Four Aspects of a Motocross Program:
1) Mental 2) MX Techniques 3) Athletics 4) Sports Nutrition
Encompassed in a Scientific Approach of Professional Coaching
Riding Technique
Discipline #2
Every professional sport has coaches from football to swimming. However, in motocross and offroad racing most racers go to the track and ride laps as fast as they can. Maybe your parent or mechanic will give you a pointer or two like go faster in that corner or be more aggressive. Unfortunately, this so-called practicing is common in the amateur level as well as in professional racing. Even little Bobbie who is eight-years old has a coach for his little league baseball team! The good news is that motocross and offroad racing are primitive in this fact and you will quickly rise to the top by having a professional coach.
You may be asking yourself if this is so obvious then why doesn’t everyone have a coach to excel. Great question and the answer to that ranges from “I would rather spend thousands on modifying my motorcycle than learning how to ride my motorcycle.” to “I already know how to ride I just have to keep practicing what I’m doing.” The first reason is easy as money is used as an excuse; but the fact is that tens of thousands of dollars are being spent on racing from traveling to equipment and entry fees and little or none on true coaching. What really is missing is the awareness of the value of professional coaching and the difference it will make in your riding.
The second reason is “I know it already”, meaning that a rider with success thinks they have it all figured out and is not open to coaching, and believes that all one needs to do is simply continue doing what has been done, just more and better and different. Being open to coaching is first knowing that you do not know and inside your commitment to be the best you hire a professional coach to open your mind and eyes to become aware of what you do not know, what you do not know, and you don’t even know that you don't know it. Like a football coach in football practice, he will not allow you to unload your bike and burn laps. They are going to structure your practice, and have you practice drills and such to work on what limits you and what you are not good at. Many do not like this because as human beings we like to do what we are good at, and we avoid doing what we are not good at. What we do not like is usually what we are not good at. Case in point, how often do you see a racer practicing rut corners as compared to practicing jumping?
I know too obvious right? Obvious or not, many aggressive young athletes that are successful believe they got there by being confident, aggressive and have some natural born talent. Imagine an Olympic swimmer practicing everyday thrashing in the pool as hard as they can trying to shave tenths of a second off their best time. It just doesn’t happen because the culture of swimming is to have a coach to study video and analyze the athlete’s technique and form and coach them to see what they cannot possibly see from one's subjective perspective of thrashing in the water. This is pure physics and there is an actual way to be the most efficient and fastest a human being could be and that is demonstrated by Michael Phelps the most highly awarded Olympian in history. High School swim coaches study and then coach their students in Michael Phelps swimming techniques. Can you see that you know a little bit about the current champion in your racing, but you do not know really what they are doing on their motorcycle or how they are looking at the terrain.
The culture of coaching has recently grown in motocross and offroad but from what I can see it looks like the same burning laps trying to go faster with an expensive instructor on the sidelines telling you what your Dad and mechanic have been telling you: “be more aggressive, take the outside line, be confident and the like.
Technique makes a difference ask any swimmer and they will agree without hesitation, because they have discovered the difference it makes in their times and race results. Look at the top five professional motocross racers and it is easy to see the fundamental techniques that they all use. Yes, I said all of them! Granted they all have their own style and different body types and different ways that they ride. However, they all with few exceptions use the same fundamentals to control the motorcycle with mastery. Said another way they are in sync with the fundamental laws of motorcycle physics and therefore have the possibility to be the fastest. Just like Michael Phelps. Chances are you do not even know what the fundamentals are and even if you do, most likely you only know them, but you do not do them. Knowing to ride with the balls of your feet on the pegs makes no difference in your control of the motorcycle. Only doing it - that is actually riding with the balls of your feet on the pegs can give you control. Coaching lives outside of the domain of knowledge and that may be hard to understand as we think, “If I know what to do then I will do it.” If you look authentically in your life, you will see that knowing does not necessarily change my behavior (actions). Discovering and then Mastering the fundamentals without thinking puts you in a position to be physically capable of being the best of the best. Consider that is all there is in any sport at the most elite level is a person who has mastered the fundamentals. They don’t use the fundamentals they are the fundamentals. However, everyone is looking for the secret to speed, success and winning. And every highly successful athlete will tell you there is no secret.
At MX COACH you will be coached no matter your skill level to master the MX Coach 8 Essential Laws of Motorcycle Physics™. This is more challenging than it seems, and it makes the biggest difference even at the highest level of professional racing. Once the fundamentals are in place then the coaching can shift to a higher level of discovery, mental and seeing the track and terrain in a new way. Taking one’s performance to a level of reliably in any situation, especially at those big races.
Purposeful practice to develop skill is what makes the difference between linear progress and breakthrough results in your race results. A coach will create a practice session with you and stand for the extraordinary to happen in that session. The result is a new realm and excitement around practicing as you can see and experience your skills taking breakthrough leaps. Please, don’t take my word for, but do try it out for yourself and experience the difference. The only thing you risk losing is your unawareness and poor technique!