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Training Tuesday: It’s 2012 and Time to Get Fit!

Greg MacPherson by Greg MacPherson
January 11, 2012
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It’s 2012 and your New Year’s Resolution is to get fit for motorcycle racing or track day riding. This is it. This is the year you lose 10lbs so you can fit into those old racing leathers or beat your buddy’s laptimes. Well if you’re reading this blog you’ve come to the right place!

As part of the new Inside Motorcycles website, a few of us contributors will be blogging on a regular basis. Over the years, I’ve had a number of people approach me about training for motorcycle racing. So, I figured a weekly blog would be a great place to start! Each Tuesday, I will endeavor to talk to you about training tips and guidelines, as well as some basic training plans to increase strength and endurance and drop a few pesky pounds. This week, I’ll begin with some basic things you should consider before getting started, but first, a little background about me.

Background:
I should state at the outset that I am not a certified personal trainer and if you’re looking for a more professional training program, I recommend you contact your local gym about a hiring a certified trainer. That being said, I do have over 20 years of training experience, from racing bicycles at the national and provincial level to more recently, racing motorcycles. Throughout the years I have had the opportunity to work with leading fitness trainers and coaches, and I’ve learned a thing or two about strength and endurance training, periodization, proper rest and recovery, technique, training with power and heart rate, and proper nutrition. So, I’ll do my best here to share what I can. Okay, enough about me, let’s get started!
Getting Started:
Before you get started on your training plan, there’s a few things you will need to consider, and a bit of basic equipment that you will need.
Do You Have Any Prior Health Issues?
This seems like a strange question, but hey we are dealing with motorcycle riders/ racers here! Before you embark on any kind of exercise program you should have medical clearance to do so. This means that if you have any health issues such as respiratory or heart issues, or any healing broken bones, it is best to consult with your physician before you get started. If you’re otherwise feeling healthy, there’s no need get the green light from the doctor, just jump right in!
What are your Training Goals?
Everyone has different training goals and fitness backgrounds, so no two training plans are often the same. That being said, as motorcycle racers we often want to drop a few pounds, improve our endurance, improve flexibility and increase our muscle strength (we’re not talking Popeye here!).  Endurance is important for road racing as it helps you maintain your focus during strenuous sprint races. Improved fitness leads to better focus which translates into faster laptimes with fewer mistakes. Increased flexibility helps you move around the motorcycle, and perhaps more importantly, improved flexibility helps reduce the risk of injury in the unlikely event you do have a mishap. Increasing muscle strength, particularly in your core (Abs) and specific upper and lower body muscles will also help you maneuver your 350lb+ motorcycle around the racetrack.
What Sort of Equipment Do I Need?
Believe it or not, you actually don’t need a whole lot of equipment to get started on your brand new fitness plan! A pair of running shoes, a membership to your local gym or a bosu ball/ exercise ball and a few free weights should do just fine.

Gym vs At-Home: While a gym membership is ideal, particularly for the strength component, you can still get pretty creative with some at-home workouts. If you’re like me and the nearest gym is 30km away, building a small gym in your basement or a corner of your home is always an option. My home gym is a little more sophisticated than most, but really all you need are an exercise ball and/ or bosu ball and some dumb bells and you’re good to go!

Get Outside! For endurance training, running and cycling are popular cardio activities among professional motorcycle road racers. When they’re not on their motorcycles, guys like Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden and even Jordan Szoke can be found on their bicycles or going for a jog.  While running may be more anatomically consistent with motorcycle racing as more similar muscles are used, riding a bicycle is also a lot easier on your joints—and for some of us suffering past injuries, keeping the joints happy is key!

If running or sitting on a stationary bicycle all winter aren’t your thing,  as Canadians we have the fortune of being able to cross-country ski or snowshoe for the winter months as well (depending on where you live of course— if you’re in Calgary experiencing the current heat wave this winter, then go ride your bike!) I recently picked up some Atlas Running Snowshoes and I absolutely love them. It’s a great workout and a nice way to escape the streets and run on the snow-covered trails in the winter months.

It’s Winter….What Do I Wear?
Someone once told me, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” That’s more or less true these days with all the technical fabrics available on the market. That being said, if you are planning to train outdoors this winter, you should dress in layers. A good system includes a base layer, mid-layer and outer layer or shell plus something to cover your extremities.

Base layer: closest to your skin. This should be tight fitting and serves to wick moisture away from your body. Base layers are generally made of polypropylene, polyester, thinsulate or wool.  Cotton should be avoided. Personally, I like using Performance Under Gear for my base layers. It does a great job of wicking away moisture, fits great, and lasts forever. You can also wear it as a base layer under your race gear during summer months. 

Mid-layer: the layer overtop of the base layer. The mid-layer can fit more losely than the base layer and serves to carry moisture away from the base layer, allowing you to stay dry and warm. A good mid-layer can be made of fleece, polyester, wool or new synthetic materials. Polartec makes some great fleece mid-layers.

Outer layer: the final layer that protects your body from wind and rain, and allows moisture to escape. A good outer layer is often a lightweight shell made from Gore-Tex or another wind or water-resistant material.  Good technical shells will also have pitted zips to allow moisture to escape.

Extremities: wool or synthetic socks, mitts or lobster-claw type gloves, and a toque are also recommended to keep your extremities warm. If the temperatures are well below zero, ski goggles and a balaclava are recommended to protect your face from frostbite…it is Canada, afterall!

Nutrition: Can I Keep Eating Kraft Dinner? 
There’s no point in building that powerful race engine and then pouring 87 octane pump fuel into it, right? Like a race bike that works best on premium race fuel, our bodies also work better if we fuel them we balanced nutrition. So, ditch the beers and colas and replace them with water! You’ll probably drop 5lbs simply by laying off the calorie-heavy alcohol and soft-drinks! 

You’re also going to want to fuel your body with 5-6 meals a day (as opposed to 2-3 large meals) so your body can metabolize the nutrients faster and recover from workouts quickly and efficiently. Your meals should consist of a balance of protein and carbohydrate, which you can gain from a wide variety of plant (if you’re vegetarian) and animal and fresh food sources. I’ll try to discuss both approaches (meat versus vegetarian) in future blog posts. Keep the processed foods to a minimum or avoid them altogether— it may sound like hard work, but no pain equals no gain, right! Time to get moving!

Your Basic Training Program
Once you’ve figured out your training goals, you’ve got your equipment and clothing sorted out, we can start to focus on getting moving and jumping into a training plan. I’ll touch on the plan in more details next week, so look forward to 5-6 days a week of a gruelling (yet successful) fitness regiment to get you on track for racing!  In the meantime make sure you have everything you need to get started on our winter training adventure; and if you have any questions feel free to comment and ask away! 
Tags: fitnessmotorcyclemotorcycle racingsuperbike racingtraining plan
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