Why motocross is hard

You are holding on and bracing yourself under braking, when you accelerate motocross bikes have the highest power-to-weight ratio of any production vehicle and throughout every moment in between.

Motocross bikes often seem to have a mind of their own and they are constantly trying to get away from you. Add to these demands the constant, unforgiving impacts of landing off large jumps. Even with modern suspension you definitely feel it when you fall out of the sky from heights equivalent to a four-story building. Broken ankles and wrists caused by landing impact are common.

The danger factor adds to the already astronomical physical demands. There are not a lot of fatalities, but the surgical pin industry could be completely supported by the compound fractures suffered in motocross. When you break a bone in motocross it's rarely a clean break and you tend to continue rolling, tumbling, and generally flopping about long after the point where the bone fractures—and the bike is always lurking about somewhere looking for an opportunity to crush you in the process.

Putting all of the manly, tough-guy stuff aside, motocross is a beautiful ballet of man and machine, when it's going right. There's no sport that even comes close to the beauty of a bike skipping across deep whoops, floating high in the sky or riding the back wheel down a rough straight—which brings me to another distinction between motocross and other motorsports.

Motocross is more about the rider than the machine. I love the spectacle of Formula 1 racing, drag racing or even NASCAR, but in all of these sports the guy with the best vehicle tends to win. This is not the case in motocross. You have the suspension and linkage and tires and all of this thing that will absorb a lot of the shock, if you, say, jump too far.

A lot of times, when a bike goes and they get scared, the beginner seems to want to jump off first. But sometimes things happen so fast, you don't have a choice. You're along for the ride.

To the layman, it looks like the safety gear hasn't changed much over time. That can't be true. RJ: Certain elements have changed quite a bit.

The two single biggest improvementsone is knee braces, the ones you can buy off the shelf. They can save a severely blown-out knee, an MCL and things like that. And then the foot protection. There's not a lot of ankle injuriesthe boots are so much better than they used to be.

The same thing applies to motorcycles. They run bigger foot pegs than they used to, to give guys more of a platform, and the suspension is so much strongerbut in turn, the guys are jumping 'em further and jumping 'em bigger.

So once again, gravity comes back into play! CS: There's such a variation in crash energies, and the certification for motorcycle helmetsand when I say certification for helmets, it's the same certification for all motorcycle helmets, whether it's a street helmet, or a scooter helmet, or a motocross helmet.

They go after the worst accident you could possibly have, the energies you're going to see and actually possibly survive. And they kind of set the standard around that. So helmets historically have been manufactured to pass this standard that's pretty high-energy. There's now a lot of focus on low-speed energy, protecting the wearer against low-speed crashes, mid-speed crashes. A new system of injuries is rotational, where your brain is actually rotating inside your head.

And that can cause connective-tissue tears, which can lead to concussion, brain injury, that sort of thing. So we're doing more comprehensive testing in a development process. In the end what you get is a product that's gonna help protect you in a lot more variety of types of crashes. Jeremy Appleton, Alpinestars: Safety's kept pace with the development in technology with bikes and tracks, every bit of the way.

With body armorbecause motocross is such a physical activity, either taking place inside a stadium, which is hot, or outdoors, in the summer monthsriders have been reluctant to wear a lot of close-body protection. Simply because it increases the physical stress. It's hot and heavy. So with the advent of improved materials and better design and production techniques, we have much lighter, but improved, body protection.

So riders are now able to wear protective impact shields under their jerseys. In the past, you might have seen riders just wearing a basic plastic protector on top of their jersey. It just prevented them from being bruised heavily, from all the stones and dirt fired out from the bike they were following. There is no doubt that it is a tough sport. As well as a lot of anecdotal evidence of how demanding the sport is, many have pointed out that there have been a couple of scientific studies that have supported their assertions.

Motocross is a very physically and mentally challenging off-road motorcycle sport, which is raced on natural terrain with man-made obstacles. The riders need to be light and strong, with good strength of the upper body, shoulder and arms, hand grip and legs. A study by Gay et al. See more about fitness for motorsports.

Motocross is definitely physically tough, though is it the most demanding of all sports? It is not an easy thing to measure and compare the fitness of athletes from different sports. You can compare fitness test scores of athletes, but there are issues of varying protocols and athlete levels, and there is not a lot of data on motocross riders for comparison.

It is best to compare head to head battles. A study was conducted in at the National Athletic Health Institute in Inglewood, California, founded by pioneer sports orthopedists Drs. It will make you stronger and build your endurance too. However, just take a look at what any typical motocross track looks like — to tackle that, riders certainly need to be fit.

Motocross is as much about endurance as it is strength, and motocross riders need both. They also need to practice constantly, as motocross is a sport that is not forgiving when it comes to errors.

Motocross riders put their bodies under an immense amount of physical strain every time they ride, so while there may not be a way to prove that motocross riders are the fittest athletes in the world, they are all certainly up there with the best. Don't miss out on your chance to win! Why is motocross so physically demanding? What muscles does motocross work? What are the other physical demands of motocross?

What injuries can be caused by motocross? There is a wide range of possible injuries that can be sustained during a motocross ride, but some of the most common motocross injuries are: Concussion Broken collar bone Dislocated shoulder Broken wrist Broken ankle ACL joint sprain or rupture Broken leg Broken rib Some ways to prevent injuries are always wearing proper equipment, warming up before riding, and maintaining your fitness levels.

Is motocross the most demanding sport?