Barton’s sports performance training helps top athletes

Ty Tremaine has upped his game with performance training. Photo/Booth Photography

By Erika Cook and Angela Moniot

Barton Health sponsors some of the area’s top athletes: Daron Rahlves, Marco Sullivan, Travis Ganong, Lila Lapanja, and now Ty Tremaine, world champion EnduroCross rider from Gardnerville.

EnduroCross is a hybrid motorcycle competition combining supercross, trials, and enduro racing. Forty competitors blast around an indoor track, maneuvering hundreds of pounds of motorized madness, all vying for top spot on the podium.

As a child, Tremaine emulated his father’s passion for dirt biking – riding by age 3, racing by 4, and professionally endorsed by the RPM KTM Racing Team at 17. In 2013, at age 19, he became the youngest EnduroCross racer to qualify for and compete in the X Games. By 2016 he had claimed three AMA EnduroCross titles, including the AMA National 23 and under Pro EnduroCross Championship. This year, he took first in the ISDE qualifiers. 

Pure passion, skill, and speed were fueling his professional career. But his optimal stamina and strength had yet to be developed.

Expert help to up his game

Fellow EnduroCross rider and Barton physical therapy assistant Angie Hagenah recognized Tremaine’s racing potential, but she noticed he suffered from fatigue and “arm pump.” Arm pump is caused by poor posture induced thoracic outlet syndrome. Not surprisingly, it is prevalent in EnduroCross because of the hand and arm use needed to rein in such a rowdy ride. So the two began working together at Barton’s Sports Performance Lab to help Tremaine improve.

“We began by using state-of-the-art sports performance methods, including a wingate test to assess his anaerobic power and a VO2 max test to identify his aerobic training zones as well as his peak oxygen use,” explains Hagenah. “Based on the results, I designed a training program to optimize Ty’s posture and performance. When we retested Ty after four months, he saw significant improvement in his fitness.”

Tremaine credits his recent EnduroCross success to the new training program.

“EnduroCross racing is among the most intense, physically demanding sports. You are wrestling with a motorcycle while racing at your maximum heart rate for 15 minutes. It takes endurance, strength, and stamina,” Tremaine says. “I was quick on the bike, but I could feel that my arm strength was lacking. It wasn’t until I started working with Angie on my sports performance training that I closed in on the competition.”

Going to the next level

Now, for the first time in his riding career, Tremaine is competing in the highly coveted Grand National Cross Country off-road racing series.

“Going from 15-minute races in an arena to three-hour cross-country riding will be a test of my endurance,” Tremaine says. “This is where my training and the work Angie and I have done at Barton’s Sports Performance Lab will be put to the ultimate test.”

In August, Ty will return home to the West Coast to compete in the EnduroCross All West Series to try to claim the national title.

“Being a part of an athlete’s success story makes me extremely happy,” Hagenah says. “An athlete like Ty is out there chasing his dreams, and it makes me proud to know we gave him the tools for ultimate success in his EnduroCross career.”

Erika Cook and Angela Moniot work for Barton Health.