Well this year was my first year in the A class (Harescrambles) and i did pretty good.  Next year i want to earn enough points to bump to AA.  I KNOW i have the talent because ive compared some of my best lap times, but the bottom line is i just wont be able to accomplish this goal if my Arm Pump keeps screwing me.

this has been the story of my season, I do well in the holeshot, and then after a few minutes can barely hold on and hardly can pull in the clutch.  I get passed by a bunch of people who i am better than.  Then, after about an hour my arm pump FINALLY starts to loosen up and i have to work my ass off to gain back positions.
My forearms hurt soo bad its all i can think about.  I cant even begin to tell u how many times my last lap was my fastest lap.

Please what can i do!?! what has worked for you guys?
the only thing i can narrow down to what im doing wrong is too much wieght lifting? idk. Next season i will have a practice bike for the first time ever so i will atleast be able to ride more but at this point im wondering if that will even work.

Do you warm up before you ride? ride a spin bike for a half hour before your moto and alot of it will go away. Other than that you need to ride more to make it go away.

devon466 said:

well i dont have a spin bike but maybe i can try a jump rope or somethin?

Here's a read on arm pump.. Pump You Up
One line that caught my eye pertaining to something you mentioned.. weight lifting. It said to NOT do heavy weights when doing arm workouts. Light weights, more reps, train for strength and endurance rather than size.
Hopefully you get it worked out.

Ride more, stretch, eat a bananna before, as well as an aspirin, drink Pedialyte, no caffeine

If you have got the money to spend, try differant bars.  KTM stock bars are really flat, try something with more pull back, that should align your wrist more.  

You could also lower your levers to put you more in an elbows up position, that did wonders for me.  

Then don't valcro your gloves either, or switch to Hyflex work gloves, they are actually awesome, only $5 a pair and don't get slippery when wet either.

Up your potasium intake, make sure you are hydrating at least 2-3 days in advance and you may want to try flexx bars or look at your current set up in suspension, as well as your technique.  Are you death gripping or are you relaxed and still getting a lot of pump?

maximoose said:

i try my best to relax but still it gets badd

OLHILLBILLY said:

thanks thats a sweet article

experiment with how hard you push your self after the start. focus on standing more, being smooth, and being pushed through the pegs instead of pulled by the bars. Start hydrating a few days before. no caffeine, coffe, monster, redbull junk.

Switch up your grips, bar position and lever height. Once I found the right combination of those things, I never had arm pump again. Here are my personal favorite settings:

Grips - I like a thicker grip that doesn't transfer as much vibration. Tag Cradle grips are my favorite, but anything that isn't a "slim" grip would probably be fine.

Bars - I like a flatter bar bend that doesn't sweep backward very far. I can reach it very comfortably from my seated position, but not have my hands in my lap when standing.

Levers - I run my levers up a few degrees from the line created between my elbow and wrist when I'm in the normal seated riding position. They are certainly not level with the ground, but they don't droop down, either.

Find your own best settings and I bet it will help.

I did suffer from arm pump on every ride but now have it under control for the most part. I will add a couple of techniques that work for me but haven't been mentioned.  1st pump up your arms 30-50 minutes before you ride. I do this by going from opened hand to clenched fist while simultaneously rocking my wrist back and forth. This will pump up the forearms very quickly. Once they start to hurt, stop and let them rest for 30-50 minutes and you should be ready to ride.   2nd thing I do is try to ride with 1-2 fingers on the clutch and break levers as much as possible. This rests my hands and fingers by preventing my squeezing of the grips too much.    3rd on downhills don't be lazy - squeeze the tank with your knees if you're sitting and get your weight well back if you're standing(should be able to take one hand off the bars if you're in the right position). One run downhill with most of your weight on your hands and forearms can bring on nasty arm pump quicker than anything.    4th don't forget that acceleration puts a lot of strain on your arms so lean forward before you gas it. You'll be surprised how much this helps with both arm pump and endurance.

There are some great arm pump products out there but it has finally been realised its in the food we consume. It's a pretty complicated area but can be solved.

I find that a couple of Ibuprofen taken 30 minutes before riding makes a massive difference.

You should not use medication to get rid of arm pump. First, painkillers like ibuprofen should not be used during long exercises. With dehydrating and fatigue it could lead in to kidney damage.

And about aspirin, no no! Taking aspiring will make your blood run better, a bit. But if you get injured. Like ruptured spleen or liver when you get your handlebar in your chest, you will bleed in your abdominal cavity. With apirin, your blood wont clot. This happens with all NSAID painkillers but with aspirin it is non-reversible.

So keep working with your ridingstyle, handlebars, suspension.

Quick question for you, do you wear an under shirt under your jersey like Under Armor compression gear?  I do and I noticed I get arm pump way worse when I wear the 1 with half sleeves down to my elbows.  When I wear my other shirt that has shorter sleeves that end mid bicep, I don't get arm pump nearly as bad.  Also, do you wear any elbow guards?  Again, those can help cause arm pump issues.  I've never worn them myself, but a friend who never wore them and never got arm pump had killer arm pump the first race he did with them.

As others have noted, the more you can get your arms warmed up and pumped up with a bit of a recovery period before the race starts, the better off you'll be.

Farmer72 said:

yep, thats about all you can do...riding more is the only way to really prevent it, the other things just help out...nearly everyone gets arm pump at some point or another, even people like me who seem to "never get a.p." still have it sneak up on them from time to time

Old topic, I know... but I have a few thoughts.

I've been riding for 17 years now, and we generally ride every weekend.  Never had an issue with arm pump, unless it was the first ride in a few weeks.  We usually ride for 5-7 hours pretty hard, too.  

However, recently I started racing MX, and my arm pump issues are horrible.  I get about two laps before I'm done.

What I notice about myself is something another OP mentioned:  I do so much better after I've been riding for a few hours.  The design of the MX day just doesn't work for me - 10 minutes of practice, wait for 2 hours, race for 10 minutes, wait another 2 hours, race for 10 minutes.  

In my opinion, there is no amount of seat time, exercise (I'm in pretty good shape), diet or any combination of these that will help some people.  For sure it's probably an issue of riding style and mental awareness, and I'm working on relaxing my grip, having the bike push me, and not psyching myself out.  But what I really want to do is figure out how to simply ride a few hours the day of a race to loosen up.  It's the only thing that works!

I have started doing (3) sets of thirty push ups with my gear on, like 30 minutes before I head off to the start line. Buddy of mine went the Jason Raines school and... this is a little extreme but...use one of those spring type grip builders till you can't squeeze any more, then wrap your fore arms with an ace bandage as tight as you can and hold your arms above your head until you can't take it anymore, unwrap and your golden! I haven't tried it but my buddy says it works for him.

For arm pump get one of these !
http://www.ebaumswor...watch/81908663/

Edited by martaz, 14 February 2012 - 04:31 AM.