victory423

I've just completed my 1st of 8 kart races in the Rookie League at F1Boston.
3 Races, 90 laps.

Near the end of each race, I felt woozy in the hairpins and I could not take a proper line because of arm fatigue.

Obviously, physical conditioning is my biggest obstacle to getting faster lap times.

Anyone know a good gym training regimen for a kart racer? Suggestions welcome.

S2Kretard

More karting. Seriously.


You're fatigued because you're not used to the speed/g-loads, so you're probably gripping the wheel too hard, bracing yourself strenuously in the corners, etc...

So.... do more karting. Running/mountain biking regularly helps, but there really is no substitute in this case.



Wait, F1Boston... Are we talking about indoor "karting"?

coldrsx

those stress ball type things, but the workout ones...or those grips you sqeeze work the forearm, wrist and hand very well.

also, do your shoulders....simple bar lift up from infront to shoulder height.

SlipAngle79

Theres all kinds of things to do to better prepare your overall strength and endurance in additioion to more laps.

1.Try the plank, a yoga exercise in which you hold a pushup position with your forearms flat on the ground instead of your hands. Try holding for as long as you can - 2 minutes is plenty.

2.Get a yoga ball and a 10 pound plate weight off a bar bell and sit upright on the ball holding the weight out in front of you as if it were a steering wheel. Keep your legs together and turn the weight side to side like a steering wheel.

3.Cardiovascular, like running or mountain biking listed above will help tremendously with endurance.

I am a cert PT and I looked into what pro drivers trainers have them do, there is alot of things F1 drivers do in the gym that I had never seen.

krazik

Yes. I've run the 2 courses. I hope they're combining them for races.

GT Motoring DC5

Interesting stuff, Nick! Makes sense.

I'll definitely have to try some of those out. Not sure if you remembered at all from the RTA event last year, but I weighed a little over 235 and after a few scary moments in some 45-minute mini enduro sessions, I came to the realization that I wasn't nearly in good enough shape. I'm down to 195 now, but I could really use some more pinpointed training. Thus far, I've just been doing a lot of boxing and running with both ankle and wrist weights and simple stuff like squat jumps and pushups...don't really want to build mass by any means. I never realized how important fitness really was until I started to really let things go, lol

A former co-worker of mine was a good family friend of Jacques Villeneuve and she said he would basically do simulator training with a full suit on, heavy heavy weights on his arms and additional weights in a weighted suit and then TONS of weight attached to his helmet for neck strength.

Last year on Honda's F1 website, their physio actually had a video segment on some of the core building exercises that Jenson Button and Rubens would do, but I'm not sure if it's still on the site.

S2Kretard

Oh.




lawl

victory423

Thanks for all the exercise suggestions.

I'll be going to the gym tomorrow to try them all out. I'm 36 and it's taken a week for my muscles to recover from my first race.

I currently weigh 195 lbs but I could stand to lose about 15lbs of fat.

The weights around the neck make alot of sense. High levels of grip and G-forces conspire to make it seem like you're turning the steering wheel of a workout machine at the gym!

I've done autocross before, but racing the kart is on another level entirely in terms of fatigue and fitness.

I recommend it if you really want to know how old and out of shape you really are.

The rookie league at F1boston consists of 8 summertime meetings. They are run on an indoor track, an outdoor track and the two tracks combined. 10 laps practice and two 35 lap races for each of the 8 meets. F1Boston provides the driving suit, helmet, kart, track, maintenance and the competitors. It's a good value at $400 for the entire season. That's certainly less that a new set of competition tires.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions!

GT Motoring DC5

Another interesting thing to note: my neighbor used to play college hockey and everyone used to go crazy over this one guy's wrist shot...which had essentially the power of most guys' slap shots.

The key to his crazy power?

The guy had been karting every weekend since he was 5.

Crazy forearm power

S2Kretard

Relax your arms/hands/grip on the straights... stretch your hands on the straights...