My YZ450 is my first 4 stroke; I'm fresh off a CR250. I think I need more upper body strength in the whoops and rutted corners.

Any suggestions on how to build upper body strength without increasing arm pump?  Do push-ups increase arm pump?

One of the mags said that everyone's forearms have a very tough sheath that contains the muscles. Arm pump occurs when these muscles more than fill the sheath when active (full of blood). That's the reason behind some of the pro's have surgery - the surgeon slices the sheath to make more room so the muscles don't freeze up when working.

I've started doing various exercises and push ups seem like a natural for motocross, but I'd hate to end up with arm pump. Currently an occasional problem for me. Would hate for it to become chronic.

Thoughts and suggestions?

Just like the wheels, suspension, and motor are seperate items on the bike, they all work together to make it a whole machine. Your body is the same way. Work the whole body to make the upper body strong. There is a saying in the iron game (strength training), "do squats to make your arms grow." Thats because when you workout, and you go heavy to muscle failure there is a chemical relessed from that muscle group into the blood that tells the body to start building new muscle cells. This chemical travels through the muscle and through out the rest of the body sending the message to the other muscle groups. The larger muscle groups (gluts, hamstring, guads, back) have the most amount of theses chemicals. That doesn't mean to neglect working the smaller muscle groups it means to work the large muscles first decending down to the smaller groups with the biceps being last. If you get your muscles below the waist strong you will be able to grip the bike with your legs and not have to hang on to the bars with a death grip. To tight of grip on the bars can transfer input to the front end causing handling problems. Don't worry about your forarms getting huge, most (99.999%)people don't have the genetics to grow Popeye arms. I highly suggest lots of water (1 gallon minimum) every day. keep your body hydrated. Muscle structure is 70% water not protein. Staying hydrated wil also cut down on a lot of cramping.

All the sugestions thus far are awesome. I would not leave out swimming laps. Have you ever looked at a swimmers upper body before. They are ripped and that's because they are using their arms and their own body weight as their resistance. So hop in the pool and try using your body weight as opposed to pumping iron in the gym. Not only will you gain muscle and strengthen your upper body your cardiovascular system will get healthier too. And it is non impact for the most part.

Swimming is a good exercise, but, it's like running and stair master, once the muscle grows to overcome the resistance the growth will stop unless you start tying weight to yourself to pull while in the water which is very unsafe. Muscle growth requires "progression". At every workout you should be either adding reps to each set (one -two more) or adding weight(5% to the weight used for a given set)). The body grows to overcome resistance fast when stressed and only grows enough to save its self. Ask a mature swimmer the last time they put on an actual 5 pounds of muscle and they'll go WHAT?

I've found my forearms will occassionally pump up due to oxygen deficit.  Make sure you take a couple of deep breaths now and then.  If you're looking for a grueling exercise to add total body strength, consider powercleans.

Good feedback.  I'm not sure the "work one set of muscles and they all grow" thing is happening for me.  I really got into mountain biking for the last couple of years and no so much motocross.  Build my legs and cardio, but I think I've lost a lot of upper body strength. I didn't lift before, so I don't have any benchmarks.  But I'm pretty sure I've lost a lot upper body strength while focused on mountain biking.

I have one of those Total Gym things. My physical therapist (following torn rotator cuff due to swimming!) recommended it. Pretty cool device since there are so many exercises you can do on it. But, of course, it's not free weights. I do light free weights, but don't have a partner/spotter so I don't push to the max.

Any thoughts on push ups?  Will they cause too much muscle mass in the forearms and increase arm pump?

I have noticed that I've kind of neglected some of the basics in my riding style lately. Not holding on with my legs, sitting down a lot, not getting far enough forward in the turns. I don't know if that's because I didn't ride much the last 2 years or if it is (as my friends say) "the 4 stroke effect".  The remaining 2 strokers say people get lazy on 4 strokes - sit down, not in the aggressive attack position on the bike, etc.

Feedback welcome!

Just a comment on the MTB training...

Your legs are some large muscles... did you eat extra protein during that time... ? The growth in your legs may hsve been feeding off the other muscles if you didn't... pulling the energy from them, as well as grabbing all the protein for growth... you may have to get back into some upper body work but make sure your diet is adequate in protein to actually grow muscles...

David

"I'm not sure the "work one set of muscles and they all grow" thing is happening for me."  You missed my point. Reread my reply. You don't do one exercise. Do 8-10 exercises, one set per muscle or muscle groups, no more than 12 reps and no less than 6, all done slooow in perfect form. The "do squats to make your arms grow" statment is an analogy of what happens when you workout a muscle or muscle group, it's not a routine. Here are 6 exercises that if done the way I say and you get 9 hours sleep a night and eat right will make your whole body. (it's natural for muscle to grow more on different parts of the body than others due to genetics.) (Alternate squats one workout, dead lifts the next), standing one-legged calf raises, standing military presses, bench press, (pull-ups, over-hand one workout, under-hand the next), dips with added weight. all execrises done with barbell except one-legged calf raise were you hold a dumbell for add weight. Work heavy, slow, perfect form to momentary muscle failure (no more positive movement then fight the negitive side of the lift (down) for tens seconds. Each exercise must be as hard as possible and demand your total effort. Done this way one set per muscle or muscle group does the trick.

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Guess I am in the 0.001 percentile. My forearms are 16 1/2".  But upper arms are 21 3/4" so I guess that it is proportionate.     


But it is usually when someone sees my calves that they say " Oh my gawd! You are DEFORMED!"

Freak! just kidding, be proud of those big guns. Lots of people work hard just to get 18" biceps.

You are suffering from a lack of oxygenated blood to the muscles. The reason is simple; you are not aerobically fit. The solution is to simply begin a good cardio routine and stick with it. Also include resistance training with free weights. You can easily increase upper body strength by including the bench press in your routine. Also, include deadlifts and squats for overall body strength. If you don't workout at least three days a week, then start doing it! And stick with it! In a few months you will be quite impressed with the results, and while you will still get "pumped" while riding, it won't cause any problems as it does now.. I know this from personal experience. If you ride hard, and don't work out regularly, utilizing both cardio workouts and resistance training, then you will never achieve your full potential.

I bought a conecpt 2 rowing machine. I purchased a pair of the motocross training handle bars. This is an awesome work out. Full body exercise with low impact. Once you ride for a while, what is the first thing that happens to you when you get tired? Your elbows drop because your shoulders get fatigued. I try to train or work out at the level my heart rate is while riding. Keyword "Try"

Thanks for the feedback, but "you are not aerobically fit" is about 180 degrees off.  I am very aerobically fit. I've been very focused on cardio for over a year through mountain biking and running. That is not an issue for me at all.

I'm still open to thoughts on specific exercises for upper body strength for motocross.  For instance, I doubt focusing on curls would help me moto.  Push ups would help, right?  But would working focusing on push ups too much cause the forearm muscles to get too large and cause arm pump?  

Does bench press strengthen the same muscles as push ups? Or different? Seems like the same motion and muscles, but perhaps not.  Pull-ups and military press - useful for motocross?  I don't see how, but I don't understand all the muscle groups.

Rowing machine seems like a great idea - arms, abs, back.

Other thoughts?

Thanks!

Hotler brang up an important point - number of reps.  I've been doing relatively light weight and 25 reps because my objective is increase upper body strength but in a way that benefits a 20+ minute motocross race.  Hotler suggested no more than 12 reps.  Since my objective is not to just bulk up but to increase strength and the endurance of the upper body muscles, doesn't higher reps make sense?  

And how about Creatin?  Anybody taking that?

I'm trying to remember all that stuff they taught in high school health class, but it has been a while. Quite a long while.  Your help/guidance is welcome!

Squats and deadlifts are two good full body workouts. If you have access to weights I would do presses instead of pushups. If you use creatine drink a ton of water.

RippinInColorado, stay away from the stuff you learned in high school. 1. Strength is proportional to muscle size, can't have one without the other. 2. The number of reps in which a muscle fails differs between people. This is what is known as slow twitch and fast twitch muscle. (to deep a subject for now.) 3. Trying to strength train like you are riding MX confuses the body and the mind. Simple basic exercises done in the correct manor is the best way to go. I said it before and I'll say it again. Just like every piece on the bike is unique, it take all of them working together to make the bike run. Your body is the same. Every muscle must be stronge in order for it to do it's very best at whay ever sport, be it football, hockey or motocross. always work the whole body each workout starting with the largest muscles first. As far as the number of repetitions go, 12 reps done slooooow and in perfect form to momentary muscle failure (to the death) works for 90% of the people. there are a few cases like calves and abs that may need to go to 15 reps or so to reach momenbtary muscle failure, but you can drop back to 12 reps by adding weight to thoses exercises.

How come nobody has mentioned getting out on your bike to develop what are after.
They used to say that twice a week will maintain what you have and 3 times a week will keep you growing strength.

If you are looking for a specific excersize to do magic I think you may be disappointed.

Recovery and full range of motion are very important in any routine.

Ridding your bike many miles will teach you what your bike will do in a given situation. You are probably working your body harder than needed.

Get some old tapes of the pros like Malcom Smith in the old movie On Any Sunday and look how he stands and moves on the bike.

A 6 day enduro will force you to conserve energy and I think these pricaples can be applied to MX racing.
Good Luck Colorado
You live in a great state to get in the practice!
Greg

Without going into too much detail, I began plyometric training a year ago, and the results were phenominal.  Plyometrics focuses on developing POWER, not strength.  Free weights play only a small role in plyometrics, and the amount of weight is low.  Resistance training, using bands and tubes, is the key.  It's a non-traditional method, and goes against the grain of weight lifting, but my results were better in 90 days than in a decade of weight training.  Plus you can significantly reduce the load placed on your joints (although some plyo training is realitively high-impact, so I have avoided those specific routines).

In a nutshell, if you lift heavy weights, your muscles engorge with blood to push the load.  Therefore, your muscles will naturally do the same when riding.  It's counter-productive, especially to the forearms.  I recommend reading up on plyometrics, and if you're serious, hire a trainer.  It's well worth the investment.

Riding/racing a motorcycle requires a combination of attributes...when you design/follow an exercise program you need to make it goal specific...what is the goal and or deficience you are addressing...what skill are you attempting to improve...regarding forearm/upperbody demands and motorcycling...a mix of strength,endurance and flexability is self evident...the problems/causes that lead to arm pump can be many...some people may be more susceptable than others due to fascitheseal compartmental restriction,fascial elasticity limitations,adhesion and or soft tissue micro/macro scarring...vascular insuffience...some of these causes are inborn/predispositions...others can be created by injury/trauma...or by disease...imbalanced/incorrect training can also lead to and/or contribute to arm pump...I would suggest the following items for your consideration...first combine strength training with endurance exercises/activities...what most people over look is flexability/range of motion and controlled tendon gliding exercises/activities...arm pump is similar to a repetitive motion injury/insult...which happens when you have repeated muscular demand/contraction combined with limited range of motion of the joints/tendons...a build up of internal muscular tension and muscular gorging of blood and waste metabolites will ultimately combine with a condition of low grade chronic inflamation of the associated soft tissue...learning to ride/control your bike with more relaxed upper body imput...using your whole body and not just your hands/arms is important...ranging the hands while riding helps release tension/relaxes and helps flush(of waste products) the forearms and hands along with gliding the tendons and improving the flow of fresh/oxygenated nutrient rich blood ...other things that can help are having a good diet and drinking lots of h2o...keep hydrated...and dont overtrain your forearms!!!...a major principle of exercise physiology is to make your training as close to the target demands as possible...so my #1 suggestion is to get out and ride...but try to ride relaxed...dont strangle the grips...and let your hands and forearms rest when needed...frequent gentle stretching and massage can help...ride safe...Ill expand on some of these and other topics in the near future..Sincerely Doug

More thoughts on (peventing/reducing)arm pump...as well as lessening fatique,improving endurance and efficient use of strength...ergonomics...make/adapt the bike to your bodies most natural functional alignments...make the bike fit you not make your body fit the bike...incorrect positioning of handlebars and controls can add to and/or contribute to arm pump...as can controls that dont work at effortly as they could...a change of bar bend/sweep/raise...different grips...a change of brake/clutch lever position to allow a neutral hand/wrist/forearm alignment when used most...do your controls work smoothly or is the clutch and or brake cables and/or lever fulcrums lubed...new or used with to much drag...is the throttle harder to turn than it needs to be...wider bars require less effort because of improved leverage...same is true with different lever configurations...a hydrolic clutch can/may reuire less effort...having the suspension correctly dialed in for the riding conditions and you and your riding style can help...a steering damper correctly adjusted can help ...incorrectly adjusted and/or positioned components...you get the idea...what Im trying to point out here is that if you suffer from arm pump and/or any other discomfort in your riding/racing...its important to look/examine closely both your self and your ride...take care and ride safe...Doug