Race Day Warmups

Race Day Preparation: Warm Up Your Body Before You Ride

By Rodney Womack

A common mistake made by many athletes is not warming up their body properly to prepare for competition or practice. You warm up your bike before you ride, why not your body?

Whether you are racing, practicing, running, lifting weights, or engaging in some other form of high intensity exercise, it is important that you properly warm up your body to prepare for the stresses that you will place upon it. It is also advisable to incorporate a stretching routine into your race preparation.

Why warm-up and stretch? It prepares your body for the stress of exercise, whether aerobic or resistance training. Your muscles should be warm and your heart should be pumping a little before you ask your body to perform at a higher level.

Many trainers and coaches recommend that athletes perform a dynamic (movement) warm up in addition to a stretching routine to prepare for competition or a training session. I recommend that before you exercise or ride that you engage in at least 10 minutes of dynamic exercise that gets your muscles warm and your heart rate up.

What type of warm-up should you do? I would recommend any of the following exercises: Jog, bicycle, stationary bike, jump rope, bodyweight squats, pushups, or any other similar activity that gets your heart rate up and your muscles warm. Using a jump rope may be your best bet because of its convenience.

It would also benefit you to stretch your muscles after this warm-up. Injuries, such as pulled or strained muscles, are more likely to occur when your muscles are cold and not as flexible. You should stretch your muscles after you have warmed them up for several minutes. In fact, you should have a little sweat worked up by the time you start stretching.

Make sure that you take the time to stretch all parts of your body. You should ease into each stretch and hold for 15-20 seconds. Do not stretch to the point of pain. If a stretch starts to hurt, then back off a little. Also, if you suffer from arm pump, be sure to stretch your fingers, hands, wrists, and arms before you ride and between motos.

This type of routine should be done before every workout or riding session. It should also be done before and between motos. This is extremely important in preparing to ride, run, bike, lift weights, or any other form of high intensity exercise. Remember, preparing your body to perform at a high level is an important part of becoming a successful athlete and it will help you avoid injuries.

Rodney Womack is the owner of Moto X Fitness - www.motoxfitness.com a fitness training company that focuses on developing home training programs for motocross athletes. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (National Strength and Conditioning Association), has coached several sports at the high school and college levels, and has also written two books: Motocross Fitness: Functional Training and Strength Exercises for Motocross Athletes and The Power of Pushups: Over 50 Types of Pushups for Developing Strength and Endurance. Coach Womack also writes a weekly MX fitness newsletter available through his website. He is 41 years old and currently competes in the Over-40 class in Texas. You can email him at rw3@motoxfitness.com.

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Y..

Yeah and what about the whole spaghetti the night before ?

Goatours wrote:

This is a really cool topic thread.

What about potassium and the myth that
scarfin'like 10 banannas and slammin' a strawberry shake before a moto will
prevent arm pump?

Is there any truth to it?

What would you guys eat before a big race?

i would chug a gatorado or water,and have a peice of fruit or something along those lines.

MuffinMan wrote:

What would you guys eat before a big race?

Banana strawberries energy shakes - it all throws up nice on the start line

:l:::::

i would probaly just drink a gatorade or a bottle of water.....

LMAO goat

I always eat like a bananna and a bottle of water or something.

Editor wrote:

Yeah and what about the whole spaghetti the night before ?

They call that "carbo loading." It doesn't have to be spaghetti; any high carb food will do the same. I'm not 100% as to when the most effective time is to load up on carbs is, but something like 8-10 hrs prior to strenuous activity.

Goatours, potassium prevents muscle cramps, but it wouldn't do much good to eat it right before a race.

There's no substitute or shortcuts for good diet and exercise as part of your routine.

You shouldnt eat any time after 2 hours before your race. Or else your stomach will be digesting the food you ate, which requires blood. Less blood makes it harder. Try eating something, then 45 min later go jog. Then the next day, dont eat for 2 or 3 hours before, then go jog. Which is easier?

What are some other hi-carb foods I can eat the night before ?

Thanx

Bullwinkle wrote:

Editor wrote:

Yeah and what about the whole spaghetti the night before ?

They call that "carbo loading." It doesn't have to be spaghetti; any high carb food will do the same. I'm not 100% as to when the most effective time is to load up on carbs is, but something like 8-10 hrs prior to strenuous activity..

Fruits and vegetables are good because they are more easily digested than pasta.

lucy wrote:

Fruits and vegetables are good because they are more easily digested than pasta.

Is that really true ? The skins and seeds in fruits and veggies are some of the toughest things around to digest I think ?