Hey racers
Im working out, running/biking for 20 minutes everyday mixing pushups, crunches and pullups into the runs. What more should I do for arms ?
I get horrible hand cramping when I race to the point where I can't hold on. I have access to the school gym which basically has everything.. I think
Anyways please help me out
Thanks
James #17

Try submerging your hands completely under ice water for about 30 seconds twice before you ride. Getting the blood flowing to your hands before you start riding will help prevent the cramping your experiencing in your hands.

It Has worked for me many times! Hope this helps you!

Ride on!

Jamie Lanza
B.S. Kinesiology
Ride Open Tours

Thanks so much! i will definetely try it, any other ideas ? what are some good upper body workouts?

i know a good workout for the hands forarms. take a rod of some sort(anything you find should do) about the diamiter of a broom and aprx a foot and a half long. drill a hole through the middle of it right in the center. tigh a string through it. it should be long enough to touch the ground when you hold it with your arms straight out. on the other end of the string tigh a gallon of water or another appropriate weight. then all you do is wind and unwind the string up like a yo -yo

In my case it was more of a death grip and improper bar bend and height issue.  The position of my bars in relation to the rest of my body was so awkward that I had to hang on for dear life.

Smaller diameter grips, seriously.  Renthal full rounds medium or soft is what I recommend.

RideOpenTours, on 15 March 2012 - 03:34 PM, said:

I'm going to try this. I have massive problems with my wrists getting wrists and hands getting really really tight for the first 10-20 minutes of riding and then loosening up and being fine for the rest of the race. Going out and riding hard to pump them up and get them tight before the start of the race seems to help, but not always.

Everything mentioned earlier is worth trying, but arm pump starts because of poor body position. If your weight is forward, and you're balanced on the pags, you should be able to relax your hands and steer with a light touch. Of course, this is easier said than done, but its something to work on.

Maybe your gloves are too tight? I was having a similar issue. My hands would cramp up so bad it felt like my fingers were broken.

Dude, it's called a damper. There's no way I would ride without one these days. I use the lowest setting because all I want it to do is take the nervousness out of the bar and it works killer! I resisted the use of a damper for years but now I can't ride without one. Try a damper and know hand happiness!

hondarider17, on 16 March 2012 - 12:12 AM, said:

I personally like to stick with the basics, (pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups) but many others swear by full gym routines with weights 2-3 days a week, Everyone is different and I would recommend trying different routines to see what benefits you the most.

As mentioned in other posts, riding position is very important, you might want to try rolling your bars back slightly or changing bar bend to something with more sweep and seeing if that helps,

When i'm riding, I have to constantly remind myself to not hang on to the bars so tight and ride with a relaxed grip, this alone could solve your hand cramping problem, but is once again far easier said then done..

Jamie Lanza

Ride Open Tours

vidarapido, on 17 March 2012 - 04:35 AM, said:

Is one better than the other?  I am looking at a Scotts, did it really make all the difference in the world?  I think my yami is a pig too though and if technique is not perfect its hard to ride, so I am a bike blamer and want a new bike as well....I got my numb hand hands under control and I get bad cramps too and I can ride though it on longer wide open courses but it is a problem on tighter jumpier lot of turn tracks

Towelie, on 18 March 2012 - 07:20 PM, said:

Anything to take the nervousness out of the bar. I have used the scotts too and it has more adjusability if you want to tailor the damper effect through out the bar movement. I ran both as light as possible to just eliminate the shake of the bar. It takes so much stress of your arms it's well worth it.