Mind and Muscle: How drivers train for the Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS - There is a waiting list to get into PitFit on Indy's northwest side, where some of the biggest names in IndyCar train year-round for their races.




PitFit looks like a regular CrossFit-style gym, but it offers drivers a full-body training from their mind to their muscles.




"You basically take the principles of what they encounter in the race car and you apply that to their training," said PitFit Founder and CEO Jim Leo.

Leo laid the groundwork for PitFit in 1993 when he asked Roger Penske to work with his CART Indycar team to improve their fitness. Penske granted Leo access to his team.




Penske's team went on to dominate during the 1994 season, winning the CART championship and the Indy 500. It's this success that led to the eventual creation of PitFit.




"(It) used to be that it was a rarity to find a driver who really focused on their physical fitness, and now every driver does it," Leo said.




Squat racks, cardio machines, weights, and kettle bells are among the equipment spread around the facility. It's all used for reactive, static and dynamic strength training.

"IndyCar is the most challenging because there is no power steering, there's an immense amount of down force in the car, which keeps the car glued to the track," Leo said. "So, when you go into a corner, the G-loads on the body want push you out of the car basically even though you're strapped down. So, your internal organs and everything are being pushed to one side."





The lack of power steering Leo mentioned is why grip and forearm strength are so important for drivers. They do workouts like rope pulling or farmer's carries in the gym to be able to hold on to the steering wheel for the entirety of a race on a track.

Leo said the neck, core and shoulders are also "areas of the body that tend to be stressed a lot in a race car."




He said a strong neck is particularly vital to a driver's performance as it can affect their vision, which changes how they're able to take in what's happening around them on the track during a race.




Scott Dixon - winner of the 2008 Indianapolis 500 - talked about the importance of neck strength, in particular.




"Once that goes ... it can be the equilibrium, it can be the motion how you think the car's rotating, you can think you're spinning out," Dixon said.




Dixon has trained at PitFit since 1999. Currently, he trains six days a week for two hours every morning. Three days a week, Dixon trains an additional two hours in the evening.




Performance coaches come up with plans for each individual driver, and they work to replicate some of the conditions they experience during a race.




That might look like having them exercise in hot conditions and do exercises that keep their heart rate elevated to 160 beats per minute, which is typical for drivers during the entirety of the Indy 500.




"That's the equivalent to a marathon run, so there's an excessive amount of calories that are burned, electrolytes that are lost and dehydration and all those variables," Leo said.




Leo added that some drivers can lose up to seven pounds in a single race. But it's not just important for drivers to be physically fit. They also have to be mentally fit.




"The decisions that they make and the actions they take in this situation can effect not just their lives, the competitors and even the fans," Leo said.




"Going almost 240 mph inches apart with 32 others is pretty stressful," Dixon added.




Neurocognitive conditioning helps drivers with the split-second decision-making they need to make in a race.

"You're at a very high intensity, a very high heart rate, and you're having to think about a lot of different things or have conversation on the radio," Dixon said. "And if you can have that kind of clear thought or really being able to multi-task many different things at the same time while you're under that exhaustion is huge."




At Pitfit, there are different exercises that allow drivers to enhance their visual processing skills, like one where they have to use their peripheral vision to press a button that lights up while looking ahead and trying to solve a math problem that only flashes on screen for a moment.




As Dixon explained, these practices prepare drivers for real-life scenarios. "Multiple times you're having to do many calculations and think about what the next move is because the outcome can unfortunately be pretty bad if you make the wrong decision."




In addition to Dixon, other big names who either currently or have trained at PitFit include Alexander Rossi, Dario Franchitti, William Byron, Kasey Kahne and J.R. Todd.

PitFit has seen so much success, it's opened a second location in Cornelius, North Carolina, where it primarily works with NASCAR drivers. The gym also has a global footprint as it trains drivers remotely in dozens of countries.



via: https://fox59.com/news/mind-and-muscle-how-drivers-train-for-the-indianapolis-500/