Arm Pump?

[Fox250R]

Any of you guys get armpump? To be honest, i never really knew what it was until i was riding last weekend, racing over and over, all of a sudden my clutch hand just clintched up and i couldn't open it i was like WTF M8? Never has this happend before..Hell i don't even know if this is armpump but it sounds like it..So what can i do to prevent this from happening? I've read drinking lots of water helps it not to happen.. Anybody else ever deal with this??

[Mosh]

i have had that happen. and heard that taking a aspirin a hour before racing helps. but i have not tried it yet.

[Derrick Adams]

Asprin works. I've done it. The permanent fix is conditioning.

[Billy Golightly]

Don't wear gloves...makes it happen WAY easier.

[smokinwrench]

I get arm pump during every harescramble. I have started drinking those power drinks right before the start of the race. I have no clue if it works or not, I also drink crap loads of gatorade before the race.

As for not wearing gloves i can't do that. I wear 2 pairs of gloves or I ripp the calluses off my hands.

[TimSr]

I remember a lot of guys who ran their first MX ever at Trikefest 04 who first experienced that revelation of understanding what "armpump" is!

Ive fought armpump for many years, and tried every trick and tip to avoid it, and I firmly believe that there is absolutely nothing you can swallow (or not swallow) or wear that will fend it off. Not wearing gloves has never been of any help to me either, unless the gloves are restrictive to circulation or cause your hands to work harder by being unflexible or bulky. I wear the fingerless weight lifter type gloves though. Aspirin and some of the other things, as well as heavy doses of vitimin C help reduce the muscle soreness afterwards, but they have never slowed arm pump from coming upon me.

Now, I rarely get it, and Derrick pinpointed the only fix I am aware of that actually works for me. Its in conditioning, and its hard to duplicate the condition needed with traditional exercise equipment, which means the most effective conditioning is hard practice riding on a track.

[Dammit!]

I've heard using a twist throttle and a hydraulic clutch helps substantially. I've only had minor problems with it so I haven't gone that route yet.

[TimSr]

I've heard using a twist throttle and a hydraulic clutch helps substantially. I've only had minor problems with it so I haven't gone that route yet.

Yeah I thought that too once! I switched to a twist throttle because of fatigue and because my thumb couldnt hanldle it. For me I found that as soon as my arms got really fatigued I was unable to maintain good throttle control on rough terrain, and especially landing jumps. Basically, once my arms tired every jump I landed, Id pull the throttle wide open when I landed. That idea ended immediately after that race and I went back to the thumb. Some guys use twists on the track successfully, but its not for me.

An easy working clutch helps a lot too, but thats never been an issue for me since I rarely use mine. Also avoiding using a "heavy duty" clutch when you dont need one!

[Roostertail]

Ride, Ride, and Ride.....I agree with Derrick on the conditioning aspect. Keep the fluids up and eat some bananas for potassium. A lot of times people get arm pump when they are racing because their adrenaline is so high they don't realize how hard they are squeezing onto the bars. Practice relaxing your grip when your riding aound (open up your hands and relax on your palms). Practice, and it will become more second nature when you are in a race condition. Think about relaxing your arms and breathing before a race.

Stay Loose!:p

[smokinwrench]

When I race the 1 hour harescrambles after about 15-20 minutes once the race is well underway and the adreniline rush has let off. I remind myself all the time to ride smart. Don't pull wheelies out of every corner, accelerate smoothly, and brake smoothly. One of my biggest problems is I always have terrible starts. So in turn I end up in the middle of the pack and ride my hardest to pass people.

With all of that said I think overriding causes armpump faster then anything.