2 min readReady to get into the best shape of your life? Get free weekly workouts and no-nonsense training insights delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here and let the gains begin.
F1 DRIVERS AREN’T exactly taking on the physical challenges you’ll find in popular sports like football or basketball. These guys aren’t avoiding tackles or increasing their sprint speed. Instead, F1 athleticism requires unique conditioning to avoid the fatigue that comes from sitting in a car engaged with high-level cognitive challenges for more than an hour, withstanding G force from short, sharp turns, and avoiding whiplash as much as possible (and prepping the neck to handle it).
“When you look at an onboard [the view of the driver’s head from the back of the cockpit], that's when you really see it,” performance coach Sam Village told MH. “Some corners they'll be hitting the equivalent load of 30, 40, 45 kilos (about 66, 88, 99 pounds) [in G forces]. Can you imagine being in the gym, having a 45 kilo cable loaded up, and trying to hold still for five, six seconds. It's a massive isometric load.”
In the latest Strong Talk episode, MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel C.S.C.S., is joined by Village and Declan Foley. Both are F1 performance coaches for the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (VCARB) team; Village currently trains Arvin Lindblad and Foley trains Liam Lawson. The episode delves into the neck training equipment used for simulating driving conditions under different loads, visualization training, and post-race recovery routines.
Want more deep-dive fitness wisdom from Samuel and other celebs and experts who've been on our Strong Talk podcast? Check out all our episodes here.
Watch The Latest Episodes
Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, MS is the associate health & fitness for Men's Health and has previously written for CNN, Scientific American, Popular Science, and National Geographic before joining the brand. When she's not working, she's doing circus arts or working towards the perfect pull-up.
