Hey all, this should be an interesting topic.
What is your opinion on fitness in Karting? How fit do you need to be? How relevant are certain types of fitness (e.g. cardio vs strength). Is there any correlation between fitness and performance on the track, and if so - how much?
What are your experiences with fitness in karting? Have you ever lost weight / improved cardio / gained strength and found it helped you on the track?
D.
What is your opinion on fitness in Karting? How fit do you need to be? How relevant are certain types of fitness (e.g. cardio vs strength). Is there any correlation between fitness and performance on the track, and if so - how much?
What are your experiences with fitness in karting? Have you ever lost weight / improved cardio / gained strength and found it helped you on the track?
D.
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Comments12
I dunno, Jase Hynruik is shaped is shaped like a pear and he goes pretty well. I guess you can train all you want, but if your not race fit, you may as well not show up. In saying that, if you struggle for strength that should probably be addressed in a gym environment.
This is my first post here; so hello to you all.
Fitness and stamina are extremely important in sport and karting is no exception. Being well hydrated and eating good food on the days leading up to an event make a difference in my belief (and experience) as to how you perform on race day.
Karting is a physically demanding sport - due to the long race days/nights; out in the sun; the physical driving of the kart itself; the mental stress and the concentration levels required on the track and in the pits.
The fitter a person's body is the better they will handle the rigours of racing and the easier it will be for their mind to focus on the important things.... like overtaking moves, exact race lines, strong mental discipline before and during racing etc.
Drinking water instead of softdrink; eating good food instead of hot dogs, pies, etc goes part way in the right direction.
Doing any number of exercise disciplines such as lightweight gym work (i.e. lots of repetitions with light weights, short breaks [or none] between reps); "boxercise" type activities; martial arts, skipping, bike riding all add to good cardio. A good balance of all the above is even better.
Good cardio and physical stamina are essential in my opinion. A body strong enough to turn the steering wheel without pain and handling bumps without slouching further into the seat makes the races go very quickly. Each lap is the same - whether at the start or the last lap.
It helps a lot at the end of the night's racing - being able to pick those lines, tight spots and timing them with complete accuracy instead of thinking about how much the body hurts makes the opportunities easier to see and open up.
Cheers
Gary
I think hand strength is extremely important. If your hands give up, your whole body struggles as all your effort goes into trying to compensate for your hands.
Good Topic D,
It's one we are hearing more and more of . . .
You know my shape, so we won't go into here . . . but I believe "upper body strength" is the place it seems to be handy, not so much "built" so to speak, more of a core strength as you suggest. Cardio is very important I believe, the better you can control your body and breathing the easier, clearer things are, to me, it's like being in that zone, where everything slows down, but your laps times are faster, because you are concentrating more easily on the task at hand.
Cheers
Phil
i agree wholeheartedly with Col, 'hand strength' would be important, that would be why there are some good karters [& some not so good] in Aus with 'strong hands & wrist too'...... ;-}
every day and night , I jog, Lift Weights and cycle
after becoming to heavy for juniors last year i have started to watch what i eat and drink, and i think its working :)
base fitness is important, however i believe u cant beat time in the seat to get kart fitness.
Last year i didnt race for 6 months and when i came back and done a test day and pucka, i only was there for half the day because i couldn't hold my neck up and my arms couldnt hold on to the steering wheel. it was quite embarrassing.. i then went back the next weekend and raced the jnr sprint and raced 2 classes and i was fine.. During my 6 months off i was at the gym 3 times a week and riding 300-400km per week.
noski on May 4, 2009 at 10:04
hey guys, as a point of interest i have been very slack with my fitness but after the nationals i decided to toughen up and do something about it, 3weeks later i raced again after a little cardio and weight work and i never felt better after a race weekend.
running and jogging won't help u (for karting), its time in the seat that will pay off. u can easily see someone at the end of a race fade off.
Im my opion its mental strength!!! I think fitnesss is very important but the will to win and to be the best is the most important of all. Also being race fit like Mr Cunningham said is very important being in the kart at least 2 times a month raceing somthing is probally a good way to keep up your strength.
But im also looking at Rotx heavy and being the first person in aus to win CL,CH and CSH so maybe my opinons arnt the best in this forum lol good luck.
Time to cut down on WOW jase...
Jason Hryniuk said:Im my opion its mental strength!!! I think fitnesss is very important but the will to win and to be the best is the most important of all. Also being race fit like Mr Cunningham said is very important being in the kart at least 2 times a month raceing somthing is probally a good way to keep up your strength.
But im also looking at Rotx heavy and being the first person in aus to win CL,CH and CSH so maybe my opinons arnt the best in this forum lol good luck.
Great thread.
I've always been skinny and have lacked strength. I've recently started weights to help with my upper body strength. Would love to hear some exercises that some of you do specifically aimed at karting strength.
Col mentioned hand strength. How do you go about exercising that?