Moto Strong: Stronger Riders for Stronger Results

Welcome back to the Moto Strong Blog, where I share my training tips to improve your riding skills and fitness! Today's topic is part two of the Foundational Movements for Motocross series and today's blog is all about the SQUAT.  Why is the squat a foundational movement for motocross? Think back to my last post about the hip hinge (and the picture of J-Mart blitzing the whoops) and think about how he got in that position from seated in the corner to standing just before the whoops. Boom! You got it, he performed the concentric portion of a squat. Now, think about how many times a rider performs that same movement each lap, whether on a SX, MX, or XC course. The number of squats a rider performs in a 20 minute Supercross main is probably in the several-hundreds. The squat mainly occurs while transitioning from standing to sitting and back to standing, and also while the bike dances around under your legs through braking and acceleration bumps, up jump faces, on landings, etc. E...

Part 1: The Hip Hinge Hey everybody! Thanks for tuning in once again for a Moto Strong blog. I’m pretty excited about this particular subject because diving into the foundational movements for motocross encompasses so many lessons I’ve learned training on my own, listening to great trainers, and in textbooks and lectures. Since that’s the case, my goal with this series is not to dive into every nitty gritty detail, but to dive into these three (in my opinion) foundational movements on a surface level. Time to dive into movement #1, the hip hinge! What do bending over to pick up a pen, sitting on the toilet, and blitzing a whoop section have in common? The HIP HINGE! Yes ladies and gentlemen it’s that widespread of a movement in our lives! That is why it’s such a foundational movement to master. My man Jacob Pennisi and I have had a conversation about the importance of a strong hip hinge pattern on the bike for SX whoops, which prompted me to bring up these two pictures. Check out what...

And we back! As you could have guessed, today’s topic is “dynamic warm-up” and I will dive into the importance of a warm-up and an example of how to implement it into your practice or race day. Why’s it matter? An effective warm-up is ESSENTIAL to your practice or race day! If you dismiss a warm-up as unimportant or don’t do in-depth planning of the warm-up, you are potentially limiting the performance of your athlete and potentially subjecting them to higher risk of injury. Aside from the performance benefits, a warm-up provides mental preparation for the task ahead, whether that be a tough practice day in 95° heat or a race that decides the championship. As we know, motocross is an incredibly mental sport and the warm-up provides the opportunity for an athlete to get in the zone and concentrate on what matters: winning! The science. A properly planned warm-up will increase muscle and core temperature, enhance neural function, loosen up stiff joints, elevate oxygen consumption, and pr...

It’s no secret that hydration plays a crucial role during the intense days spent training on and off the bike, but what is the proper way to prehydrate, hydrate during exercise, and rehydrate during the hottest months of the year? Aside from acclimatization to hot and humid weather, hydration status plays the biggest part in thermoregulation for motocross racers. Expecting your body to perform at the highest level without enough water and electrolytes is like expecting your bike to make it through two mud motos with half the coolant the bike requires, and we saw how that went last weekend at the second round of the motocross season at Loretta’s II. But unlike a modern 4-stroke that can run with no coolant for a bit of time, a 2% loss in body weight due to sweating can result in noticeable performance decrement. Larger losses of water through sweat, as can happen during a single 35 minute moto, can result in a significant decrease in blood plasma volume, increase core body temperature, ...

Hey I’m Jared Bottger. I’m a 22 year-old from a small town in Ohio with big dreams for the motorcycle industry. I have been racing harescrambles since I was eight years old and obsessed with professional Motocross, Supercross, and GNCC for as long as I can remember. I have never looked up to anybody quite like I look up to motorcycle racers because of the pure grit that many of them have. Guys like Ken Roczen, Ricky Carmichael, and Kailub Russell are idols of mine not just because they are blazing fast, but also because they are some of the toughest sons-of-guns on the planet. With my hopes of becoming a professional racer slim-to-none (B-class represent!), I have turned my ambitions in a different direction. If I can’t be one of the best, I want to make the best even better. As we all know, Motocross is the most physically demanding sport in the world. I believe that I can train these athletes of the highest caliber to be even more fit to race 30+2 twice in a day. As spectators and fa...