How to grip your Dirt Bike with your legs & knees (important riding tip)

You may have heard that it is important to grip your dirt bike with your legs and knees, but wondered why that is and/or how to do it?

We’ll your in a good place. Below I will tell you why it is so important to grip your motocross bike with your legs and how you get better at it.

Benefits of gripping your bike with your legs

Riding a dirt bike requires a certain amount of grip to stay on the bike. No questions there.

But, some riders don’t know that they can ride faster, and smoother, by gripping the bike harder and more efficiently by using the legs.

As you become tired, you naturally loosen the grip of your legs. The acceleration force will pull your body backwards. To compensate for this you’ll use your arms to pull yourself back into the correct position. This leads to fatigue and very tired arms.

If you grip your bike more with your legs, you’ll stay centered on the bike, save energy and go faster.

4 Clear benefits

1. More bike control
   Your legs should be your main way of controlling your bike. If you’re not gripping with your legs you’re controlling your bike with your arms.
   
   Mainly using your arms is going to lead to quicker fatigue. You’ll also have no, or very little, control over what the rear half of your bike is doing.
2. Holds bike straight
   In rough situations, like ruts and whoops, gripping with your legs is very important. This helps to hold your bike straight.
   
   Not only does your bike going straighter save you energy, it could also prevent you from crashing.
3. Less Arm Fatigue or Arm Pump
   If you’re just hanging on for dear life with your arms, I’ll bet your fighting arm pump issues.
   
   Gripping with your legs will take some of the stress off your arms and hands. This also allows you to loosen up your grip a bit, reducing fatigue and risk of arm pump.
4. Less likely to get kicked into awkward position
   When gripping with your legs you are less likely to have a foot ripped off or be bucked into an awkward position by a bump or kicker (think weight transferring onto/over the bars).
   
   This is very important, because both of these situations could lead to a crash.

Your legs are the strongest part of your body. Use them accordingly.

How to grip the bike with your legs better

Ok, so now we know the benefits of squeezing the bike with the knees and legs. Time to do it.

But how, what can you do to practice this riding technique?

4 Tips to using, and practicing using, your legs more

1. Stand on the balls of your feet
   This one’s very important. Because it is nearly impossible to grip your bike when standing on the arches of your feet, your toes are then pointing outwards.
   
   Try this. Sit in a chair and point your toes outward. Now try to touch your knees together. It’s awkward and very difficult right. Now do the same with your toes pointing straight forward, it’s simple.
   
   Riding on the balls of your feet puts you in a much better position and makes gripping your bike more natural.
2. Practice by squeezing a ball between your legs
   Squeezing something between your legs isn’t something that happens daily. So getting a feel for it will help.
   
   Buy a ball that is about the same width as your bike. Practice squeezing it between your knees at your desk, in your car, or anywhere you have a chance. You can choose the duration, but no less than 10 minutes at a time. You should feel you inner thigh (the adductors) muscles fire.
3. Strengthen your legs
   Strengthening your upper and lower legs will help you squeeze your bike and reduce leg fatigue in motos. It’s a win-win.
   
   Strengthening your entire leg is important. But for bike squeezing purposes, strengthening your inner thighs (the adductors) will make the biggest difference.
4. On the bike practice
   When riding, make sure you are on the balls of your feet, think about it, practice it. You need to do this to grip with your legs better.
   
   Do the same thing with gripping with your legs – think about it, force yourself to do it.

Body position when standing and gripping with your legs

Here Jimmy Albertson give you some extra body position tips when standing and squeezing with our legs/knees:

Riding on the balls of your feet and gripping with your legs will improve your riding immensely.

Conclusion

If you want to continue to improve your motocross skills and speed, this is an important step.

The earlier into your motocross “career” you are, the easier it will be to develop good habits. Good habits like riding on the balls of your feet and gripping with your legs.

By doing so you’ll have better bike control and become less tired.

So start practicing using your legs to grip the dirt bike today!

Have you tried to use your legs more? Any benefits to your riding? Let us know.