Rally Raid
How CS Santosh stays fit for his sport
The Indian rally raid expert continues his recovery from a horrific accident with renewed hope and determination going into the New Year 2023.
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CS Santosh is one of the best-known Indian motorsports personalities in the international community.
He was the first Indian to attempt and complete the arduous Dakar Rally on two wheels, and has completed it a record number of times for an Indian ever since.
But a dangerous crash in Dakar 2021 caused unfortunate damage to his body and put a pause to his shining career.
Now Santosh is fighting through adversity as he prepares his body to get back onto the bike and compete in off-road two-wheel motorsports like he did before.
Here he speaks about the impact the accident had on his body, how he has been recovering from it to once again establish himself as an elite motorsports athlete, and what targets he has set for himself in the next few months.
CS Santosh
© Ali Bharmal | Red Bull Content Pool
How fitness impacts motorsports
As a motocross and rally raid athlete, Santosh knows very well the demands of off-road motorsports.
“I wanted to be the best in India and then the best in Asia in motocross. I took up fitness because I knew that motocross demands the highest physical dedication from an athlete. Motocross and supercross particularly need a lot of fitness. That’s why I started training a lot,” says Santosh.
Direct impact of fitness for Santosh
Having taken up fitness at an early age, he reaped the benefits of his dedication while on the track.
“I think I was 19 when I started my fitness training. Before that, I was just a kid racing on a bike. But when I started to approach it as a professional, I made sure fitness was part of my training. I started to see results on the circuit; I was fitter and stronger than everyone else. I won my first supercross championship when I was 22. So the fact that I was fit started to pay dividends in terms of results,” says Santosh.
CS Santosh
© Mohit Damani
When Santosh kicked fitness into high gear
Santosh was inspired by a motorsports icon who came before him.
“I saw videos of this American athlete named Ricky Carmichael. He’s the greatest of all time; he’s won the most number of races in motocross. I envisioned what it would be like to have his career in motorsport in India. He’s one of the fittest athletes in the world on a motorcycle. So I started following his routine,” says Santosh.
Santosh’s personal fitness objective
“I’ve had a recurring dream ever since I started racing motocross. I’m in a 100m run and I keep looking down at my feet instead of at the finish line or my competitors. I am neck and neck with my opponents but I’m looking down at my feet because I know I have the potential to run faster. I feel my objective is a manifestation of that dream because I want to express myself and perform in the best possible manner, and I need excellent fitness to be able to do that,” says Santosh.
CS Santosh
© Focus Sports
Positive impacts Santosh has seen because of fitness
Santosh saw how his efforts towards fitness gave him an edge over others while he was part of the TVS Racing team.
“Early in my career, the national champion was my teammate at TVS. So we used to train together. But I was able to put in more laps than him with a higher intensity. I knew that this was because of my fitness and not because of talent. Because of fitness, I was able to outwork the national champion. So I knew it was playing a huge part in my career,” says Santosh.
When Santosh adjusted his fitness training and saw benefits
Santosh competed in his first Dakar Rally in 2015. While he knew a lot about the rally before he participated, he was not perfectly prepared for the physical challenges.
“At my first Dakar, I was astonished by how much this one race demands from an individual. It had taken everything from me, not just physical but even emotional. Once I had finished, I knew that my endurance was completely lacking for this event that happens for 14-15 days. So to train for my second Dakar, I did a lot of riding on the bicycle for extended periods of time and brought more endurance into my training. That helped because I was much better at the second Dakar Rally that I participated,” says Santosh.
CS Santosh in training
© Ali Bharmal | Red Bull Content Pool
Types of fitness that Santosh focuses
Muscle strength, muscle endurance, cardiovascular and flexibility are often considered the main aspects of overall fitness. Santosh’s approach is to maintain a balance.
“All four aspects of fitness are important for an athlete. With a balance of all the criteria, you can compete at anything. And for what I do as well, I need to be an athlete and train like an athlete. So I need a balance of all the areas,” says Santosh.
Santosh’s fitness strengths and weaknesses
Since his accident and injuries at Dakar 2021, Santosh has been a slow path to recovery. To help him get back to the performance and fitness levels he once was as a professional athlete, he has been visiting Red Bull’s Athlete Performance Centre (APC) in Salzburg, Austria.
“What I discovered from my visits to the Athlete Performance Centre is that after my accident at Dakar 2021, my VO2 has come down and my heartrate is much higher than before. My body is not functioning at the same level that it used to. So at APC, we decided that we need to build a fitness base with my body. Most importantly, I need to have my heartrate at a particular level which allows me to work for an extended period of time with high performance. So the basic crux of the training I’m doing now is to build that foundation,” says Santosh.
CS Santosh performs a deadlift
© Ali Bharmal
Santosh’s fitness regime
Taking inputs from the experts at APC, Santosh now works out with a particular performance target in mind.
“Right now, my fitness regime is all about maintaining particular heartrates through specific activities. For example, on a Monday I will do endurance training in which I do one hour of alternating bicycle and running; bicycle for 10 minutes, then running for 10 minutes, and repeat for three sessions. Then a short break, followed by 35-40 minutes of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). And through this whole endurance training period, I have to maintain my heartrate between 145 and 155. On another day, I may do strength training which starts with low-intensity cycling for 30 minutes, followed by weight training to build strength in my legs and core. During this entire phase, my heartrate is to be less than 140. On another day I will be required to do a strong run of 30 minutes, during which my heartrate has to be maintained at 150,” says Santosh.
Santosh’s most favourite and least favourite workouts
“I love working with the battle rope, because it’s part of my HIIT workout session and simulates what the bike does in a certain sense. In general, I don’t like to work on my core every day. My core has become so weak since the accident that I need to work on it daily. But it takes a lot of effort as well,” says Santosh.
CS Santosh during training
© Ali Bharmal | Red Bull Content Pool
What’s in his gym bag
Santosh now spends all of his time at BigRock DirtPark, his off-road campus on the outskirts of Bengaluru. It allows him to stay in isolation and focus on just his workouts with no distractions.
“Since I’m always at BigRock, and have everything I need around me, I don’t need to carry a gym bag as such. I just keep a water bottle, towel and can of Red Bull handy. I drink the Red Bull as a pick-me-up about 30 minutes before my afternoon sessions to give me the cognitive ability to get through the session,” says Santosh.
Aspects of mental fitness
In the initial phase of his recovery, Santosh was limited to very basic activities as he allowed his body to heal. This made him focus a lot more on his body and how it functioned.
“For about a year-and-half now, I’ve been paying attention to my breathing when I’m sitting ideal. I felt that was the only thing I had control over. My other faculties weren’t really working as well as I knew them to. So wherever I was, I would just pay attention to my breathing, the feelings in my hand, the pulses running through my body as I was trying to do something. In a way I became more aware of who I am as a human being; all the little things that I didn’t notice as much earlier,” says Santosh.
Santosh’s New Year fitness resolution
“January 2023 will mark two years since the crash at Dakar. I want to start to become an athlete that can actually look forward to going back to the Dakar. I’m also going to do two World Championship races in 2023,” says Santosh.
“It’s exciting to be in this position to come back to the Dakar because the manner in which the crash happened, there is unfinished business. I might not remember all of it but my body remembers. And I want to fulfil this journey of mine. So it’s very important I give myself the opportunity to do it. And that’s pretty much my motivation at this point.”
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