Racer X Virtual Trainer

I race the expert class in district 34. I wanted to know if you could help me out with a training and nutrition program. My problem that I am having is I get tired and my arms pump up 3/4 of the way through my motos which are about 17 min. long. I am 29 years old and weigh 186 lbs. I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, I train at the gym 2-3 times a week and ride 2 times a week and race on sunday. my workout routine consists of several upper body exercises and use the stationary bike for 35 min. and keep my heart rate between 134 and 160bpm. If you can set me up with a good program I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Brandon,

Although there are several factors which can contribute to arm pump, I believe the first issue you should address is building core strength. Building core strength in your abs and back will allow your limbs to do less work while you are riding and in return should lessen your chances of getting arm pump.

Good old crunches and back extensions are a great place to start. Make sure you pay strict attention to form while you are doing your exercises. While working your abs, make sure you are using only your abs and not your legs.

Of course there is much more to being fit for motocross than core strength. Please take a look at my website www.fitnessandfuel.com or contact me at 517.404.9003 if you are interested in taking the next step in your training with a complete fitness and nutrition program!

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Kim Wathen M.S.
Exercise Physiologist/Dietitian/Personal Trainer
kim@fitnessandfuel.com

Hi again Brandon,

I wanted to mention another thing that you might consider. You should change 1 or 2 days of your cardio to more intense work. A simple way to do this is using what is called "Fartlek" training. It is simply adding random bursts of more intense work to your cardio workout.

It takes a few weeks to make substantial physiological changes so you need to be consistent in your workouts for awhile before you will notice a big difference. Please let me know how it goes!

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Kim Wathen M.S.
Exercise Physiologist/Dietitian/Personal Trainer
kim@fitnessandfuel.com

What are you doing on your actual moto riding days? Arm pump in someone of your ability level a lot of times is caused my mental things. One of these of course could be your lack of confidence in your fitness level.

One of the first things you have to do is actually ride longer on the motocross bike without getting arm pump. You have to go out and do a longer moto at a lower intensity so that you stress the systems that provide this kind of riding endurance. In simplest terms you have to be able to ride the duration period without getting arm pump before you can improve on the speed at which you can ride that duration. Not only are you physically stressing the components that provide the riding specific endurance you may be lacking but you are also changing mentally. Once you know and gain confidence that you CAN ride that long it's much easier to work on speed at that duration and have confidence in your abiliy to ride without arm pump. If you keep saying you will get arm pump in 17 minutes or whatever, well guess what you will get arm pump exaclty at that time. I am making things sound simple I know but I am just trying to water things down to their simplest forms. So.....for both physical and mental reasons, go at a pace at which you can ride longer motos. Do that first for awhile (ideally this is done at the very beginning of a training program) and after that and only after that, you add speed. The speed may only be done for a shorter duration but you can build that up progressively as well. First things first. Build the riding endurance first then put the speed on.

I sort of babbled there but I hope that makes sense to you.

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Coach Seiji
www.coachseiji.com