MX Winter Training: Why is basic endurance important and 3 tips to improve it
Winter is coming. The titles have been divided, the battle has been fought to the end. But what do we do with the coming period without competitions?
Now a period of complete rest is approaching for most motocross riders, the winter break. But how do you survive this period? Everyone has heard it said: “You win the championship in the winter” or “I had a good/bad winter”. What do they want to say with that? Is it true that you can win a championship in the winter?
Of course you can't win an outdoor championship in the winter. A motocross race or championship must always be ridden. There are numerous factors that can throw a spanner in the works and cause you to miss out on the opportunity to win a title, such as an injury or engine failure. However, you can easily lose a season in the winter by not preparing yourself properly. In the next series of articles you will learn all kinds of tips from Physical Coach Yente Dourte (Coach at X Performance and Energy Lab) to ensure that your winter preparation runs optimally.
Physical training part 1: LSD and endurance training
During the winter periods it is of course important to focus not only on strength training but also on physical training. An ideal balance between the two is different for everyone. That is why you always have to decide for yourself where you want to make the most progress this winter.
How should you build up your physique in the winter?
Motocross is an extremely intensive sport and we are often in the 'red'. We ride at a high intensity, with a high heart rate, 2, 3 or sometimes 4 times a day. An effort that should not be underestimated and a recovery time that will be over in no time. That's why it's important to have a big aerobic engine. This means that you must have a broad basic endurance in order to be able to recover very quickly and sufficiently. Thanks to this good basic endurance, you will be able to produce less lactate (lactic acid) at a higher speed or higher energy supply. Finally, intensive training is important to make your training sport specific, but this will be discussed in depth in the course of subsequent articles.
When should you start training basic endurance?
We are not going to build up basic endurance during the season, this happens during the winter. Winter is the ideal period to increase your basic endurance because you have no competitions in prospect and usually have more time during the weekend to train. It is extremely important to work on your basic endurance during the winter, you can best compare physical endurance with a house or a triangle. The stronger or the wider the foundation/base, the larger the house or the higher the top of the triangle (maximum performance) can be. Unfortunately, you won't get far without a base. That's why I'm giving you three useful tips to improve your basic endurance.
- TestBefore you start training, it is always nice to know how, when and for how long you should train. To know this, it is easiest to train on heart rate zones. With these heart rate zones you can determine the intensity of your training. This is very important when we talk about basic endurance. Determining your heart rate zones can be done very easily by performing a lactate test with a certified coach or trainer.
- Low heart rate (low intensity)Once the heart rate zones have been determined, you can move on to effective training and improving your basic endurance. You will mainly improve your basic endurance by training at a low heart rate in heart rate zones 1 – 2 (below your aerobic threshold). Your aerobic threshold is the threshold at which you will use not only oxygen to produce energy but also carbohydrates. By performing sufficient training below this threshold, you will create extra oxygen channels in the muscles that bring oxygen to the muscles and transport lactate or lactic acid away from the muscles. In other words, the more basic training you do, the less lactate remains in the muscles at a higher intensity.
- Long durationFinally, it is important that basic training takes longer than intensive training. With basic training you will mainly burn fats and get the body used to using fats as fuel. We know that fat burning only takes effect after 30 to 45 minutes. That is why it is important that basic training lasts at least 1 hour. You determine the maximum duration of a basic training yourself, of course it is always wise to build up evenly.
Good luck! Have fun with your first long endurance training and enjoy it!
If you have any questions about this article, please contact Yente Dourte: Yente.dourte@motocrossmag.be
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