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Introduction and Purpose

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 fans of the sport, we have all seen countless guys with enough raw speed to win races, yet their fitness greatly limits their success (this is especially evident in a 3+ hour-long GNCC). Sure, every rider makes mistakes that cost them precious seconds, but the drop in pace can generally be attributed to fitness. With the 2020 SX season fresh in our minds, we can think back to Eli Tomac’s many come-from-behind wins and podiums. Was he the fastest guy every race? Judging purely off raw speed, definitely not. Tomac shines in the second half of the race due to his fitness and tenacity. Tomac trains like a beast and obviously has his fitness on another level, so it’s up to trainers like myself to help guys achieve Tomac-like fitness.


I understand that my lack of experience of racing at a professional level puts me at a disadvantage to other elite Motocross and Supercross trainers because they have walked the walk and have industry connections. Yet I can’t help but feel as though today’s trainers largely base what they do off anecdotal evidence and don’t understand how to make the body fitter in a programmed, systematic manner as can be done, for example, with traditional periodization methods. Taking training to the next level with more highly qualified trainers like myself will result in racing being taken to a higher level. As a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association with a Bachelor’s in Kinesiology, I am qualified to take training in this sport to a higher level. With the Covid-19 pandemic raging on, I am taking to the keyboard to create blogs that will allow me to clarify misconceptions plaguing the knowledge of today's trainers, keep up with professional development, review information I have studied and continue to study, and attract the attention of interested riders, industry professionals, and professional trainers. Please follow along with Moto Strong where I will be sharing my knowledge of physiology, strength and conditioning, and anything else pertaining to physical readiness for the sport of off-road motorcycle racing.


Next week’s topic: Hydration and Heat Management During Training and Racing.


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