Academy / Rally fitness
Guide
Get fit for your first rally raid
A rally raid is six or seven long days on the pegs. The riders who enjoy the last stage are not the fastest ones, they are the ones who trained for it. Here is a simple 12-week plan.
1 · What tires you
What a rally raid asks from your body
Hours of standing on the pegs, a heavy bike in rocky terrain, heat, dust, short nights and full concentration on the roadbook. Most riders do not run out of skill on day five. They run out of legs, forearms and focus.
So the goal of training is simple: arrive at the last stage with enough energy left to ride it well and enjoy it.
2 · Weeks 1–4
Build the base
Three to four sessions a week, nothing heroic:
- Two endurance sessions of 40–60 minutes: cycling, running, rowing or brisk hiking. You should be able to talk while you do it.
- Two strength sessions of 30–40 minutes: squats, lunges, deadlifts with light weight, push-ups, rows and planks.
- Daily: ten minutes of mobility for hips, shoulders and lower back.
3 · Weeks 5–8
Make it rally-specific
Keep the endurance work and make the strength sessions look more like riding:
- Long wall sits and squat holds in the standing riding position, knees soft and back straight.
- Grip work: farmer carries, dead hangs, towel pull-ups. Arm pump is a grip-endurance problem.
- Neck and upper back: band rows, face pulls, shrugs. Your helmet and the roadbook will thank you.
- One long endurance session a week of 1.5–2 hours. Rally days are long.
4 · Weeks 9–12
Ride, ride, ride
Nothing replaces time on the bike. In the last month, replace one gym session a week with an off-road day: standing on the pegs for most of it, riding with a backpack and drinking on the move.
Do at least one back-to-back weekend: two full days of riding in a row. It shows you how your body recovers overnight, which is exactly what a rally will test. In the final week, rest more and train less, so you arrive fresh.
5 · Off the bike
Sleep, food and water
During the rally, eat breakfast even when you are not hungry, carry food you actually like, and drink before you are thirsty. In the evening, eat, prepare the roadbook and go to bed. The riders at the bar after midnight are rarely the ones on the podium.
6 · Your head
Train the concentration too
Navigation fatigue is real. Practise reading a roadbook at home, ride with a roadbook on your training days and learn to stop and think when you are lost instead of riding faster. Our guide to practising roadbook navigation at home has five simple exercises.
Bootcamp · May and July 2027
Test your fitness on real stages
Seven days of roadbook riding on Dinaric Rally terrain: the best way to find out what your body and your head need before the big rally.