 Joel YounkinsHigh Performance Coach Motocross and Off-Road Racing is a sport that often cycles in trends and fads. Things that are producing championships today, will no longer be the same things that produce champions down the road. Not because they stop working, but just because it's not in style at the moment.
Right now, there's a common debate, if you should train in a group of other riders or train alone secluded chasing the stopwatch. The new school way is to train with a group, a facility, and we even see more factory level teams adopting the Star Racing everyone trains together mentality. Whereas the "old school" racers who trained alone have reserved mixed feelings about training in larger groups at facilities among your main competitors. What's interesting is how fast the tides turn in the sport of motocross. Not even 20 years ago, JGR tried to implement the same team sport training model just like how Star Racing has. Back then, it was looked at as an inferior training model to what currently was the norm. Riders were simply looked at as hired contractors and it was all on them to be ready to go to race on the weekends. What they did Monday-Friday wasn't the teams responsibilities. Even when JGR hired James Stewart, who always trained at his (his parents house) track in Florida, they had to bend their own team standards so that they could acquire him. Fast forward a few years later, Star Racing buys the Goat Farm and moves the entire operation across the country where basically the entire team resides and trains together (minus Tomac). Team owner Bobby Reagan, who has a strong football background of his own, essentially runs his team like a college football program. Recruit the best talent possible, throw them all together, and see who comes out as the championship contenders of the group. And move on from those who aren't, rinse and repeat. From present/past pro racers to mini parents, people are voicing their opinions on which route is better for riders to take. It's got to be one or the other right? So what are my thoughts on this training concept? Should you train in a group with other riders of your peers, or should you nestle yourself away and train alone in secrecy. The reality is, both are and can be solid options. Racers have been training alone for years and have had a lot of success and it's really only in the current era that we have training facilities popping up left and right. Like with all things in training and preparation, both options are going to have their strengths and weaknesses about them. Let's talk about them. Training in a Group: The Strengths Training in a group setting can be very beneficial for riders to maintain structure, consistency, and being placed in a motivated competitive atmosphere. It essentially forces riders to show up as their best selves every time they hit the track as none of them want to be the slowest rider any given day. The culture (assuming it's positive) can allow for an environment to learn and allow the racer to elevate their game by being surrounded by fast(er) racers. A rising tide floats all boats. Training Alone: The Strengths Training alone can really allow a racer to hone in on specific details of their game. They can build and customize a game plan for exactly what they need. They do what they need to do vs what the group is doing for the day. When you add in proper advice from the right coaches and resources in your corner, it can be a very deadly program that you're running. There can be limited distractions when you only surround yourself with people that you really want around. When the environment is how you need it, and you're able to hone in exactly what you need, it's a tough program to beat. Training in a Group: Weaknesses Even though riding in a competitive environment can be a really good thing, it can cause concern if things aren't managed properly. The weekday competitive environment can be emotionally exhausting if the temperature isn't controlled by coaches running the groups. When you get egos involved, it can be a good thing to help drive up performance, but there's a slippery slope of when things go too far and you have racers treating Wednesday practice more serious than the races on the weekend. It can leave you emotionally flat on race day if this variable isn't heavily accounted for. Careful if the environment of the facility (coaches & riders) if it's not a positive place and is more toxic, will amplify this even more. Secondly, training in a group is really good for team sports. However, at the end of the day, racing isn't that, it is an individual sport. When training in a population, there's a common phenomenon that will start to happen. The group will all begin to ride similarly, speeds, technique, line choice, etc. Which rider is this really good for? The slower riders in the group gain the most from this environment. The floor gets brought up a lot faster than the ceiling gets raised. I believe (along with four strokes) this is why you see such a deep field of talent compared to before when riders trained alone or in just very small groups. But for the faster/fastest rider(s) of the group, they need to be held accountable for their own progression and should almost be then treated as the "training alone" program. Training Alone: The Weaknesses Just as training in a group can help raise your game fast and allow you to not go as hard if you're not feeling it, the exact opposite of that can happen when you train alone. Training alone takes a very high level of drive, discipline, and knowledge to manage all of that on your own. Hence, why I mentioned earlier that you should still have coaches and advice if you're a serious racer. When the emotional brain sets in, we can make emotional decisions that can very easily lead in the wrong direction. Sometimes that's not doing enough, and others it's doing too much. High levels of maturity and experience will be key to avoid this, but many racers lack this until they're in their later years of racing. What Should You Do? "Know thyself." Take a look around. We all live in different parts of the world, with different resources around us. Some have no option but to train alone, others may have a training facility right across the street. But everyone wants to take this line in the sand stance of which method is better. Old school and train alone, or new school and train in a group. And to be clear, that's 100% the wrong way to look at things. There's no such thing as the perfect program. Every program has blind spots and pitfalls. A really good program understands exactly where those are and how to avoid them or get around them. Here's the real answer though to all of this. It's not whether to train in a group or train alone. That's the wrong question to be asking... You win with talent, with people, and with culture. The racer who was labeled "The Fastest Man on the Planet" trained alone. The racer who is labeled as "The GOAT" trained alone. The racer who is labeled, "The King of Supercross" trained alone. And on the flip side, training at facilities or factory teams all training together is still a relatively new concept that is producing a lot of success as well and bridging a lot of gaps for racers. But what's the biggest takeaway of this all is, it's not what you do, it's how you do it is the bigger question to be asked.
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