 Rider: Carter Gray Photo: Zachary C. Bako Joel YounkinsHigh Performance Coach Speed isn’t just built by riding harder. It’s also heavily built by sequencing the right intensities at the right time. In motocross, everyone talks about “getting faster” and "finding more speed," but very few riders understand how speed is actually built. Not from just one drill, not from a track, not from copying someone else’s program, but from a strategic sequence of training intensities that either sets you up for success or sends you straight into a wall.
I’m not here pretending to be another riding coach. I’m here as a High Performance Coach explaining the principles that create real speed, real race-pace, and real results. And with almost every racing discipline now entering the Off-Season, this is the perfect time to understand these concepts so you can hit next off-season & pre-season with a plan, not just hope. Short & Long: What These Words Actually Mean When we talk about “Short” and “Long” in a performance setting, we’re not talking about lap counts or moto duration. We’re talking about intensity vs. capacity. Short Approach High intensity, short-duration efforts. This is your maximal output, your pure sprint speed. Long Approach Lower intensity, higher volume efforts. This is your operational race speed, the speed you can hold during a race. In simple terms:
Both matter. But the order you train them in? That’s where the magic (or lack of magic) happens. Why Sequencing Matters Speed isn’t built by just “going fast.” Capacity isn’t built by “just riding motos.” Timing matters. Context matters. Order matters. Most riders run their program based on what they’ve always done, what their buddy does, or what they hear the pros do. That’s not a plan, that’s guesswork. A smart plan builds speed in phases based on you the rider. Short-to-Long Approach What it is? You develop sprint speed first. You hit high intensity speed work early in your Off-Season/Pre-Season while you're fresh and you use the time to create new levels of speed. You achieve this with good technique, proper drills, and solid programming that will allow a space and time to place maximal emphasis on speed gains. Once you reach a new level of speed, you spend the back end of the pre-season block building capacity to sustain that speed that you've already built. Who it’s for? This approach is ideal for:
These riders can express real sprint speed immediately when it's being prioritized. They usually need limited time and not months of rebuilding riding technique and fitness just to be capable of riding fast. Why it works? When these athletes finally hit a new level of speed, they often don’t have the capacity to handle it yet because many times speed comes out of nowhere (confidence, bike setup change, improvements in physical performance) and it takes them a few races to "catch up" to their new pace. Short-to-Long solves that when you plan for it in the off season and pre-season. Build new speed → Then build the ability to repeat it, before the season happens. This accelerates development and saves time. Long-to-Short Approach What it is? You build foundational capacity first:
Once that foundation is stable, then you introduce sprint speed. Who it’s for? This approach is best for:
These riders cannot safely or effectively express maximal outputs early on. Throwing sprint work at them too soon is not only a waste of time, it can be reckless. Why it works? They need enough stability, endurance, and skill refinement before sprinting even makes sense. Build the engine → Then build the horsepower. It’s simple, safe, and effective. A Real Example My son is 7 (AMA 6). All year long, we’ve taken a pure Long Approach. No dedicated sprint work. No high intensity demands (besides racing itself). Just building capacity, confidence, and fundamentals. That Long Approach alone built the speed he needed for year one. Now going into year two, we’re having our first real conversations about adding Short work, but still with Long being the primary foundation. Right kid. Right time. Right sequence. That’s how these types of conversations should be discussed. Why This Matters for Your Program A one-size-fits-all program is convenient, but it’s not performance. A lot of big named training facilities, generic programs, and even well-meaning parents try to apply the same sprint/volume structure to every athlete. But when you do that, training can become misplaced:
Because the approach must match the rider, not the other way around. If you want to build real speed and stop just relying on talent, potential, and seat time, proper sequencing and programming will catapult an athlete to where you can get very close to predicting where they will be in 3 months, 6 months, and a year from now. Final Thoughts The Off-Season is the perfect time to choose your approach:
Both methods work. Both build speed. But they do it differently, and choosing the right one is the difference between progress and frustration. Speed isn’t an accident. It’s a sequence. And when you get that sequence right, everything else falls into place.
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