Body composition for off-road

[23jayhawk]

If you had to decide between two basic body types for enduro/hare scramble/desert racing, which would it be? Lean, light ecto-morhpic aerobic machine, or maximum strength meso-morphic?

The empirical evidence indicates the best answer is probably in the middle somewhere, based on the body types of the most successful off-road racers. But would Lafferty/Raines/et al be even more successful if they had another 25 lbs of muscle? That seems to have been the progression in almost every other athletic sport. Even marathon runners of today look like bantam weight bodybuilders compared to the runners of the '70's.

I was just curious what thought others have given to designing an optimum program. For now, I have a general objective of maximizing strength to weight ratio. But how much of a good thing would be too much?

 

[WoodsRider]

Body composition is overrated. I know some guys that are super lean and solid muscle but couldn't run to the end of the block. I know other guys that look like they've spent their entire adulthood perched on a barstool, but can run a marathon in 4 hours. If you really want to see this first hand go watch a marathon sometime. It's the "fat slobs" that really suprise you.

Now back to bikes. I think stamina is the key, especially in hare scrambles. I mostly ride enduros and in short sections I can kick ass, but in long sections I drop a ton of points. Riding a two-hour hare scramble, I'll do good the first hour and horrible the next hour. Any body composition can have stamina, it's just a matter of how you train. Riding is the best form of training.

 

[jaliveto]

I agree with WoodsRider. I ran the Chicago marathon(26.2 miles) 4 years ago. I was in good shape. I was very lean. At the time 6 foot and about 173 LBS. I ran a decent pace (about 7:50 a mile pace) and couldn't beleive how many "fat guys" passed me and beat me. Some of these guys looked like they couldn't run 100 yards. It is all about your cardio strength. Some people can be in great shape but not that "lean". Take what you were born with. Hit the wieghts and cardo.

 

[Barbarian]

When I was 20 and in the US Army Infantry we had this 34 year old Mexican guy who joined as a private. This guy literally had 65 lbs of extra fat on him and was always in minor trouble because he couldn't meet body-fat composition standards. Inspite of all this, he could run 6 minute miles all day with our fitest 20 year olds.

The way a person looks can be very deceptive.

 

[Barbarian]

Another thing about that guy, in spite of all the dieting they put him through to lose weight he never could get it off, but he still kicked our butts in running.

 

[WoodsRider]

There's a guy out of the midwest, Craig Hayes, who is a poster child for all of us that suffer from the dunlop syndrome. He'll never tell you his exact weight, but my guess is between 275 and 300. He is a very fast rider in both enduro and h/s. I've seen him ride Husky 125's, Husky 360's, GasGas 200 and a Husky 610. If you look back in the standings of past National events he's usually near the top of the Vet A class.

 

[23jayhawk]

It's the weight room part of my workouts that I'm asking about. I agree about riding being the best workout, and if I could ride everyday I probably wouldn't need to add anything else. Realistically I can only ride about every other week or so over the course of a year. So I need to add running & some iron work to make up for it. I'm just wondering if a program designed to bulk up and add some serious mass would be worth the investment of time required. 

 

[WoodsRider]

IMO, "bulking up" would be a bad thing. Endurance is the key and the athletes that are good at endurance sports do not have a body builders physique.

Last summer I improved my stamina by mountain biking the trails at the local bird sanctuary. It's as close as I could get to riding my bike without actually going riding.

 

[KTMSMITH]

I have seen Mike Lafferty several times in person and he is definetley no light weight. Solid as a rock. Scott Summers comes to mind too.

 

[bedell99]

I read this topic and smiled. I'm 5'10 155 pounds not one shred of fat. Consider myself in pretty damn good shape. This was the first year I started racing harescrambles. I have been racing motocross for a pretty long time now. All I have to say is when you start getting passed at the end of 2 hours by got wearing JT gear riding s stock XR400, you know physical size does not mean much for a an off road rider. Motocross is more a sprint/stamina while in my short knowlegde of offroad riding, I think it is more stamina. I give you true off road riders now so much credit. Oh by the way I can't wait for the next harescramble here. They are way to much fun.

Erik
2002 CR250

 

[ACES 2]

As a lifelong weight/power lifter I agree with bedell.I was a solid 245 when I got back into dirtbikingAfter 3 laps on a mx track I was trashed!I have since gotten down to 220 by running "ins and outs".Walk 30 seconds,then jog 30 then sprint 30 then start over.Weight wise,4 sets 2x a week doing:high rep(15-20)low weight bench,deadlifts,power cleans and FULL squats.I also bike for fun.I feel better,have more energy and can ride much longer and still have good muscle mass.I wish I had done this 20 years ago!Best of luck,ACES 2