertion level of 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 (i.e. work pretty hard, but not as hard as you can) or 70-80% of age adjusted maximum heart rate . |
|
| Cool Down and Stretch |
At least 10 minutes |
|
For the above exercises, perform 8-10 repetitions for weeks 1 and 2 and then progress to 4-6 repetitions for weeks 3 through 6. Perform all sets of one exercise before moving on to the next. Take a 1 minute break between sets.
For proper form on the above exercises, be sure to consult with a fitness professional at your gym. Otherwise, send me an email
After completing the weight lifting phase, perform 20-30 minutes of cardiovascular activity on a rowing machine at 70-80% of age adjusted maximum heart rate for total body endurance . Check out this page to determine your heart rate training zones.
Good luck with your off-season training and remember, if you want to be successful this season, the preparation for that success starts now. Take a short break so that you don't get burned out and come back in a few weeks with a new found fire and determination that will help you dominate your respective class. Until next time, good luck with your training and, as always, VT can be reached anytime at crytset@comcast.net . In addition, be sure and check out the Racer X Virtual Trainer archive section; your complete one-stop information zone for motocross fitness.
