The Ride‑More Mentality

For years I believed the same story a lot of you do: if I just rode more, the results would come. It’s baked into dirt bike culture. Bikes are meant to be ridden, so clearly the solution has to be more seat time. The problem is, that thinking kept me from even looking in the mirror to see what was actually holding me back.

My journey to where I am now has been a very interesting one. I am very thankful that Alex Martin took the time to discuss the philosophy he preaches with Troll Training. After retiring from pro racing, he took eight months off the bike, trained for a marathon, and built a massive aerobic base. When he got back on the bike, he was a little rusty on technique, but his overall fitness was on a completely different level. It wasn’t the extra motos that unlocked his performance; it was everything he did away from the bike.

That’s the thread of this whole conversation: riding is important, but if we really want to improve, we have to zoom out and look at Bike, Body, and Mind, not just laps.

You can listen while you read:

Who is Alex Martin and what is Troll Training?

Alex Martin is a former pro motocross and supercross racer who now coaches riders and athletes through his company Troll Training, focusing on fitness, strength, and smart off‑bike work for motocross and off‑road riders.

Bike, Body, Mind: Where We Get Stuck

I think about dirt bike and off‑road performance in three buckets, Bike/Body/Mind:

  • Bike – setup, equipment, line choice.
  • Body – strength, aerobic base, mobility, fueling.
  • Mind – honesty, confidence, self‑talk, race‑day decisions.

Most of us camp out in the Bike bucket. It’s way easier to chase suspension settings, tires, or a new pipe than to admit, “My sprint speed is bad,” or “I’m nervous to see what my technique actually looks like on video.” Alex sees this every day, from six‑year‑olds to 70‑year‑olds in Troll Training. No two riders have the same life, schedule, or weaknesses, so there is no cookie‑cutter program.

The common denominator isn’t a magical plan; it’s honesty. What are we actually struggling with right now? Starts? One‑lap intensity? Leg strength? Nutrition? Once we can say that out loud, it gets a lot easier to point our effort at the thing that matters instead of just logging random motos.

Body: Five Important Exercises for Riders

A huge theme in this episode is how simple off‑the-bike strength can be if we stop chasing more seat time and focus on movements that build a wider foundation. Alex has boiled his own training down to a few key lifts that keep him durable enough to run serious mileage and still feel good on the bike.

Alex’s Big 5:

  • Single‑leg deadlifts (with a dumbbell)
  • Regular deadlifts (barbell)
  • Front squats or goblet squats
  • Single‑arm bench press (dumbbell)
  • Single‑arm overhead press (dumbbell)

Alex likes dumbbells and single‑limb work because they force all the stabilizer muscles to show up, expose left/right imbalances, and build strength that transfers to hanging onto a dirt bike. Machines do the stabilizing for you, which is the opposite of what we need when the bike is trying to rip itself out of our grip.

I’ve lived the imbalance thing the hard way, wrecked shoulders meant one side was secretly doing 75% of the work with a barbell. Breaking things down into single‑arm presses and single‑leg work was the only way to work my weak, imbalanced shoulders.

Mind: We Don’t Look Like We Think We Look

I giggled when Alex said this live and every time after listening back to the episode.

A lot of riders think they have good technique, and then I will video them. And it’s like, hey, you don’t look like you think you look.

I laugh at that because I know for certain that was me for the longest time (and if we’re being honest, it’s probably still me). I never considered that my body position, leg grip, or sprint work might be the real limiter. I didn’t even know to look in the mirror and ask, “What if I’m part of the problem here, not just the bike or the track?”

Alex sees this in how riders avoid working on weaknesses. We’ll complain about bad starts but never line up and do 10 focused starts in practice. We’ll say we struggle with sprint speed but won’t do one‑lap sprints where you go out, go all‑in for a lap, stop, and repeat. It’s not that we can’t do it; it’s that those sessions give very direct feedback, and that can be uncomfortable.

A simple “mirror” process to work on awareness:

  • Film ourselves – one moto, a handful of corners, or just a batch of starts.
  • Watch once as a fan, then again as a coach: if Alex or any honest friend was breaking this down, what would they circle? Knees all over? Locked hips? Hanging off the back of the bike and pulling ourselves forward with our arms?
  • Choose one weakness to warm up with every ride for the next month: starts, one‑lap sprints, braking bumps, leg grip, whatever makes our ego squirm the most.

The goal isn’t to fix everything at once. It’s to start seeing reality clearly enough that our practice matches what we actually need.

Fuel: Nutrition for Riders

Alex shares simple practical advice that help when he’s talking to normal humans with jobs, families, and limited time.

A few key points:

  • Carbs matter more than most dirt bikers want to admit. Our bodies are motors, and if we expect them to run at race pace with no fuel in the tank, we’re setting ourselves up to bonk.
  • We have to train our gut to handle more carbs when it counts.
  • Timing matters. A big steak the night before a race isn’t bad, but red meat takes longer to digest. Alex would rather see us push that to earlier in the week and keep pre‑race fuel easier to process so our stomach isn’t fighting us on race morning.

If you want one low‑friction place to start, try this for the next hard ride or race‑sim:

  • Eat something with carbs 60–90 minutes before you ride (rice, potatoes, oats, toast, whatever you actually like).
  • Use a drink mix or simple carb source during any ride over an hour.
  • Be intentional with electrolytes on hot days instead of waiting until you’re cramping.

Let’s Stop Holding Ourselves Back

When you strip this episode down, it isn’t really about marathon training, single‑leg deadlifts, or how many grams of carbs you eat. It’s about the conversations we tend to ignore:

  • With our Bike – “Do I actually know this setup, or is it just easier to point at the motorcycle?”
  • With our Body – “Am I strong and conditioned enough for how hard I’m trying to ride?”
  • With our Mind – “Where am I glossing over my technique, sprint speed, or goals?”

We don’t need to chase a professional program. We don’t need to overhaul our entire lives. But we do need to be honest about what we want from riding and what’s really in the way.

Do this this week:

  1. Grab a piece of paper and write three columns: Bike / Body / Mind.
  2. Under each, write one weakness you’re curious about improving.
  3. Circle the one that feels most important right now, and commit the next month to gently but consistently working on just that.

If you’re stuck or want help building something around your reality, you can reach out to Alex and the crew at Troll Training, or you can hit reply and ask me questions.

What doesn’t change is this: the more honest we get about where we are today, the clearer the path becomes to the rider we’re trying to become.

Enjoyed this content? Support Seat Time w/ these links!

Amazon Shop
Buy Me A Coffee