 Rider: Jeremy Hand Photo: Zachary C. Bako Joel YounkinsHigh Performance Coach So, how about that second 450 moto at Pala?!
I know, Hangtown already happened by the time you see this, but it's Wednesday as I'm writing this and I'm still in awe from it, okay. We got to witness two of the best dirt bike racers in the world go head-to-head for an entire moto and put on an absolute masterclass. Even with both returning from injuries (serious injuries to say the least), they both came ready to do battle. It always surprises me however, that people put a lot of stock and value in the ability to get into "race shape" like it's some super daunting task. Getting into "race shape" in my world, is like learning the ABC's. This concept is known as work capacity—your body’s ability to perform work efficiently. It just takes time and effort to build it up. If you have the time and not a great work capacity, you need more effort. If you're giving the effort, and you're not there yet, you need more time. So assuming both Jett and Eli had the time to build up their capacity, they should be able to push hard for 30 minutes plus two. For me, that wasn't what was so impressive... While it still seems like so many people just want to talk about being in "race shape" on why to train off the bike, there's still so many more benefits to it. Being physically prepared to race goes well beyond your fatigue levels on the last lap. It's also about how you feel on the bike, how you can recover, physical efficiency, and so much more. Today, I want to cover three reasons why you should be building your physical preparedness in a physical preparation program. These are things that I know people are aware of, but they seem to live in the back of everyone's minds. Today, I will bring them back to the forefront for you. Reason 1: Speed Up Recovery Times When you take a racer who has a high degree of physical preparedness for racing, they will always recover faster than a rider with low levels. They recover faster from races, practices, training sessions, illness, injury, and more. When you only ride and neglect physical preparation (especially from a general standpoint), being able to recover from stressful environments will always be prolonged when compared to a prepared racer. Reason 2: Tolerating Stress A lot like Reason 1, a racer with higher preparedness will tolerate stress much better than someone with low levels of preparedness. Being a racer means dealing with far more than just what happens on the track. Traveling, being around people, new places, pressure and expectations to perform, and emotional life stress all play huge factors into robbing a racers energy and performance from the track. A more prepared racer, will tolerate these things a lot better than an unprepared racer. It's funny how the world's best athletes (who are prepared) still rise to the occasion even with outside drama in their life... Reason 3: Improving Confidence When a racer (or parent) first reach out to me about working with them, they almost always bring up the idea that training with me would give them more confidence on race day. But after that area gets addressed and they no longer have that pre-race anxiety anymore, racers seem to forget that it's a thing. You see, knowing that you're physical prepared for your race is an advantage of itself, and instead of forgetting about that, keep leaning into it. So when things get tough late in the motos, you have the confidence to dig a bit deeper and pull from those reserves instead of packing it in. Confidence isn’t just about hype—it’s about evidence. When you’ve trained right, you know you’ve earned it. Bigger Picture Jett and Eli came in with enough work capacity to be in "race shape." That's not what is impressive to me. That just means they had enough time to put in enough work. What's impressive to me is that they were able to speed up recovery to have and create that time. They were able to tolerate the stress of recovering and blocking out distractions (Jett life/business drama) (Eli switching teams in 2026). And having the confidence to push each other to the limits that second moto when the track was at its worst. I have no clue what their physical preparation looks like. It's not my job to figure out what could be better for them, but I can tell you what went right at Pala for them. This training stuff goes well beyond helping you get into race shape. If you're still not sure, go back through my older blogs, it's all there and a lot more is coming. It’s time to take the blinders off. Until we rethink what physical preparation really means, motocross will keep spinning its wheels—trapped in the same tired trends, missing the real edge that separates good from great.
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