Ryan Dungey Gets Naked For ESPN Magazine's Body Issue

Non-motorcycle people often write off powersports athletes when it comes to discussing which sports have the fittest athletes—because if the sport is powered by a motor it can't be that demanding, right?

WRONG.

Depending on whose list you're looking at and what analysts you tend to side with, it ranks either number one or two (people keep flip flopping it with boxing) as the most physically and demanding sport in the world. That's right. More than soccer, swimming, football, swimming, triathlons, and basketball.

Which is why it's finally earned a place in this year's ESPN Magazine* Body Issue, where the showcase the bodies of various athletes at the top of different sports.

Riding motocross requires athletes to keep their heart rate in the 180 bpm range, about 90% of their max, but that spikes into the 200 bpm range as they battle with other riders or lose focus riding calm. Additionally, they rely on their core and back to control the side-to-side and forwards-backwards movement of the bike, while using their legs to hold onto the bike, jump, land, balance, and steer a 220-pound machine on undependable terrain. Every muscle, including the lungs and heart, at full tilt for 35 or so minutes straight.

Riders burn somewhere around 750-800 calories in a single race, so a night of racing burns an easy 1,500-2,000 calories.

Dungey currently works out with Aldon Baker, who's had a hand in training most of our motocross champions in the last decade. He has a rigorous program for Dungey (and Musquin and Anderson, who he also trains), but it's built around a ton of cycling because running can be so jarring on the body. His riders pedal between 120-150 miles per week.

It's great to see such a talented and hard-working athlete start to get recognition on a larger stage for his accomplishments. The Wheaties box was cool and put him in good company, but that was partially for his achievements.

His inclusion in the Body Issue recognizes his accomplishments physically next to the other freaks and aliens of the world. ESPN Magazine is one of the most well written and interesting publications out there, and the Body Issue is one of my favorites of the year. You should definitely go pick up a copy.