Fitness at an Elite Level

Training for a win with motocross sensation Ken Roczen

Supercross star aiming for the top with dedication, diet, steady gym time

March 27, 2014 by Leah Crane

Rookie sensation Ken Roczen has blazed his way into the supercross main event. Training hard off the track has helped him stay there.

Nineteen-year-old supercross racer Ken Roczen is having a standout year. After winning the AMA Supercross Lites West Series in 2013, Roczen made the jump up to the 450 class for the 2014 season and some wondered how he would stack up against a field filled with past champions like Ryan Villopoto, Ryan Dungey, James Stewart, and Chad Reed, who all have dominated in the 450 category for the past decade. When he burst out of the start gate at the season opener at California’s Anaheim 1 in January and won the final, he left the doubters in the dust.

It was a big jump for the Red Bull Teka KTM Factory Racing Team rider and German native, but thanks to a combination of focus and steady training Roczen hasn’t let off the throttle. While he will admit freely that exercising in a gym is not his favorite activity, this year he’s stepping it up a notch and working with renowned trainer Aldon Baker. As former professional cyclist, Baker has made a name for himself in the motocross world with a past and present client list that reads like a who’s who of the sport. Former trainees have included Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart, so Baker’s well versed in the physical demands of being on the podium. Currently Baker trains Roczen alongside three-time supercross champion Ryan Villapoto (who currently leads the 450-class point standings in front of Roczen) and lites leader Adam Cianciarulo.

GrindTV recently caught up with both Roczen and his trainer to gain some insight into the workouts and diet of the professional motocross rider. According to Baker, his approach to Roczen’s training is not unlike the one he’s used for other motocross riders. “I think it’s a combination of areas that need to be addressed, and you need to take into consideration the athlete’s age, genetics, and previous injures,” he explains. “Then I build a plan that improves on weakness from the past. The main factors needed are cardio and usable strength with agility and flexibility. And then maintaining a strict plan with the physical training and the on-track riding.”

Riding in circles

Roczen is quick to point out that having the increased strength required to tackle the new bike size has been a huge motivator. “You need to be stronger when you hop on the 450,” says Roczen in an interview with GrindTV.com. “You want to ride the bike and not let the bike ride you. You also have to have the endurance. In 450s we’re racing 20 laps instead of the 15.”

Baker is quick to point out that training seriously is just what Roczen needed to make the jump to the heavier and more powerful bike. “The transition to 450 is tough and requires a lot more strength and agility,” says Baker. “Once I had done tests on Kenny, I [knew I] needed to get his leg strength more balanced and work his cardio more. And then [we could] increase the workloads that would be needed to get through a 450 season.”  

Agility workouts require fast-twitch muscle fibers, which helps Ken Roczen improve his reaction time on the bike. This is great for keeping an athlete sharp and fit without being bored. For Roczen, putting in the proper training means he’s in the gym or out exercising nearly every day, like it or not. Because the schedule is largely set for supercross athletes, with competition taking place each Saturday night in a new location, all athletes fly into the event on Fridays and back out on Sundays. This schedule allows Roczen to be at home in Florida for four solid days. He’s on the dirt bike for practice on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and is working out like a madman in between.

“I’m pretty sure everyone [in motocross] does the same thing,” Roczen says. “It’s a circle between running, rowing, cycling, and exercise—and obviously riding. And then I let my trainer do the setup: when, how much, and how long. Honestly, I don’t like any of the [gym] exercises. Tell me one person that likes exercises. There are so many exercises that we do; it’s not like we go do one thing. We’re often doing 10 things. I’d say I actually enjoy running—running and cycling.” Box jumping is a great all-around exercise that helps increase Ken Roczen’s leg strength and add agility with cardio.

Food for thought
When Roczen isn’t out on the bike or in the gym, he’s refueling for his next effort. Though Roczen doesn’t have any strict dietary restrictions, Baker has given him plenty to think about. “Nutrition is really important for maintaining a healthy body and power-to-weight ratio on the bike,” explains Baker. “It’s also huge with recovery. I do address his eating habits and plan his meal plans and ratios accordingly. The basics of good nutrition are no fried foods, no sugar and salt, bake or steam vegetables only, and cut out refined carbohydrates like breads and white pastas. Also, no red meat, dairy products, and cheeses—instead, substitute with almond milk and soy products.”

Not surprisingly, race-day meals are pretty simple for Roczen. “It’s fish or chicken and some rice and vegetables; that’s basically always the deal,” he laughs. “On race day, we start pretty late. My first practice, I think, is usually at 1 [p.m.] or something, and then we have three practices and the last session ends at about 4:30. After that I’m usually eating something and then I’ll actually lay down and take a 20- to 30-minute power nap. After I’ve slept, I usually go hop on the spin bike and get myself warm and get my heart rate up again for the races.

“I’ll snack all day, but obviously nothing bad,” he continues. “I like the Nature Valley granola bars or a banana between races, and then [I] try to relax and calm myself down. Then, 20 minutes before I go back out, I’m back on the spin bike. It’s not like I’m coming in every time and eating, though. You for sure want to keep something in your stomach, but it’s not that I’m eating the whole time. I’ll have a bar before lunch, between riding sessions, and then I’ll come in from the heat race and have a banana and that’s it.” 

With only five events left this year, Roczen is currently ranked fourth overall in the point standings. This puts him 10 points back from third place, a 26-point deficit from second place, and 49 points behind first. But because a single event win can give a rider 25 points, the season is anything but wrapped. At this point, it’s all about racing smart, securing podium finishes, and hopefully coming out on top. And that is where Roczen is hoping his training will kick in.

Improve your balance by strengthening your core

Your abdominal, back, and hip muscles can help you avoid falls.

Are you walking a bit more carefully lately, or feeling unsteady on your feet?  You may be struggling with a balance problem. That puts you at risk for falls, one of the top causes of injury among older adults. But strengthening your core muscles-in your abdomen, back, and hips – can help. “Core strength is intimately related to balance, because you need good stability at your core to have safe and effective movement at the hip, knee, and ankle,” says Kailin Collins, a physical therapist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

The Core muscles

You can think of the core as your foundation. It’s made up of several muscle groups: The rectus abdominis (“abs”) at the front of your abdomen; the internal and external obliques, in the front and side of the abdomen; the tranversus muscles that run horizontally across your lower abdomen; the erector spinae, the large muscles on either side of your spinal cord; the muscles surrounding your scapulae (shoulder blades); the gluteus muscles in your hips and the buttocks; and the iliopsoas and quadrates lumborum muscles in your pelvis.

            These muscles provide stability to your trunk. They link your upper and lower body and enable you to move in any direction or stand in one spot without losing your balance. “If your core isn’t strong or stable, it will be impossible for the arms and the legs to move well,” says Collins. A weak core can undermine the motions that are part of your everyday life, such as walking bending, turning, dressing, and bathing, let alone the larger movements of sports activities.

Strengthening

Core strengthening is a popular trend in health clubs because of the many benefits that result. In addition to stabilizing your balance, a strong core improves your posture; reduces stress and pain in your lower back; and improves athletic performance, such as swinging a golf club. Strengthening usually includes strenuous exercises such as planks, sit-ups, push-ups, and crunches. Equipment such as balance boards, stability balls, and Bosu balls may also be used.

            For older adults, that type of activity can be dangerous, especially if your balance is unstable. But core strengthening can be as simple as small, repetitive movements, such as front and side standing leg lifts to strengthen your absl, shoulder blade squeezes to strengthen your scapulae, and a pelvic tilt to strengthen your abs. In that exercise, you lie on the floor with your knees bent and then gently roll your pelvis into the air.

Where to start

If you’re feeling unstable, you’ll need to see a doctor before beginning an exercise routine. Instability may be related to problems with your inner ear organs, vision, muscles, or joints. They all send signals to the brain, which processes the information and sends signals back to your muscles to make the movements necessary to maintain balance. Imbalance puts you at risk for falls. “As we get older, falls can become much more traumatic, and are often the reason for hip fractures, rib fractures, and head injuries. These can all lead to significant health problems among older adults,” says Collins.

            If your doctor recommends physical therapy to strengthen your core, you’ll go through an evaluation to determine and prescribe the right exercise routine. Once you’ve been assessed, your PT will likely guide you through a series of gently stretches and strengthening exercises.

            Don’t wait for balance problems before you start working on your core. You can prevent balance problems, as well as back pain, by maintaining a strong core at all times. Just make sure that initially you work with a physical therapist or personal trainer, who can tailor a core-strengthening program to your specific needs. We list some typical exercises that can help strengthen your core above. You can also pick up a copy of the Harvard Special Health Report Core Exercises. Go to www.health.harvard.edu/core for more information.

Alternatives

Strengthening exercises are a great way to tighten your core and improve your balance, but so are other forms of exercise that give your core a real workout. Yoga involves postures, concentration, and controlled breathing that can strengthen our core and increase your flexibility. Tai chi is another effective core strengthener. It’s a form of Chinese martial arts that includes deep breathing and slow movements and postures. Both of these exercises are helpful to improving your balance and are safe for people who may have health issues that prevent more aggressive or energetic activities.

Harvard Health Letter – February 2014

Are painkillers also killing your hearing?

Frequent use may be a preventable contributor to hearing loss.

When you think of risk factors for hearing loss, over-the-counter painkillers probably aren’t among them. But a Harvard study published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology suggest that frequent use of ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or acetaminophen (Tylenol) may be an important contributor. In the study, women who took the pain relievers at least twice a week were at greater risk for hearing loss, and more frequent usage increased the risk by up to 24%. The findings are similar to a study of men and hearing loss, although aspirin was also found to contribute to risk in that study.

Researchers speculate that the pain relievers may be damaging the cochlea, the snail-shaped hearing mechanism in your inner ear. “Ibuprofen can reduce blood flow to the cochlea, which could result in cellular damage and cell death. Acetaminophen may deplete the antioxidant glutathione, which protects the cochlea from damage,” says study author Dr. Sharon Curhan, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Does this mean you should think twice before popping a pill for headache or back pain? “These drugs clearly have benefits with short-term use,” says Dr. Curhan, “However, frequent use of these medications and use over long periods of time may increase the risk of hearing loss and may cause other adverse health effects. Therefore, it is important to take these medications mindfully and to limit their use as much as possible.”

Talk to your doctor before making any changes in your medication use. ♥

Harvard Health Letter

Sugar Shock!

Sugar, it can make you fast .... and it can make you fat! Experts argue about how much sugar active people need, but agree on one thing: We eat too much of it for our own good.

Imagine making a life-size sculpture of yourself out of sugar, then eating the entire thing over the next 365 days. That might sound gross, but many of us do roughly the equivalent every year, according to the latest figures from the United States Department of Agriculture. The average American eats 156 pounds of added sugar annually. We’re not talking about the kind you find naturally in whole foods, but sugar that’s been poured in during processing.

Not good. The American Heart Association recommends that we eat no more than six to nine teaspoons (24 to 36 grams) daily, depending on gender. But because food manufacturers dump sugar into many packaged foods—bread, crackers, soups, sauces, and ­salad ­dressings—most of us average two to three times the prescribed amount (about 22 teaspoons, or 89 grams) without even knowing it. New York Times food writer Mark Bittman recently called added sugar “the biggest public health challenge ­facing the developed world,” likening it to tobacco’s infiltration into every nook of our society in the 1950s and ’60s. Here’s what cyclists need to know about this problem.

FAST FUEL
To be clear, you need some sugar to fuel your rides. As the simplest form of carbohydrate, it’s easy to absorb and is found in whole foods in several common natural forms, including sucrose, glucose, fructose, and lactose. The process of digestion converts all sugars into glucose, which the body then stores as glycogen­ in the liver and muscles. Most of us can store only enough to get us through two hours (tops) of high-intensity­ hammering, however. So when your stores run dry, you need to pour sugar directly into the tank to keep muscles firing. Giving your muscles regular doses (30 to 60 grams an hour after the first hour) of the sweet stuff during hard efforts helps you squeeze more gains out of training because you can push harder and longer, says Michigan-based sports dietitian Donna Marlor, BSN, RD, CSSD.

After a hard effort, sugar also quickly replenishes the energy stores you’ve depleted, not only in your muscles but also in your liver and brain. In fact, your brain operates solely on sugar. It typically uses about 20 percent of the ­glucose circulating in your blood, but when you get on a bike, it demands more to keep you focused and send command signals to the rest of your body. Some experts believe that when you’re pedaling as hard as you can and start to lose steam, it’s because your neurons, not your legs, are running low on fuel. Your brain, like your muscles and liver, adapts with training to store more glycogen for your next effort.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING
The problem is that the same simple sugar that gives you a boost on your bike is bad for your arteries and organs when you do a lot of sitting around. And even though cyclists are more active than people who don’t exercise, many of us spend more time at our desks (or on couches) than we do on our saddles. During inactivity, the sugar your muscles would normally sponge up forces your body to secrete insulin, the metabolic doorman that escorts free-floating sugar from your bloodstream into your cells. The doorman can work only so fast, however. And if you pour in too much sugar, the insulin starts blocking it, leaving it in your bloodstream, where it latches onto proteins and damages blood-vessel­ walls. That leads to ­inflammation, which paves the way for hardened arteries and heart disease. In the meantime, your body still pumps out insulin to try to clean up the mess and eventually converts the excess glucose into stored fat. Repeat this process over and over again, and the doorman eventually calls it quits, which means you can no longer get sugar into your cells, and that signals diabetes.

Eating a sugar bomb (a slice of cake, a doughnut) also triggers blood-sugar fluctuations and imbalances of the hormones that regulate appetite, which can lead to overeating and fat gain, especially in your belly. Some experts, most notably Joe Friel of the Training Bible series and The Paleo Diet for Athletes, caution that eating a lot of sugar in your daily diet also hinders your fat-burning metabolism both on and off the bike, so you’re less efficient in training. “Your body is very adaptive,” says Friel. “It’ll use what you give it the most of. And the more sugar that comes in, the more your body attunes to using quick energy.” That means you don’t burn fat as readily for fuel, leading to faster energy drain.

Not only does consuming excess sugar alter your fat-burning metabolism, it also changes your brain circuitry and may even be addictive. That’s right: There’s a reason you “can’t eat just one.” Sugar lights up the same reward receptors and triggers the same cascade of feel-good brain chemicals (like serotonin and dopamine) as cocaine does. So when you’re trolling for a postride cookie even though you sucked down a gel during your ride, it may not be about restocking your energy stores as much as it is about feeding your head. And because overloading on sugar messes with the chemistry in areas of the brain that control food intake, it becomes harder to regulate how much we eat. So we end up eating even more sugar and get caught in a vicious cycle.

THE SWEET SPOT
For the greatest on-bike benefits, fuel your riding by sticking to whole foods made with no added sugar. Nature delivers what you need in packages that meter out the doses in a healthy, sustained way. Fructose found naturally in fruits and vegetables is fine, for example, because the fiber in those foods slows the speed by which sugar enters your bloodstream. The protein in milk does the same for lactose, the natural sugar found in dairy.

Cut out foods with added sugar from your daily menu. The most obvious are sodas, bakery goods, and candy. But as noted earlier, you’ll also find sugar in most processed foods that come in a box, jar, carton, or can. Watch for added sugar in a multitude of names and incarnations, including beet sugar, corn sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate or puree, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, malt sugar, molasses, syrup, and maple syrup. Ingredients ending in “ose” are all forms of sugar. If any of those are among the first three to five on the list, that’s too much.

Older Does Not Mean Slower

Don’t Let Age Slow You Down

By Dr. Jordan D. Metzl, M.D

As I was pedaling as fast as I could in the middle of Ironman 70.3 Eagleman, a strong-looking fellow blew by. I glimpsed the number on his calf as he charged ahead. “You just got totally dusted by a 59-year-old,” I said to myself.

When he and several others from his wave also passed me, it made me think: Am I getting weaker or are these guys getting stronger?

There are two main variables to consider when looking at aging and athletic ability: cardiovascular capacity and functional strength. The stronger the heart, the more blood gets pumped out to the lungs and muscles, and the more cardiovascular capacity an athlete has. This number determines the VO₂max, the maximal amount of oxygen that the body can exchange over a specific time.

Functional strength, the strength generated by muscle groups, determines the power an athlete can generate. The greater the functional strength, the more power and speed the athlete will have.

After age 25, both the cardiovascular capacity and functional strength variables start to decline. This starts slowly, a little bit each year—and then accelerates quicker in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

If that is true, why was I getting my butt kicked by a 59-year-old? The answer: These guys are fighting their physiology by doing a few key things:

1. Lactate threshold training. As an athlete ages, hitting the same VO₂max is impossible, but he or she can push their lactate threshold at any age with interval training. Pushing your cardiovascular limit and then returning to baseline several times per workout helps the body to better tolerate longer periods of exercise.

2. Functional strength training. I’m a huge fan of plyometric-based strength training. The muscles can gain strength at any age. Fighting the natural process of muscle atrophy only occurs with hard work. Strength training sessions twice per week, in addition to regular triathlon training, results in improved power and functional strength.

3. Regular medical care. Seeing your doctor for regularly scheduled visits is important for everyone. Athletes are generally healthier but are still prone to the everyday problems of aging.

Jordan D. Metzl, M.D., is a nationally recognized sports medicine specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Dr. Metzl is a 29-time marathon runner and nine-time Ironman finisher. His new book is titled The Athlete’s Book of Home Remedies. Drjordanmetzl.com