Eight seconds, that’s all it takes for a cowboy to pull off a successful ride.
But how do you prepare to get on a 2,000-pound beast?
“Repetition is the number one thing,” said the Missouri Thunder’s top draft pick Colten Fritzlan.
Reps are key, but like most things the best practice is live action.
“The way you want to learn to be a better bull rider you have to ride bulls,” Missouri Thunder’s co-coach Ross Coleman said.
“Three bulls every weekend, then you add practice bulls during the week. We’re probably averaging five bulls a week,” added Thunder bull rider Andrew Alvidrez.
But the extra reps, and extra bulls, means extra danger.
“The best practice is bull riding, but you can get hurt practicing on bulls.,” said Alvidrez.
That still begs the question, how do you prepare to ride a bull?
“The sport of bull riding is evolving in this day and age because we’re figuring out ways to train and better your performance without actually riding bulls,” said Missouri Thunder’s Clayton Sellars.
That’s where traditional weights come in – with untraditional workouts.
“We’re not trying to bulk up and get really big, it’s more like a jockey because no matter how big and strong we get there’s no way we’re going to outmuscle a 2,000-pound animal,” Missouri Thunder’s co-coach Luke Snyder said.
So, they focus on muscle groups and movements.
“A bull rider has to control his body,” Sellars said.
“Balance and core, a little bit of cardio to make sure you’re halfway in shape,” added Fritzlan.
“From your neck all the way down to your feet, you’re using those muscles. When we get in here (the gym) we’re basically trying to do anything that is mentally tough and anything that is strenuous,” said Alvidrez.
A cowboy’s workout is just a fraction of training because at the end of the day it’s still man versus beast.
“You can be a beast in the gym all day long that doesn’t mean you’re going to be a beast in an arena on top of a bull,” said Coleman.
Because eight seconds is a lot longer than it seems.
