 Photo: Zachary C. Bako Joel YounkinsHigh Performance Coach I love this sport, but I’m not blind to the nonsense. And honestly, some things in motocross need to be called out, not to complain, but to make the sport better. I like to think I'm a pretty positive person. I try to focus on the good, let go of what drains me, and stay grounded in the bigger picture. The older I get, the more intentional I’ve become about that.
But today? Yeah… today you’re getting the real vent. No filter. No sugar coating. Just the things in motocross that genuinely make me want to roll my eyes. Calling Pre-Season “Boot Camp” Boot Camp is for military recruits. It’s designed to break someone down, strip them to nothing, and rebuild them. Once they’re in the military, they don’t go back to boot camp, they move into, real training. I get that people use it as figure of speech, but words matter because definitions create images. And “boot camp” paints the wrong picture. If you’re a high-level racer, we don’t need to break you down. We need to build you up. We need to develop you. We need to refine you. When you go into pre-season training thinking it’s supposed to “suck,” you’re already framing it wrong. Instead of dreading it, look at it as a window to level up. Two different mindsets. Two very different outcomes. Making Riders Run the Track There’s a bizarre trend where coaches make riders run the motocross track in full gear (minus the helmet) after practice “to build endurance" or something. Nothing screams, “I don’t understand training,” louder than this. Here’s why:
They don’t know. It’s just a primitive attempt to make a rider “tough.” If endurance is the goal, a rider would get more out of 10 extra minutes of purposeful seat time instead of clomping around the track like a medieval knight. Parents pay a riding coach for their kid to ride the track, not run the track... If a coach ever made one of my kids do this…we’d pack up our stuff and never come back. Deeming Foods as “Bad” Food is fuel. Calling ice cream (or anything else) “bad” and acting like eating it means you’re not serious is one of the dumbest narratives in moto. Context matters. Trying to lose weight? Sure, pounding ice cream isn’t helping that goal. Trying to gain weight? Recover faster? Increase calories between sessions? Then yeah, ice cream might actually be useful. People need to stop pointing fingers and start understanding nutrition, especially in high performance. Look at other sports: endurance athletes, football players, basketball players…they take nutrition seriously, but they don’t demonize individual foods like moto culture does. It's either; a racer eats like complete shit, or on the other hand, they're scared to eat anything. It's confusing... Making Riders Skinny Why is half the sport obsessed with being skinny? We’re not training for a runway. We’re training to go full throttle on a dirt bike. You don’t need to starve yourself. You don’t need to be constantly obsessed with “burning calories” like you're in a Butts and Guts Class. Feed the athlete. Let them build. Let them recover. Yes, being lean helps most riders. But if you’re training hard and fueling properly, that usually takes care of itself. Remember, 9/10 competitive racers need to eat more...Burning more calories on a restrictive diet is a receipt for disaster, like poor performances and mental/emotional/ physical burnout. Doing Exhaustive Workouts Anyone can make a workout hard. Anyone can make you tired. That doesn’t make the training good and it's not rocket science in making someone sore and tired. Fatigue is visible, you can see someone dying in a workout. Adaptation is invisible, you need knowledge and experience to know what’s working. Most people skip the invisible part because they’ve never been exposed to real training or have any idea of what it actually entails. So they chase exhaustion, thinking it’s productivity. But those high-fatigue, low-intelligence workouts? They don’t make riders better. They limit performance and increase injury risk after the initial 2-8 week honeymoon phase of them. Referring to Training as “Suffering” Training should be hard. There will be moments that feel like suffering. But constantly labeling the process as “suffering” is dramatic and honestly kind of disrespectful to real suffering. Suffering is people with no opportunity, no resources, and no way out. Training for a sport you choose? That’s not suffering. That’s privilege. It’s a gift. You have the chance to chase goals, compete, push your limits, and possibly even create a future from racing. There’s nothing to feel bad about. Just put in the work. You’re lucky you get to. Final Thoughts I don’t usually focus on the negative, it’s not where I like to live. But sometimes shining a light on what’s wrong gives people the perspective needed to do things right. If any of these grind your gears too, good. It means you care about the sport. It means you want it done better. And the riders who want it done better? Those are the ones who rise.
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