'Fitness' is often generalised to mean endurance, or Aerobic Fitness. However, fitness truly means 'fit for a specified task'. So, in relation to this article, fitness is about training to be good at the various aspects that improve BMX racing. Here are some of the main fitness variables required in BMX.
Muscular Strength:
Quite simply, this is the ability of our muscles to push against resistance. It is about how much force we generate and does not specify anything to do with how fast we do it.
Speed:
Being able to move your muscles quickly.
Muscular Power:
Where this differs from strength is that power is about combining strength with speed. It's the amount of force that can be applied quickly. In biomechanics, we express this as Force x Distance / Time.
Anaerobic Capacity:
Anaerobic means without oxygen. Sometimes we use oxygen to help create energy for our muscles, other times we do without oxygen for a period of time. This generally occurs more during high-intensity exercise, though it is going happening to some degree all the time.
Aerobic Capacity:
Producing energy with the help of oxygen takes longer and requires sufficient oxygen supply, but yields far more energy. Aerobic energy becomes very important for BMXers later in a race (depending on your age) and in recovery between races.
Local Muscular Endurance:
The ability of a particular muscle or muscle group to repeatedly work against a sub-maximal resistance, something we do a lot of in cycling.
Okay, so now you know some of the areas that can be important targets of training. Knowledge of these principles is vital to understanding how to put together a training program.
