How Can I Improve my Motocross Skills?

For both the novice and the experienced professional motocross rider, there is always room to grow and improve skills and techniques. Allowing yourself to feel challenged and pushed toward a higher level will help you accomplish your motocross goals. Knowing where to begin and what steps to take can be the biggest barrier in starting this journey of improvement.

Having an outside fitness regime, a healthy mental mindset, and helpful practice equipment that is well-maintained will all play a role in helping to improve your motocross skills. Getting into a routine and pushing to strive farther and harder than before aids in the goal of improvement. These modalities and scheduling are all crucial in the journey. 

Learning the tips and tricks to your success and continuous improvement will help you reach your short-term and long-term goals. Keep reading to learn more about how to improve your motocross abilities.

Fitness Routine Outside of Motocross

I get it. Riding motocross is probably your number one passion and it’s exactly what you want to spend your time doing. That very excitement for the sport is precisely why you should take some time to also pursue fitness training outside of motocross. Getting your body fit and strong will greatly improve your riding potential and help you grow within your motocross skill development. 

There are many avenues you can go down to reach optimal fitness. Let’s go over some practices that would be worthwhile for any motocross rider to try.

Yoga

As a wonderful option for flexibility and balance training, the benefits of yoga will take you far in your motocross pursuits. Adding a yoga regimen to your motocross schedule will give your body some much-needed time stretching to help prevent injuries and aid in recovery time, while also helping your body absorb the hard shocks that motocross can come with. Additionally, the practice of yoga will have you engage in holding poses, which will translate to help in anchoring you with a strong core balance while you are riding. This level of balance and flexibility will allow you to pursue longer rides and trickier skills than previously attempted. Yoga will also crossover into creating a healthy mindset as you practice breathwork and mindfulness.

Strength Training

There’s no replacement for pure muscle power. Many motocross skills will have you pushing the boundaries of your body and may require a higher muscle composition. Strength training outside of motocross will give you the muscle that you need for the more athletic tricks in motocross, while also giving you more stamina to beat through long days of skills practice. 

Routine is paramount. Starting a strength training routine may be tough in the beginning but the benefits will quickly show themselves while on your rides. After a while, it will seem like second nature to complete your strength training activities on a regular basis within your motocross schedule.

Mindset is Everything

Within motocross comes thrill, dare-devil tricks, and adrenaline-racing speed and height. Making sure your head is in the right place will make all the difference in both your safety and in your willingness to try new skills. To create the best mindset, follow these tips while on and off the bike:

• Clear your head: When riding, keep your mind on the ride. Don’t think about work, school, or any other outside situations. Think about the ride and the skills at hand, keeping your mind sharp and ready to react when needed.
• Don’t overthink: A major obstacle for many athletes is the common attribute of overthinking. If you are trying a new skill and it’s not going as planned, don’t over-analyze and pick it apart to the extreme. Think realistically and calmly and take a break if needed.
• Manage pressure: Another common issue that is seen among athletes is the extreme pressure that is often felt to succeed. It takes time to accomplish new skills or get better at old skills. It’s healthy to set goals but being able to adjust those goals is also crucial to maintain a good head space. Allowing yourself to make mistakes and realizing that it’s not the end of the world will help you tremendously in managing any pressure you might be feeling.
• Practice meditation: A great tool in a healthy mental journey, meditation is wonderful for achieving optimal mental health. Practicing daily for just 10 minutes will greatly improve your mindfulness and overall mindset on life, which would then also translate to a more positive ride.
• Create community: Having a great group of supportive people around you during your ride or during your off time will help you feel a sense of belonging and aid in creating a good head space. Feeling like you have people to go to if you are stressed is crucial to allowing yourself to ride safely without excess worry. This sense of community will also give you pride when accomplishing new skills and making improvement on old skills.

Equipment Maintenance

Important in a safe ride, maintaining your motocross bike and all of its individual parts is crucial. Whether performing routine maintenance or applying fixes and updates where needed, this detail-oriented practice will help you ride safer and give you the ability to practice new and old skills whenever you need to without worry about how your bike will perform.

It is important to check your bike before every ride to make sure it is functioning appropriately and can be ridden safely. Risk Racing offers many products to help you meet your bike maintenance needs. Some products to highlight are the A.T.S. Adjustable Top Stand with Magnetic Bolt Panel, the Seal Doctor, and the various Work Lights available. These top-of-the-line items will help you achieve the highest quality and easiest maintenance possible for your biking endeavors so you can thereafter focus solely on your motocross skills.

Utilizing Equipment for The Most Productive Practice

The tools and equipment you use during your practice time will either hurt you or help you during your motocross races. Having the best equipment, with quality considered, can give you an unsurmountable advantage during race time. Here are some products to keep in mind when shopping for your perfect practice. 

• The Holeshot Race Gate: One of the most influential techniques for winning in motocross is your starting maneuver. This is difficult, or even impossible, to practice outside of race time without owning a race gate yourself. Risk Racing’s Holeshot Race Gate will allow you to simulate a race start so you can practice this skill over and over again. This gate even includes a remote starter that is randomly timed, much like at races, and it can be linked with other race gates to practice with buddies. It’s easy to reset the gate and continue to use it quickly, for more practice time. 
• Gloves: Don’t let wear and tear create blisters on your hands and then cut your practice short. Risk Racing offers various types of quality gloves to help meet every rider’s individual needs. To peruse your glove options, check out our page here: GLOVES

Final Thoughts

Your motocross goals are achievable when the appropriate steps are followed. Reaching new skills and practicing old skills until perfection is met is more possible now than ever before with the knowledge of how to do so. Create a solid routine with the helpful tips above and make sure to own the right equipment to help you along your motocross journey. For any of your equipment needs or expert knowledge, make Risk Racing your go-to and you will never miss an opportunity to progress and succeed.