For a racing driver, the most important issue is endurance. Extreme temperatures, a lot of water lost during a race and stress can weaken it. However, the body can be strengthened. Find out how!
It is said that it is cardio exercises that build stamina and fitness. However, this is a misconception. Jogging, intervals or HIIT exercises are a great addition to strength training. However, they will not build your body’s capacity and will not strengthen it in the same way as strength training. It’s not about building a massive physique, it certainly wouldn’t help a racing driver. It’s about endurance, strength and endurance – such a body can handle even the most demanding rallies, which often last several hours. You already know from the beginning of this article that strength training will be a better option, although cardio will be a great addition to it. So it’s time to move on to the issue of what exercises you should do. We will suggest what to do at the gym, but also at home in the form of calisthenics (strength training with your own body weight)
Here the matter is quite simple. Just a few exercises that will make the most important muscle parts of your body strengthened. For an endurance driver very important exercises will be those building strength and endurance of neck muscles and arms. It is mainly about pull-ups, after some time with additional load. You can exercise your arms with the help of dumbbells or barbells, ordinary stretches should be enough. Remember to consistently add more weight. Of course you can’t forget about the muscles of the buttocks, legs – deadlifts and squats with barbells will be the perfect exercises here. In fact, everything will be strengthened, back, arms, legs and buttocks will be stronger and more durable. Stomach? An exercise like the dead pull will make you see a difference in this part of your body after some time in the gym and a proper diet. Do strength exercises up to three times a week. Ideally, work out your entire body at each session. You can also divide the workout into upper and lower body.
At the very beginning it may seem simple to you, but believe it, it is not. Progressive Kalisthenics builds strength and endurance in dozens, if not hundreds, of muscles in your body. The basic exercises? Push-ups, squats, dips and pull-ups. That’s completely sufficient. The most important thing here is the technique of exercises, as well as increasing the load. With the help of calisthenics you won’t build incredibly huge muscles, but that’s not the point. Your endurance in extremely exhausting races will increase, and really fast! You will feel better, you will look better, your life will change for the better. This is said by everyone who has tried and still continues their adventure with progressive calisthenics. When your own body weight won’t be a challenge for you, you can easily do dozens of push-ups or pull-ups 20 times in one go – add a load or do variations of these exercises. Try push-ups with your feet on a lift, try doing push-ups slower, and towards the end opt for arm push-ups. In pull-ups, increase the load or go for Muscle Up, which is a pull-up ending with your body thrown up until half your body is over the railing. You start with squats, and finish with Pistol Squats – deep squats on one leg. For dips, just keep adding weight
Fitness training is also an important part of endurance driver’s preparation. However, it should be in addition to strength training. Cardio is designed to improve your fitness and endurance somewhat, but it will not improve anything else in your body. It’s worth running or doing interval training, but once or twice a week – more often doesn’t make sense. Also, cardio can be ideal when you have a break from strength training so that no day is a lost day.
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