Andy Smith 00:00 
A quick disclaimer before we begin, the PEMF podcast does not contain any medical advice and the content provided is for informational purposes only. If you have any health concerns, please visit a healthcare professional. Welcome back to another episode of the PEMF podcast. Today, we're joined by Billy Laninovich, a Supercross veteran who continues to race at the highest level, even at the age of 42. We'll dive into how he's been able to stay competitive and recover from intense physical demand of racing and the role that PEMF therapy has played in his longevity and performance. But Billy, just if you can help to introduce yourself and introduce your friend that you've got there as well, because I know he comes along with you a lot of the time and just kind of tell us about what you're doing and what you've achieved over the time.

Billy Laninovich 00:48 
Yeah, so I'm Billy Laninovich. This is my dog Bingo. He's a pug. He goes everywhere with me goes to the tracks with me and to almost all the supercrosses unless I have to fly. He's only missed one race since I've been back since last year. So yeah, so I race professionally motor or not motorcross but supercross. I was a professional motorcross supercross when I was younger from 2002 until 2012. I took 12 years off. I was a motocross coach for six years after that, after I stopped in 2012, and then wanted to do something different. And I went and became an electrician. And then, man, in 2012, kind of when I stopped racing, I was I was a privateer, I was always a factory rider until my last year and then I was a privateer. And I had a rich lady that asked if I wanted to race again. So I started racing for her in 2012. And then in 2013, I felt great. I think I finished seventh in 2012 in the series in supercross. And I was really looking forward to 2013. I had a year under my belt. And she got sick and almost died. And so that kind of just quit my career. And that's how I stopped racing. And I always felt like God said I was going to come back to racing. Well, at 40 or 39 years old, 38 years old, I'm roping in a room doing electrical work for a big contractor here in San Diego. And I'm like, man, there's no way I'm going to be able to come back and race at almost 40 years old. And then I don't know, man, God opened up the doors for me. And here we are racing motorcycles again.

Andy Smith 02:35 
No, great. So what got, what got you into racing in the first place? What, where did the story begin?

Billy Laninovich 02:41 
Well, my dad used to race when he was younger. Um, my grandma absolutely hated it. My, my dad's mom. And so when my dad was younger, my grandma made him quit and my dad was a really good rider. And so my dad loved riding. So he got me riding when I was two and a half years old on a little three-wheeler called a YZ Zinger, and I loved it. It's all I ever wanted to do was ride my motorcycle. The only way they could get me out of bed was, Billy, you want to go ride? So they would say that when I had to go to school, just to get me out of bed and they would trick me, but, um, man, it was something I love. So from two and a half years old till seven, I just rode for fun. And then at seven years old in 1990, my dad put me in my very first race at Verona and, um, it was just something that I absolutely loved doing. All I wanted to do was ride my motorcycle and I didn't want to do any other sports. So I just rode and rode. And, um, by the time I was probably 14 years old, my dad started seeing potential in me and then we started going to amateur nationals and, um, and then that's how I got into it.

Andy Smith 03:48 
And you're riding a pretty high level just just for our audience you mentioned super cross and it was something that i was looking into because especially in the UK. You know it's a sport isn't as as as hardly kind of. You don't watch them you know a lot of audience from the us anyway so they will know this but what's the main difference between super cross and motocross cuz you know motocross is more i think what people would would understand.

Billy Laninovich 04:15 
Yeah so supercross is really tight spaces like in a stadium. So you guys have football, or I think you guys call it something else. But in that kind of stadium really tight, a lot of jumps, a lot of rhythms, what you do is motorcross is open, it's really spread out. So like a supercross track is anywhere from, say 48 seconds to a minute, minute five, and an outdoor track could be two and a half minutes to three minutes long for one lap. And so the supercross races, the times are different for how long we stay out on the track. We stay out the 250 class stays out for 15 minutes plus one lap, and the 450 stay out for 20 minutes plus one lap. We're outdoors, it's 30 minutes plus two laps. So we're out there for 35-36 minutes.

Andy Smith 05:07 
Yeah okay no good thanks for that and you've been sponsored by some pretty big brands in the past doing some research on you Yamaha and also brands now how was all that.

Billy Laninovich 05:19 
Yeah. So when I first turned pro, um, I wrote for Red Bull KTM factory KTM for two years. And then I went to Honda. I wrote for, uh, it was called Sobey Samsung Honda back in the day. Got to ride with those guys. And I wrote them for four years. And then what did I do? I think I went back to factory reble KTM for a year. And then I wrote for Monster Energy Kawasaki. I did a fill-in ride when Tim Ferry had broken his ankle and, um, dad just asked me to help test their bikes. So I did a couple of weeks of testing and they needed a rider and threw me right in the mix to start racing.

Andy Smith 06:00 
So doing some research on you before this, um, you know, you kind of don't be offended by this. You're kind of known as the old man in the sport, uh, which, you know, is barbaric because you're only a couple of years older than me. So, you know, it's, um, it's, and you know, you're, you're 42 now, but you're kind of breaking records for being the oldest supercross rider. But I think the, the thing that people probably don't understand is the toll that it takes doing motocross or supercross on your body and the injuries that you sustained. So you're reeling off all these injuries. Um, and, you know, some of the people are quite battered up by the time they get to your age. So, you know, for them to continue on the sport is just is impossible. So is that something that you was quite nervous about coming back at the age you are now?

Billy Laninovich 06:48 
Yeah, absolutely, man. Racing is a very, very dangerous sport. I didn't know if I was gonna be able to do it. I just felt like God was gonna bring me back. And then I had all these situations happen where I had a friend, a really good friend of mine now who called me and got me to quit my job, train his son. And so that's how it all started. I hadn't been riding for, it was like eight years. I may maybe rode 20 times. And that was just going out to a buddy's property and riding. I wasn't training or riding to race and nothing like that. So, all these things are started happening. And mentally, I felt like, man, I think I could still do it. Obviously, I was super slow because I hadn't been riding. I just got back on a bike in 2023. At the end of 2023. And I did a podcast, I mentioned I wanted to come back and try to race again. And password Larry from they reached out to me. And they got me a bike. And man, it was horrible. I was so slow. I didn't jump a triple on the track for, I think, a month, maybe a month and a half. And it took me about a month to jump the big rhythms and stuff. But I just slowly worked my way into it. And just got comfortable. I didn't rush it. But yeah, like you're saying, it's a very dangerous sport. There's a lot of risk in it. But I think that God has me here for a reason. And that's why I'm doing it.

Andy Smith 08:08 
Yeah. And what sort of injuries have you sustained over your career then? Um, just as a quick summary, then I might buy it, be here for a while.

Billy Laninovich 08:15 
Yeah, dude, it's honestly not that bad. My body is a lot better than most of my competitors that I raced with. I think I've had three broken collarbones, broken wrist, I've had four ACL reconstructions. I fractured my C three in my neck, a broken leg, and then maybe, maybe five concussions. And that's about it. I think I have four herniated discs in my back from back in the day, but it doesn't bother me. But what's my recovery?

Andy Smith 08:48 
back about quite. But with my recovery stuff. No, that's, that's, that's the minus side. You've been lucky. It's only have those. Yeah.

Billy Laninovich 08:55 
Yeah. Hey, there's been guys out there that have been a lot more hurt. I can't run too well because of my knees, but I can mountain bike, I can row bike, do all that stuff. So my body's good. And then plus taking that 12 years from 2012 to 2024 off, I think that let my body heal so much to where I'm able to do it now. Because when you do it year after year, your body just gets so banged up and stuff. So that's why the recovery stuff is so important. That stuff helps tremendously.

Andy Smith 09:24 
Yeah, so that's one of the reasons, you know, why we wanted you to come on the podcast is talk about the kind of complimentary side of things and, and what really attracted to us to, you know, how you're keeping to go going at the age you are. So, um, let's start off with the PEMF. Um, how did you first, you know, where did your PEMF journey begin? When did you ever first hear about it and, and what was, you know, what was that experience?

Billy Laninovich 09:48 
Yeah, so I had a chiropractor that I started going to around 2023. And I have a bad hip. I never broke it or anything, but it's full of arthritis. My right hips really bad. My range of motion is bad. So every once in a while, maybe three to five times a year for a week at a time, maybe two weeks at a time, it'll bother me. And so he put me on a man, I forget the name of it, but it's a really high end PEMF at the table with the mat that you stick on top of you. And it literally took my pain away. I could not believe how much that helped my head. I mean, immediately after I got done with this session.

Andy Smith 10:27 
So he got me on that that was a probably a high-intensity one. I'm assuming you could feel that was

Billy Laninovich 10:32 
Oh yeah, yeah, man, I forget the name of it. It's a really top-of-the-line PEMF, but yes. Yeah, it was a very high-intensity one.

Andy Smith 10:40 
Cool. So that was the first time we experienced it. What did you, what did you take from that session and, you know, do you, are you still using PEMF at the moment?

Billy Laninovich 10:50 
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I believe in those things. I wouldn't it's crazy. So I started going to my chiropractor using his PEMF and I got introduced kind of to the hyperbaric through him to I had a big crash in San Diego last year I got landed on. I wasn't broken, but my body was really banged up. So I had a week to recover from my next race. And so I was in the hyperbaric, I think. I think I was with him four days in a row. And then I went to sport recovery there up in Anaheim, where the Anaheim Supercross was. And I was able to get in to their hyperbaric. I think another day or two before the race. And then for the PEMF, yeah, after that injury, every time I went in, I'm like, Hey, I want on that table, I want on that table. And he would put me on there. And that was a tremendous help from that crash in San Diego last year. So my next race where I think that was the first race I qualified since I've been back to racing after 12 years. Yeah, they do wonders. Absolutely.

Andy Smith 11:56 
Yeah, so we'll come to the hyperbaric because of that's something I want to talk to you about as well in terms of the PEMF are you using that more at the moment as preventative using it like daily or is it really when you pick up an injury and you just want to like hit it with something hard.

Billy Laninovich 12:11 
No, I use it every day. So I have a beamer. I don't know if you've heard of that one. Yeah, but yeah, I use that thing every day multiple times a day, probably 10 times a day. I think you're only supposed to use it maybe twice for eight minutes a day. But I have a risk injury right now. So I use it on my wrist, multiple, multiple times a day. I use it for for injuries to help the recovery. And then I also use it for my training. It just helps that blood flow and helps your recovery. So when you wake up the next morning, I'm not a sore and stuff like that. I'm ready to go.

Andy Smith 12:44 
So yes for the benefit of our audience the beamer is a lower intensity device and that's one you using like multiple times a day so that's going to help with more of a preventative thing so no that's great and is there like a stand out story for you for you mentioned last year you. You had an accident you had to speed that up within within a week. I'm was you able to get back on the track within that week.

Billy Laninovich 13:10 
Yeah, well, not there in that week. I wasn't able to ride during the week for I think two or three weeks. I was just showing up to the races. That's how banged up my body was. But the biggest difference was this year, the first time I qualified for a Supercross this year was in Arizona Supercross at Glendale. I had crashed the week before in San Diego and tore my facial on my ribs and cracked the back of my rib. And well, in the pits, this guy Curtis, who works for Beamer, he was right in front of me, parked right in front of the motor home. He's like, hey, come sit on this thing. Well, the nights before I wasn't able to sleep. I was getting three to four hours of sleep. I kept tossing and turning. My ribs were killing me. I'd even laid down on my stomach where I tore my facial because my back and my rib was hurting so bad. So I jump on his thing. I did it twice that night, during that day. And I slept like a baby. The pain was gone. I slept good. It was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. Like for a machine to do something like that was amazing. But then I was hooked. I got to get myself a baby.

Andy Smith 14:21 
And do you do you have a preference between lower and higher intensity devices or do you use a combination of both? What's your plan routine now?

Billy Laninovich 14:28 
I use a combination of both. The higher intensity ones, I feel like for the it helped me with my inflammation and stuff. It wasn't nothing that I could feel. But with the beam or PEMF, I could actually feel it like my breathing was different. I felt lighter. Yeah, it was the craziest thing, just feeling it. And then just with my pain, like I believed in it so much. I did after that race, I was hurting so bad that my neighbors, they have horse wrenches and they had the horse beamer. So they let me borrow their horse beamer, which was nasty, and gotten that thing wrapped up in it. And it was helping me. It was helping me sleep during the night. It was taking helping me with that pain and stuff like that. So I believe in the lower intensity ones as a for the Beamer, as a feeling wise, like you can feel it a difference. The high intensity ones that they did tremendously on my knees. When I first started riding, my knees were swelling up. Sometimes I couldn't ride for two or three days after I got done riding. But as soon as I had consistency on the PEMF, and it was a world changer, my knee never swelled up unless I did something, dab it in a corner or something like that. But yeah, they're amazing devices.

Andy Smith 15:51 
Oh cool and we'll talk to you about the H-Bot as well the oxygen chambers because there's something that I really believe in too really love those seeing that they're popping up more and more often now and people are using them. What was your first introduction to H-Bot and what is your experience at that?

Billy Laninovich 16:06 
That was the same time last year when I crashed in San Diego and got hurt got landed on my chiropractor put me in the hyperbaric so I got introduced to the hyperbaric and the PEMF at the same time, it was on the same day. So it's not like I feel a difference of I don't feel anything when I get out of it, maybe, maybe a little bit more energy or something. I don't know, but I just know that when I do get out of it, the next day I'm recovered. And it's just not using the hyperbaric or the PEMF. It's a combination of all that stuff, right? So it all something different. And yeah, I truly, I believe in all of it.

Andy Smith 16:49 
No that's cool it's interesting you said use them on same day did they have a protocol in terms of did they use the PEMF first or the HPOT first you remember.

Billy Laninovich 16:58 
Yep, I still do. I still use the PEMF first and then go into the hyperbaric, yeah.

Andy Smith 17:05 
Okay no cool I wanted to check because that's the way I'd probably apply it as well it's preparing the cells and then putting yourself in the oxygen chamber yeah it's my preferred way to do it as well so have you noticed any other benefits from a corporate h put into recovery routine.

Billy Laninovich 17:18 
Oh, yeah, I'm in that thing at least three to five days a week. Yeah, with the PMS, the Beamer and our Aero Recovery Hyperbaric. Yeah, I'm in those things all the time, as much as I can.

Andy Smith 17:33 
Yeah yeah and is that do you have your own one now because I see you mentioned you wanted to get one I don't know if that if that happens.

Billy Laninovich 17:40 
Not yet. I'm working on, um, I'm actually working on a recovery trailer right now that I could take to the races and have a hyperbaric, have the beam or PEMF and, uh, red light therapy, uh, cold plunge sauna. So, but I'm in the process of buying my own. So I'm going to live in that thing. I want my whole family in it. I want my mother-in-law in it. I want my wife in it. My mom, my dad, I want everyone to be in that thing as much as possible.

Andy Smith 18:06 
Sounds good I know you touch on it then but do you using anything else other than PEMF and and H bar you know is anything you using on a regular routine.

Billy Laninovich 18:17 
I use red light. So every time that I do my recovery stuff, I usually do do it all at the same time. So red light. And then I don't do the sauna and cold plunger every time, but I do have a sauna blanket that I use. So mainly those four things. And then plus all my supplements, I take hammer nutrition supplements and stuff like that for recovery also.

Andy Smith 18:41 
Oh, cool. So, kind of coming back to the Supercross side of things, so someone that is racing at, you know, such a high level still at, you know, the age of 42, which I still don't think is too old, but for a level, for a, you know, sporting, obviously it is. Where do you see the super, where do you see the future of Supercross and, and those extreme sports going forward in, in terms of the recovery technology and methods, you know, do you see more people being able to do this at an older age with this technology coming in?

Billy Laninovich 19:13 
Yeah, I don't think I could I don't think I could do this without the without the technology There's so much demand on your body. It's so hard on it the injuries I mean most of us guys are out there riding probably 80 percent 70 80 percent. We're riding injured and so There are guys using this technology, but it's not fully known. Yeah I don't think people really know about it too much doctors kind of push it away and stuff like that But I think here in the next year or two a couple years going that it's gonna start blowing up and people are gonna start Using it much more

Andy Smith 19:52 
Yeah, yeah, and that was going to be my, my next question really, do you see it becoming more mainstream and are there barriers that you're seeing in your team and, you know, in times of like, do you speak to people about it? Do they roll the rise or is it, you know, are they quite keen to try it? 

Billy Laninovich 20:07 
No, they're definitely keen to try it. I put them on my Beamer before and I think the team owner, Mark Samuels, had a hurt hip or something like that and he got on it and he could not believe how much better he felt just from using the PEMF. And so yeah, these guys are very interested. They're obviously very expensive devices. Not everybody could go out and buy their own, but they can find their chiropractor that has it or any kind of position that have the devices that they could use. I definitely recommend it. It's a big, big help.

Andy Smith 20:41 
No good and for some of the younger races this is a bit more of a broad question or anyone in extreme sports if you can go back and give your younger self a piece of advice what would it be.

Billy Laninovich 20:54 
One piece of advice. Pick your friends wisely. Who you hang out with. Man, give it all you can. It's a motocross and super crosses a very short time. I mean, most careers don't even last 10 years. There are some that go longer, but it's just such a hard sport on your body. It's very demanding, physically, mentally, emotionally. Put everything you have into it for that 10 years. Get out where you can and yeah, never give up. Yeah, never give up. You're going to go through a lot of trials and tribulations racing, man.

Andy Smith 21:32 
Yeah, no, no, that's great advice. Um, if anybody wants to see, come and find you, or if they want to watch one of your races or something, where, where do they need to start, Billy?

Billy Laninovich 21:43 
Peacock has them live every race you can go to we can't watch it but social my social medias are all at Billy Linovitch to stay updated but to watch the races on Peacock

Andy Smith 21:58 
Cool, I'll put some links under this podcast so if people want to find you on Instagram or anything we've mentioned in the podcast, we'll link it down there. So thanks for joining us today Billy and for anyone listening, if they want to leave us a five-star review, whatever platform you're listening on, it helps us get more amazing guests like Billy onto the podcast, so thanks for your time again Billy.

Billy Laninovich 22:19 
Awesome Andy, thank you guys.