Arm pump advice

[theblacksmith]

Keep your elbows up all the time and try not to hold on too tight to your grips.

[ArcherWC]

Time on the bike will make the biggest differance, Also a stearing dampner will help

[krasher]

I am really new to this so I don't know if my opinion counts but, I don't get pump, but my mates who are more experienced do.

I have done some mountain biking (downhill/jump) which I think helped. I think I used to get some pump doing that. I just learnt to relax and setup right.

I have taken the time to setup my bike levers and I think this helps a lot. I move my levers in slightly so I get more leverage on them and I then only need a couple fingers. I also tilt them down quite a bit so that I don't have to lift my hands as high. ie they are adjusted to work as if I was on the pegs.

I don't know what works, but something does. Could just be that I am muscular. :P

[mazz1972]

Building up those arm muscles is the best way to negate forearm pump, and there are a few others factors to consider as well. As you can see from other posts there are lots of suggestions....stick with what works best for you. With any muscles, they need to be "warmed up" a little before abuse!! Below is some suggestions from one of our previous club newsletters:

Grip the bikes tank with your knees. Do this by standing on the balls of your feet (rather than the arch) and kinda pushing outwards on your pegs. This points your knees in towards the tank and means you only hold the bars to steer.

Hydrate (drink lots of water).

Supplements (B12/B6).

Handlebars - move toward you so they’re not so ‘high’.

Steering stabilizer (allows you to relax your grip).

Body position on bike - make sure you find your balance point, especially when standing. If you are doing pull ups all the time you are to far back, if your you holding yourself from kissing the mudguard you’re to far forward. Almost everyone is to far back. Move your body forward and find a balance where your arms are more relaxed and a “death grip” is not necessary.

Gloves - make sure they are not too tight as you don’t want to restrict blood flow or finger movement.

Grips - gel type hand grips can help. If you have small hands, you might try smaller handgrips.

Wrist/forearm excercise, broom handle, a piece of string and a 2kg weight. You attach the weight to one end of the string and the broomstick to the other. Holding the broom handle you wind the string up raising and lowering the weight.

Stretching seems to be one of the best things you can do to avoid or reduce forearm pump. Most racers do some stretching before hitting the track but a lot of trail riders and ditch bangers just hop on and go. Here’s a good forearm stretch. With arms extended in front of you, and fingers straight, pull back on the fingers to flex the wrist joint backwards. Then push on the knuckles to flex the wrist forwards.

Keep your forearms warm. Too much cool air restricts blood flow and increases the chances of forearm pump.

Lever set up - make sure your brake and clutch lever are set om the right position for you. The standard is to have your brake and clutch lever in line with your forearms when you’re in the attack position. Having them in the wrong spot can make them hard to reach and mess your body positioning up.

[Hazza]

Breathing is a big part a lot of arm pump is causes by lack of oxygen in the arms

[Atomic]

is a c*nt the same as a cunt?

I find with pump that if you can ride through it it comes to a kinda bearable level at which you can ride allll day. But yeah i get it less now that i used to so more riding, more years, more strength. I also work out on an exercise machine and have a hand spring thingie that i squeeze while watching tv. But that is over the top retarded shit that i have to do to keep up with a mate. lol

do push ups, a couple of times a day just do as many as you can untill you cant do any more, this works the same muscles that get sore from arm pump

Make sure you rest a day or two between doing muscle exercises so they can rebuild, if you work out the same muscle group everyday, your muscles will eat themselves away. Possibly a load of crock but I heard that the larger the muscles, the more prone to arm pump you will be because there is no room for expansion?????

[Atomic]

Breathing is a big part a lot of arm pump is causes by lack of oxygen in the arms

Hard night on the piss wont help with getting oxygen to the muscles either.

I agree with some of the posts above about riding through it, take a 15min break and get back on the bike, once iv had arm pump in the morning, I generally wont get it again for the rest of the day.

[secondfield]

Cut those stupid waffles off your bar grips. Less surface area to hold onto means you squeeze a bit tighter. I have changed my grips to generic ATV/sport bike grips. Way fatter (again, more surface area to hang onto) and softer compound. This change has eliminated my arm pump. And, erm, heaps of riding.

[pete.ktm]

a couple of links with articles and vids:

http://dirtbike.off-road.com/dirtbik....jsp?id=328767
http://www.motocrossactionmag.com/me...C914E5A0E9FAF8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl00Qu3xad4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtFpH...eature=related

doing some arm excercises in the car on the way to the ride seems to help me a little, but considering paul whibley often mentions he gets arm pump in races i think if there was a definitive cure for it he would have fixed it.

real bitch when you're have it and you're trying to stick with your mates and you end up dropping it on some dumbass section coz you just can't hang on any more.

[oldguy]

I have Just uploaded this to youtube, seam to make sense,

[Robert Taylor]

Is there anything i can do to minismise arm pump? exercises etc

I ride a CR125 so i should be using the clutch a bit, but even without clutching i only last about two laps before i completely lose feeling in my hands and arms. I ride standing up, and grip with knees wherever possible.

Does anybody else get it this badly? will it get better the more i ride? or do i just need to toughen up and get used to it?

If you are getting it that bad you have serious suspension issues. Well sorted suspension will not eliminate arm pump, but it will minimise it.

[Rupe]

I found when I was starting out riding that I kept my fingers on the levers so had quick access to stopping. But was stretching my hand too much, now I don't do that and don't get much armpump.

I'd say unless you are going in a long staight line you will need a to have at least one finger on either lever. Can't really have control through the tight stuff smoothly if your going from all fingers gripping to some on levers etc.

Bar and lever postion can make a big differance, put it all to standard and go from there.

[krasher]

Make sure you rest a day or two between doing muscle exercises so they can rebuild, if you work out the same muscle group everyday, your muscles will eat themselves away. Possibly a load of crock but I heard that the larger the muscles, the more prone to arm pump you will be because there is no room for expansion?????

A mate of mine has HUGE forearms. Gets real bad pump. Interesting.

[Reckless]

A mate of mine has HUGE forearms. Gets real bad pump. Interesting.

Yeh mate of mine is well built an he gets it quite bad too?

[B0000M]

drink lots of water before and during riding, this helps make sure you are hydrated which in turn will thin the blood, also try taking a couple of panadol or similar before riding, this also thins blood, causing better circulation therefore minimising arm pump.


other than that, dont think about it, breath, make sure your suspension is doing the work, and ride more