How Eugene Laverty Deals With Arm Pump.

[Stroker]

Hey Guys, interesting info at the end of the article. What is your opinion on keeping the forearms small and changing the number of fingers you use on the lever?

 

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/217385/1/electronics-taunting-eugene-laverty.html

[faffi]

Kenny Roberts Sr. lived by the same rule. I wouldn't know.

 

A slightly different perspective: I'll be 51 in a month's time and for as long as I can remember, my muscles and joints and tendons have hurt. Movement has always been synonymous with discomfort or pain, all the way back to when I was only a few years old. In addition, I have suffered lots of inflammations from working out and am currently under treatment for a tennis elbow. I asked the physio what he would recommend to A) prevent these injuries and how I could limber up my constantly more rigid/less flexible body. And for the first time, despite all the specialists I've seen, I got an answer that made sense! All my muscles are very tense constantly (news to me), so they always tend to tie themselves into knots (of which I've been aware for 25 years). But the main reason is the constant tension that is working on the tendons which tire and get inflammed. This also explain why I invariably end up with some form of injury, usually inflammation, every time I begin to get stronger - the tension also increase, eventually beyond the limit of the tendon, which cries enough.

 

My point is that I personally do not believe the amount of muscle matter much regarding avoiding armpump. But being able to utterly relax the muscles when they're not in use as well as not tensing them more than required to do the job is cue. And a strong muscle has a much easier time under minor strain - like pulling a brake or twisting a throttle - than a weak arm, meaning it should have an easier time over a race distance. Provided, again, that it can relax enough to get sufficient blood flowing through.

[faffi]

Seems like more and more MotoGP stars suffer from arm pump http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2015/May/150519a.htm

 

I'm in no position to know whether it is impossible or not to ride at the top world level relaxed or not, but it does seem like they use a lot of power and hold on tightly, be that from the forces required or from shear terror.