STRENGTH AIDS ENDURANCE, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Riding dirt bikes is primarily an endurance activity, interspersed with bouts of anaerobic moments…

That means the aerobic system is the primary driver for sustainability. Strength is a massive contributor to how robust the aerobic system can become, not to mention its connection and need for solid anaerobic contributions. 

If you are racing or recreationally riding, and not strength training, then you are missing the forest for the trees.

Stronger does not always equate directly to bigger. As Dirt Bike athletes that want to be as strong as possible without gaining unnecessary size, the amount of time spent in the gym matters. We do not lift often enough or with enough volume per muscle group, per week, to start adding on unnecessary bulk, only enough to get stronger for our sport. We prioritize the things that matter, that actually move the needle. Compound lifts, smart accessory work, and weekly conditioning. 

Here is where program selection is very important. You want a program that is designed to get you where you want to go. Strength and conditioning rolled into one. Not one or the other, and not geared toward getting you better at Hyrox, or CrossFit, or Marathon’s, but Dirt Biking.

On the bike is where it all comes together, and where hopefully we are getting a majority of our base and threshold work in…But, for most of us, we do not get to ride all week and weekend, consistent enough to only do our conditioning on the bike. So we supplement off of the bike. 

I was listening to the Keep Hammering Collective with Cam Hanes podcast with guest, Brian Deegan the other day, and Brian mentioned at one point he put Hayden on a "specialized" gym workout routine that was tailored to what he thought his weaknesses were. He said he got worse. He then put him back into the generic (I only mean generic as it is designed for all the riders, not each one individually) gym program at Star Racing Yamaha that all the other racers were doing, and he got better. Even at Star Racing Yamaha, all their riders are on the same gym program. They lift different size weights, but the exercises and intensity stimulus is the same. (barring injury limitations etc…)

The more you look into elite performers, the more you realize that what they do in the gym is paramount in helping to build the base that allows them to practice their sport to the best of their ability, but it is never a “super secret exercise”, or “technique” or "obscure methodology" in the gym that allows them to dominate their sport. It is using the gym as it should be used…Lifting with compound movements, heavy, doing accessories lifts, heavy, and being intentional in their actions and consistent in their approach. 

They built general qualities in the gym that enriched their capabilities in their sport. 

That is why the gym is so important. For performance, for adventure, for trying to prepare yourself to be as capable and safe as possible by stacking the deck on the side of physical preparation. 

Train in the gym to give yourself every advantage out on the trail or race course.

I do not compete against anyone else in the gym except myself. I train hard to be better on the bike year after year. Maybe there is a ceiling, but I am far from the stars yet. The gym allows me to train harder and safer on the bike, it does not subtract, only multiplies.

My gym training volume is different then what it used to be…Way less. But not way less important. Different goals (Then when I was competing in CrossFit) and requires a different approach now. 

Riding is an endurance sport. But just like any other sport, being strong, and being durable allows you to play or perform better than being weak and frail.

If you are not strong you are weak, and if you are not fit you are not durable, and performance suffers. 

Is it always so cut and dry? Haha, no, probably not.

But messages get lost in the grey, and nuance first requires wisdom to understand. So go get strong and durable, and then come back and argue over what I just said if you find it out to be untrue...Once you have actually set foot on the other side.  

Josh