Balance (Weight Distribution)

As many already know, motocross is a sport that requires excellent balance and weight distribution. Without good balance even small rocks can trip you up. As mentioned in my text, "every muscle in a riders body gets a workout during a moto" (Casper 20). This being said, it is expected for a rider to have good balance and strength if they are striving to become better.
This is a basic run-down on how you should use your body weight to your advantage:

This is a picture of my bike in particular. It is a 2001 Yamaha YZ-250 2-stroke (See post 1). I'm going to be talking a lot about the seat of the bike and the position that you should sit on it in different situations. First off, imagine you are going down a straightaway. According to the author of my text you should sit on the back edge of the seat (Casper 17). This is so your weight can give the rear tire better traction. However, if you are burning out, shift your weight to the front of the seat as much as possible so that the rear tire can spin easier and has as little friction as possible. While drifting on a motorcycle, shift your weight to one side of the seat into the turn, according to which way you're turning. Also do this for sharp turns. Also, as a side-note, opposing popular belief, the faster you go, the easier it is to ride through sharp turns if you know how to lean. Be careful though, because leaning too much can cause you to 'stuff' the front tire into the ground. Stuffing is a term used when you turn too deep and your front tire stops spinning and acts like a shovel, burying itself in whatever sediment is in front of it. This is especially dangerous when riding on gravel. Moving back to before, another thing to keep in mind is emergency stops. Say you're about to hit a tree and you need to stop your bike fast. You may need to use the front brake. You have to move your center of mass as far to the back of the bike as possible while stopping in order to keep it from doing a somersault and doing even more damage. Lastly, a rider needs to be able to keep balance on their bike while going fast and slow. Fast isn't really a problem, but slow can take some time to master. While going slow, a ride needs to be constantly shifting their weight from left to right to be able to stay up. If they mess this up, their bike falls on top of them and they will most likely be laughed at by other riders.

Question To Make You Think: If you were to try this sport, then what would you do to get in shape and to help you to improve your balance? Ex-Yoga/Gym