Ok...I am pretty new to this awesomely great sport of DirtBiking and Trail Riding....What the hell is Arm Pump?  It sure sounds like an STD...and I sure dont want one of those because I am married and it would be awlfull hard to explain to the wife that I got an STD from my dirt bike!!!

Arm pump is where your arms start to hurt from where you keep your arms stiff during a ride so relax  

Hey BigDawg, go ride a long up hill and stand up and hold your weight with only your forearms. Do that as many times until you feel your arms starting to burn. Thats armpump. Just relax like Poe said. On long rides, its not about how fast you go because you dont want to wear yourself out the firt 20 mintues of the ride.

Not to worry the only thing your going to catch with your dirtbike is a bad case of road rash if you go down hard . The arm pump is an issue that there is constant talk about but I am of the opion that it is largely based on your physical fitness level and at what level of relaxation your at. If your in good shape and you are able to just hang loose until your about to take a jump or a long climb you wont suffer from it the levels that you might be hearing about. If your not working out and your holding with the grip of death then arm pump isnt far off.

         

Hmmm... arm pump doesn't hurt as bad as an STD, but it still sucks.  Arm pump is caused from gripping the bike too hard with your arms.  Ride on a track as fast as you can for a few laps and you'll find out what it is quick.

Ya, EN2 I know what you mean about physical fitness, but I think it really deals with yoru riding style. If you have the deathgrip going, then I know for a fact that you arent using your legs at all to help grip the bike. You can hold with your ankles, and knees as well as your hands. But also, it depends on how fast you ride as well. Typically, normal people who are riding fast are tense, which leads to cramping such as arm pump. But my dad always tells me that if you are going to want to go fast for a long distance, then you have to losen your grip when you can and relax because your endurance only lasts so long. Unless you're superman like Secondstring.  

I think that your right about the limit of human indurance, it should be taken into account but the mental aspect of trying to relax is something that should be practiced along with the obvious strength training. I mostly push on trails but as soon as I get out on the track it is all that I can do to focus on staying loose. It really is a matter of what your paying attention to with your style of riding. I am usualy thinking about the stance that I am riding in becouse like you said the use of the legs does do alot for relieving pressure on the arms and hands and keeping from planting myself into the side of a tree or from going over the side of the trail and down the mountain.

         

The first thing i have to do to get to where i ride is go up this loooooooong steap fire rode full of nothing but rocks and ruts. my yz 250 likes to go up it 3rd. It takes alot of throttle control and consentration . and i find myself putting the old death grip on mybars. and by time i get to the top its all i can do to hold on at all. I found it not to safe to relax To much on this hill. but doing forarm curls in the work out. and getting a good warm up and stretch is key to reduceing the pump and lasting effects of it during a ride. holding on with my legs is not a option on this one as im on my pegs the whole way. But that  warm up and stretch is definetly the key for me.  

When you are going through these ruts and rocks, are you standing or sitting? I find that in rocky sections, you can save youself a lot faster and recover quicker if the front end steps out if you are standing up. Just lean forward more so you aren't holding on with your arms as much.

Ya. im standing on the pegs the whole time with my chest over the bars. but i found that if i go to far forward and come to a rock that came up to fast ( IM in 3rd ) to get around. and have to bring my front end up over it, my thottel controle and waight shift back is just not fast enough. And when the front end bounces off it to the left or right and your way over the bars that can be alittle wild. So i try to keep my waight forward but not to much that i cant lift my front end and keep controle on my throttle and waight shift. to let my rear tire go over it easy...with less bounce...NOW, I dont know that its the best way. but its what i do. im open to advice....and thanks.  

I use alot of the same technic but the wheel bouncing to one side or another isnt something that I am familier with, my crf250r usualy rears up and over with a little shifting of the balance towards the rear and a little throttle application. I have had the front end come out from under me with heavyweight over front wheel and hitting slick muddy tree that topled over trail.

         

No its when your front tire hits it dead on.........And it kicks it out ............Left or right.........It happens ......... At least to me lol  

But thats what happens when your in 3rd gear on a yz250...............No time...Just react to what is in front of you...If im to far over the bars i just want to controle the bike and keep up the hill............And recover after i get up it...........  

Some people want to control every movement of the bike and fight with it, I've found it easier and less tiring to flow with the bike, let it bounce around all you have to do is stay with it, I don't know if thats the right way to explain it, but some people will tense up when the bike starts to slide or kick around a little instead of just letting the bike do it's thing, if you're centered on the bike and standing, and being loose like the others have said, you will greatly reduce the tendency to fight the bike's movements. I've noticed that when I start to become fatigued, I will naturally loosen up without having to give it much thought, I guess that's my body's natural reaction to conserve energy, any others ever notice this?

I understand what your saying about kicking to one side or the other at speed, I have developed my riding style to ride front lite at speed and while working obstacles so that I just up shift and pin throttle to give my front the ability to contact surface and lift instead of deflect. I shift forward for climbing so that Im front heavy or just past nuetral that way my rear tire is able to move around to find the traction that it needs, this method has enherient problems, traction can go away very fast and then your just guiding a spinning tire with balance and body imputs becouse of the bar imput could worsen traction and cause loss of momentum or worse while steering with bar you might grap traction and get thrown becouse bike takes off in opposite direction of me. This is my concept of trail / climbing / adventure. I have no formal training but it is how I am devoloping my style. If you guys have imputs Im willing to experiement and try your ideas if there is something that Im missing. Im hoping to get out to CA after the turn of the year and really start training myself to be a rider and not just the posser with some nice gear and no clue.