Anyone who’s done any motocross racing knows that there’s a lot more to the sport, physically, than just riding a motorcycle around a track a few times. It’s a bit like wrestling a bad-tempered 200lb rocket that fights your every attempt to control it. Perhaps it’s not such a surprise then, to discover that the physical fitness levels of professional motocross racers rival those of world-class athletes.

Just watch as your favorite driver’s body torques in mid-air, twisting to counter-balance the weight of his bike, before hitting the ground again at 80mph. It’s like watching a new, dangerous aerial martial art, with a bit of weight-lifting thrown in. Every corner riders take demands superb balance and lots of strength in the shoulders, arms, and legs.

The National Sport Health Institute did a study in the 1980s in which they compared the fitness levels of motocross racers with those of football, soccer, and track stars. The motocross subjects scored just as well in strength and heart rate tests as the other athletes. Face it, if you’re not in superb condition you’re not going to last 35 minutes at top speed on a motocross bike.

The sports industry has cottoned onto this fact as well. There are a multitude of motocross fitness training courses you can sign up for nowadays that promise to get you into winning form. Many chiropractors specialise in motocross injuries (and in manipulating the body to avoid them in the first place). More and more professional motocross riders have personal chiropractors who attend races with them. Medical pit crew.

Of course, having a tame chiropractor can come in handy when the inevitable injuries occur: head injuries, torn rotator cuffs, dislocated shoulders, broken wrists, ankle fractures, wrecked knees, broken collarbones, lacerations, bruises… Motocross is a dangerous sport. That’s why riders take every precaution and maintain peak physical fitness; they can’t afford for their bodies to let them down.

Still, once you’ve known the thrill of the motocross race course, you’ll know the pain is worth it. As the sport continues to grow in popularity, motocross stars will become as renowned for their physical prowess as they are their racing. David Beckham, eat your heart out.