Luke Wittmann

The physical fitness I have to go through to prepare for a dirt bike race is extremely challenging.  First, I have to constantly workout and stretch my legs. So I don’t get sore legs and tensed muscles after practicing the track.  I also workout and stretch my forearms to avoid feeling “arm pump,” which is when a rider rides the motorcycle gripping the handle bars so hard that the arm muscles start to get tense, tight, and hurt with intense pain. Another important part of training is realizing what I eat affects the way I feel after practice. So I have to eat healthy food or I’ll get sick to my stomach and puke after a hard practice.  Doing laps around a track with junk food in my stomach and bouncing around; those both don’t mix. My stomach will get upset quickly and there’s no way to know if I can keep the food down.  

Training my legs with workouts and stretching is just hard work. To train my legs, I do several exercises alongside the hard track practices with my dirt bike. I do about 10 repetitions and 5 sets of squats–sometimes with free weights too, run 2-3 miles on a treadmill or around a track, and ride a stationary bike for 5-10 miles or until I can’t pedal anymore. It takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours a day of just working out. Each day I train, I switch up my workouts between my upper body and lower body to give the muscles proper time to heal and strengthen.

 Training my arms is also a process that takes a really long time.  I start out with about 4 or 5 practice laps to warm-up my body’s muscles and get used to a track. When I have a heat race, I do 8 laps to prepare my body for the main event. It’s a must to train my arms for 20 hard laps several weeks before an event; then I’m ready for any kind of terrain a 20 lap main event race will hold. To train my arms I not only ride hard tracks, but I also lift weights at a gym. I work my biceps, triceps, and forearms using free weights and specific machines. I have gradually built up to 10 repetitions and 3 sets applying weight anywhere from 100 to 175 lbs. depending on the machine and exercise.

Since what I eat affects my body in different ways during racing, I have to make sure I eat healthy. I eat healthy with lots of proteins and good nutrition—balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, calories, and stay hydrated. When I’m racing and working out my body, junk food like big macs, sodas, chips, candy, and too many energy drinks can cause me stomach problems, which affects how I race. So to avoid being sick to my stomach, I eat food like protein bars, Gatorade, water, crackers and tuna, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and fruit like apples, grapes, and bananas too.

Keeping physically fit is a major part of racing dirt bikes, especially if you want to succeed and win some races. Lots of practice on the dirt bike around difficult tracks prepares your body for the worst terrain a rider might face. Practice, warm-ups, and cool down periods are critical during races and during training at the gym also. Exercising upper body and lower body muscles are what increases a riders strength and stamina, which keeps the body prepared at all times for what any track may hold. Maintaining healthy eating habits is critical for a rider’s body to perform properly. Good nutrition and hydration creates ideal health for a rider to really enjoy a challenging sport like dirt bike racing. Pulled muscles and broken bones will heal faster too, especially when a body is kept in shape.  

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