Our life revolves around two fundamental organs: the brain and the heart. And for an athlete, both are of crucial importance, but the power of an athlete's heart is what largely determines his ability to materialize his effort and transform it into success.
Dans le passé, les pilotes de motos n’étaient pas considérés comme des “athlètes”, ce qui est le titre que nous donnons aux professionnels du sport, mais les demandes croissantes récentes dans le sport en général et en MotoGP en particulier ont transformé le profil physique du pilote, et ils sont maintenant considérés comme de véritables athlètes. De nos jours, si nous devions placer un pilote MotoGP dans un autre sport, il serait tout aussi prêt à performer car sa préparation physique est extrêmement exigeante et demande à son cœur de dépasser pratiquement les limites d’un être humain.
The gradual increase in performance in MotoGP requires riders to be in exceptional physical condition. The key to everything is the work that boosts the heart rate of the pilots, so that the heart is able to pump at a very high rate when needed. In recent years, the MotoGP organization has started monitoring the heart rate of certain riders at certain times, to show the level of effort they have to provide.
Typically, at the high points of the weekend, during qualifying sessions or in races, the highest heart rate is reached, around 160 or 170 beats per minute, although we have also discovered cases of drivers with a extreme cardiac output, either due to his low work rate, as was the case of Maverick Viñales, who was not close to this average heart rate, barely exceeding 130 beats, or that of Jorge Martín, just at opposite extreme, around 200 beats per minute.
These extremes, both above and below the average rate, largely depend on the situation the rider finds themselves in because generally when comfortable and relaxed the heart rate remains the same and may even lower. However, when stress begins to build up for any reason, such as an incident that almost results in a crash or distress after a life-altering qualifying that leaves the rider out of the desired Q2 session, it demands more from his body and of their heart, and their heart rate can skyrocket.
The key to all of this is physical resistance. Pilots consciously prepare themselves not only to be strong but also resilient. Muscular preparation is essential when they have to handle bikes that weigh almost 160 kilos and develop almost 300 hp, so physical strength and flexibility are essential.
In addition to working out at the gym and lifting weights, other workouts like running or cycling can strengthen the heart. Currently, during the winter break, after a brief period of relaxation and disconnection, the drivers begin their physical preparation based on a lot of 'cardio' work, and this is an essential moment of the pre-season because good physical preparation or deficient they can determine the driver's performance once the competition begins, because the number of races has increased in the 2023 calendar such that the time available to take care of physical preparation between one Grand Prix and the next has greatly reduced.
Cycling allows you to develop cardiopulmonary exercises at different frequencies, accustoming the body to regulate the heart rate according to variable needs at certain times of the races. The start of a race, for example, combines the initial tension with the determination at precise moments in which a race is defined, to later go through a valley period, in which everything stabilizes and the driver is reserved for the final result , when the heart will again be subjected to high demand.
In cycling, the variety of routes allows you to work on these variations in heart rate, by combining flat sections where the heart rate is stable and helps to boost endurance, with demanding climbs in the mountains, where a higher heart rate is necessary.
Running is also very positive for achieving a high heart rate on the bike. Some physical trainers plan running sessions of 10 kilometers at a steady pace to accustom the body to the heart rate that will be required on the motorcycle. In some cases it is even possible to practice extreme physical sports, like Johann Zarco, such as apnea, because in certain racing situations the driver stops breathing.
