It wasn’t way back that the considered a NASCAR driver working the steps of the Los Angeles Coliseum for train would have been thought-about insane. For Ricky Stenhouse Jr., it’s change into one other option to get sweat in.
Only a few years in the past, a exercise of this nature would’ve been a tough no for Stenhouse. The driving force of the No. 47 Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing had all the time achieved his personal exercises right here and there, even doing a little coaching with the pit crew when he was at Roush Fenway Racing to assist construct workforce camaraderie.
In 2014, he began accompanying his mates to CrossFit exercises and instantly fell in love with the aggressive side. He even met CrossFit legend Wealthy Froning and the 2 grew to become mates. Froning started sending him some exercises and even hooked him up with Rogue Health, which outfitted the CrossFit fitness center Stenhouse had constructed on his property in North Carolina.
“I preferred the extraordinary, beat-the-clock form of exercises,” stated Stenhouse. “I discovered lots of actions that I by no means had integrated in my exercises earlier than.”
Whereas Ricky Stenhouse was bodily capable of deal with the bodily and psychological rigors that include being a driver, he knew there was one other degree he may attain and that’s precisely why he reached out to coach and founding father of Second 2 None Health Ryan Von Rueden.
Von Rueden had beforehand labored because the director of health and way of life for Kasey Kahne for 9 years. The decision from Stenhouse got here in 2018 a day after the Coke 600, NASCAR’s longest occasion at 400 miles. Von Rueden stated that Stenhouse had supplied his important stats from the race and the center charge numbers have been so excessive that it was a shock he was capable of get out of the automotive.
“Should you take a have a look at a top-end marathon runner, they’re not hitting that top of a quantity and their averages are a lot decrease, stated Von Rueden. “He wished to determine a option to make that completely different as a result of it doesn’t really feel good when your coronary heart charge is that top. “The general idea was simply to be in higher form.”
How they attacked this was three-fold. They began with steady-state cardio for an cardio base. From there, they’d do brief one-minute intervals to assist construct Stenhouse’s anaerobic endurance to assist enhance his work capability beneath that coronary heart charge whereas additionally serving to higher at buffering out the lactic acid. From there, they stretched these intervals to 5 to 10 minutes. Stenhouse’s coronary heart charge now are inside averages of what each really feel snug with.
Von Rueden additionally carried out CrossFit-style exercises into the programming, permitting Stenhouse and the Tenting World Truck and Xfinity collection drivers the chance to compete with each other to gauge the place every is at, and to maintain coaching enjoyable as they push one another all through every of the person seasons.
One other necessary element of Von Rueden’s programming has been the info from WHOOP that he makes use of as a checks and balancing system on when he can push a driver or reduce. Normally, Cup collection guys like Stenhouse might be drained on Monday’s, coming off the day before today’s race. Von Rueden will make it a motion day that features some mild working, bike driving and body weight workouts, lessening a 90-minute session to 40 and solely about 60 p.c of what a traditional workload could be.
Ricky Stenhouse, who was main this yr’s Daytona with eight laps left earlier than a multi-car crash knocked him out of rivalry, feels he’s in a significantly better place bodily since that fateful name to Von Rueden and is trying ahead to creating a playoff push.
“I’m positively extra of an all-around athlete now,” Stenhouse stated. “I might really feel snug getting in and doing any sort of exercise with anybody. I didn’t like working in any respect earlier than and now it’s no huge deal if we need to go and run 9 or 10 miles. He’s actually gotten it instilled in me the truth that working is without doubt one of the finest methods to get your coronary heart charge up and get a extremely good exercise.
“I’ve gotten loads stronger with out gaining lots of weight. Normally, if you construct muscle, you acquire weight and that’s one thing you don’t actually need to do in racing. You need to maintain issues on the lighter facet. The give attention to coronary heart charge and getting my coronary heart charge down within the race automotive. We’ve positively seen a dramatic drop in that space.”
Ricky Stenhouse Crossfit Exercise
Warmup
- Foam Roll: 5 min.
- Cardio: 5 min.
- Shoulder and Hip Mobility: 5-10 min
Exercise
- Run: 1 mile
- RDL: 70% physique weight x 10
- Hold Clear: 70% physique weight x 10
- Entrance Squat: 70% physique weight x 10
- Push Press: 70% physique weight x 10
- Pullup: x 10
- Flat Bench: 90% physique weight x 10
- Upright Dip: x 10
- Toes to Bar: x 10
- Run: 1 mile
Instructions: Run 1 mile, then full 6-8 units of the energy with minimal relaxation durations, then run the second mile. Change the prescribed weight to accommodate every particular person’s capabilities.
