Dirt Bike Training Tips for Weekend Warriors With Steve Hatch

Info we can all use.

How to properly train and eat for your next motocross or off-road race.

By Shan Moore

July 20, 2022

There’s no doubt that professional motocross and off-road racers are some of the fittest athletes on the planet. Being in the best shape possible is one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle when it comes to going fast and winning races. Whether you’re a casual competitor just getting into the sport or a Vet A rider who competes every weekend, you should still strive to be in the best shape possible if you want to advance up the ranks.

We spoke to 1994 AMA National Enduro Champion and six-time ISDE gold medalist Steve Hatch at the recent Sprint Enduro World Championship in Virginia, where he gave us his tips for weekend warriors on how to do just that. Hatch trains riders for a living and has worked with elite athletes such as Kailub Russell, Taylor Robert, Josh Toth, and Ryan Sipes, just to name a few.

 

FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Josh Toth is one of the many pro riders who work with Steve Hatch for training and nutrition. Hatch was also hired as a riding coach at the recent International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) camp held in Sandy Level, Virginia.Shan Moore

The biggest challenge for the weekend warrior is that he most likely works a 9-to-5 job, five days a week, leaving him with limited time to train. This is even more of a reason to plan your workouts well and optimize your time. Hatch told us that if the average rider can dedicate just one hour a day for four days a week, then he can get the fitness needed to gain a big advantage on the competition.

“Even with a weekend warrior, the working guy, the No. 1 key by far is to build your cardiovascular capacity,” Hatch said. “If you can’t breathe during a race, you’re not going to be able to go very fast.

“The second key, believe it or not, is actually your core strength,” Hatch added. “Your core strength determines your ability to control your limbs and that affects your balance on the bike. The pros have really good balance on the bike because they have a really strong core. Most riders don’t work on their core; they work on their upper bodies, especially guys. They want to look cool and buff, but No. 2 is core.”

“No. 3 is legs and upper body,” Hatch noted.

Hatch says there are three types of training that he concentrates on: cardiovascular, core strength, and legs and upper body.

The main thing is, if you have limited time to work out, then you obviously need to spend it wisely, so you need to prioritize your workouts. If you raced on Sunday, then Monday needs to be a recovery day, according to Hatch.

“After work [on Monday], maybe do an easy walk or even a little easy pedal on a bicycle at about 20 percent effort to allow your body to recover,” Hatch said. “Super easy, so you can barely even tell the chain is on the bicycle. So that kind of gets your body back primed for the next four days.”

Hatch continued by saying Tuesday and Thursday would be good days to do some cardio. “The best bang for the buck is two things. First is rowing. With the rowing machine, you get cardio, core, legs, and upper body. You get all four of them and they are identical to your motions on a dirt bike,” Hatch explained.

“The other one would be either running or bicycling, and I would do interval sprints on those,” he continued. “Tuesday and Thursday would be good days for that. You’ve got to teach your body to rev and go fast, and then recover quickly. The problem with most people who don’t get to train all the time is if they get stuck in a mudhole at a GNCC and have to fight to get out, they get winded and their heart is not trained to come back down to a lower heart rate quick enough. You get out of the mudhole and you want to sit there for 15 minutes to even let yourself get back to going fast again.

 

Hatch was hired as a rider coach for the recent ISDE camp. Here, he goes over lap times with US Women’s Trophy Team member Korie Steede. He also shot video of each of the riders on the sprint course and went over lines with each of them.Shan Moore

“The trick with the interval training is you have to budget the time for an hour workout. You need to take the first 20 minutes just as a warmup, like a 50 percent easy pedal on a bicycle. Then after that, I would suggest every five minutes bumping it up to wide open as fast as you can go for 30 seconds. Then after that 30 seconds, bump it back down to 50 percent for the next five minutes.

“So you’ll sprint at the 20-minute mark for 30 seconds only, and then back down for four and a half minutes. Then at the 25-minute mark, you go hard for 30 seconds and then back down. Then 30, 35, 40, and then the last 20 minutes go back down to 50 percent. So that’s your cooldown time.”

Hatch suggested the opposite days, Wednesday and Friday, could be riding days. “Everybody thinks that the pros have to ride for two, three, four, five hours a day, but they don’t,” he said. “Even a lot of the riders I train ride only 30 minutes to an hour every day. Just putting on your gear makes a difference. Even riding a little, if you’re so lucky to have riding out your back door, is important. Even if you’re riding just for 15 or 20 minutes, which most people do, it still gets you in your gear. It still gets you riding. The bike should fit you like a glove or a pair of sneakers.”

Hatch added that each time you ride, always strive to get better and have a plan. “Most people go out and just ride and do the same thing,” he said. “That’s the definition of insanity—doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So the way I learned and the way I help my riders is with three types of practice. 

Interval training is the key to training your body to rev and go fast, and then recover quickly. Hatch added that the body plateaus after about three months, so you need to keep changing your intensity so your graph keeps going up throughout the year.Shan Moore

“One is endurance riding, like two or three hours on the bike. You’ve got to get seat time, especially if you’re doing GNCCs, just to get that endurance. Then it’s skill work, like wheelying a log or working on tree roots or rocks. Working on what you’re not good at. Go for your weakness. Everybody goes what they’re good at—jumps or fun stuff, smashing big berms. That’s easy. But some of the technical stuff, that’s where it will show on the lap times.

“Thirdly is the speed work. You kind of have to do all three of those types of riding. I’d do those on Wednesday, probably skill and endurance for maybe an hour, Then on Friday, if you can pull it off, just do sprints, because the last thing your body and mind are going to know is the last way you rode. Even a half-hour is plenty.”

Hatch also spoke about the importance of nutrition, which is even more difficult for someone with a family.

“It depends on your goals,” he said. “You can go from just trying to eat healthy all the way up to blood testing to see what your body lacks or needs. When I was racing, I did blood testing. There are some things your body can actually digest, depending on your body type, and some things it can’t.

“For me, spinach and avocado and different things were hard for my body to digest. Up to 50 percent of your energy can be used on digestion alone. So we can free up that energy to help it not have to work on digesting food, and put it to use on the racetrack. Then you’re way ahead of the next guy or gal.”

According to Hatch, nutrition is just as important as conditioning when it comes to success on a dirt bike. He suggests shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, because that’s where the “live” food is.Shan Moore

When shopping for food, Hatch said the best advice is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store. “That’s where all the live food is,” Hatch explained. “So your greens, vegetables, all of your colors, meats, and fish are around the perimeter of the grocery store. On the inner aisles, that’s all preservatives, which can last for five to 10 years. So, when you’re eating that, you just ate a bunch of junk that’s going to take a day to digest.

“The only other thing that’s kind of a red flag is red meat. A lot of people love red meat. The trick is the body, for most people, takes eight to 12 hours to digest a piece of steak. So we say to our racers, if you’re going to eat that, it’s OK but make it Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe Thursday at the latest. Then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday make sure you’re eating really well.

“Most people also make the mistake of thinking Saturday is the most important day for Sunday’s race. It’s actually two days prior, so it’s actually Friday. Saturday is also important, but most people are driving on Friday and they’re not eating correctly. They don’t want to drink too much because they’ll have to stop and use the restroom 400 times. So it makes sense why you don’t want to, but for a racer you really need to. So nutrition and hydration are among the biggest things that most people miss.”

Steve Hatch trains riders of all levels from beginner to pro, so whether your goal is to be the next Kailub Russell or Josh Toth, or you’re a weekend warrior just wanting to improve and are interested in training with Hatch, check out stevehatchracing.com. Hatch and his wife also have a sister company, Power Of The Mind, where they focus on mindset and the mental part of racing.