TROLL TRAINING: ENDURANCE TRAINING FOR MOTOCROSS

01/28/2025 03:30 PM

BY ALEX MARTIN

Throughout my professional career, endurance training has had the single biggest impact on my confidence, longevity and fitness. It has also played a major role in helping me manage my arm pump. I’ve been at both ends of the spectrum in this department. When training with Ryan Hughes, we mainly focused on HIIT-style workouts in the gym with minimal focus on cardio. A few years later, my training consisted of 30-minute morning runs with two-hour bicycle sessions six days a week with Johnny O’Mara on top of riding our motorcycles four days a week! This has provided me with some great perspective and real, “in the trenches” feedback on how to incorporate endurance training into one’s program to achieve optimal performance.

ENDURANCE TRAINING DEFINED

The body has two basic energy systems—aerobic and anaerobic. Endurance training falls under the aerobic system. When you are working out at a relatively low heart rate (zone one or zone two), you are in an aerobic state where your body can utilize oxygen effectively during the workout. At a higher heart rate, you will transition into the anaerobic, or “without oxygen” system. In this article, I will share with you five key benefits to building your aerobic foundation and how essentially slowing down on your easy days will benefit your long-term health, fitness and racing.

Tip #1 Increased Blood Capillaries & Stroke Volume: An increase in blood capillaries means you will have more nutrients and oxygen-rich blood going to your muscles. High-intensity training breaks down blood capillaries, while slowing down your pace allows your body to grow new blood capillaries in the muscles. With an increase in capillary density comes an increase in stroke volume, which basically means your heart can pump more blood with each beat. In the book “Running to the Top,” the author talks about how Kenyan runners have two to three times more capillaries in their muscles than American runners. A big reason for this is that they log many slow and easy miles to complement their hard, high-intensity track sessions.

Tip #2 Managing Cortisol Levels: Cortisol is your body’s primary stress hormone that is produced by the adrenal glands and activated by the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) whenever you are in a stressful situation. Six things happen when cortisol levels are high: 1. Increased inflammation. 2. Stress on digestive, reproductive, and immune systems. 3. Weight gain. 4. Anxiety. 5.Decrease in testosterone. 6. Trouble sleeping.

The big takeaway here is when you are training in the “grey zone,” you are unknowingly stressing your body, so go slow on your easy days to limit the negatives of elevated cortisol levels. Doing this will allow you to truly give your best effort for that important race or key interval session on the calendar.

Tip #3 Increased Energy Production: Mitochondria are quite literally the batteries in our cells. They glean energy from fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. The more mitochondria you can pack inside each cell, the more powerful your muscles will be. As we age, we lose these precious mitochondria. Aerobic exercise has been found to help mitigate this loss.

Tip #4 Burn Fat: When exercising at lower intensities, you will be using a higher percentage of fat as a fuel source compared with carbohydrates. It’s worth noting that you are never burning 100 percent fat or 100 percent carbs, but the slower you go, the more the scale tips towards fat burning. This style of training will teach your body to break down fat and use it as a fuel source more effectively.

Tip #5 Your Peak Fitness: The larger the low-intensity aerobic base you build in the off-season, the longer you will be able to maintain your peak fitness during the season. This is a definite win/win, especially if your season starts in January and goes until September like the current SMX Championship!

In conclusion, endurance training for the sport of motocross is often misunderstood and abused. Most dedicated racers or athletes are often just trying to get the very best out of themselves each and every day, but this is where the old saying, “Train smarter, not harder” really comes in. I hope this article will provide you with some educated reasons to slow down and spend the time building a proper aerobic system. The benefits are many, and I promise you won’t be disappointed in the results!

Alex Martin raced on the AMA Pro circuit for 15 years. He has won AMA Nationals and has over 20 podium finishes under his belt. After Alex retired from Pro racing, he started a training company called “Troll Training.”  Alex wrote 16 training articles for MXA before the duties of taking over the management of his families Spring Creek National track ended his MXA column. You can reach Alex about training advice by going to  www.trolltraining.com.

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