Riding - Muscle Training from Head to Toe
When you ride, you often train the various regions of your body unconsciously. Especially your shoulders, back, glutes, and legs are challenged over a long period.
The special thing about riding is that you tense and relax your muscles to balance yourself in the different gaits. For example, your back and glute muscles are used differently in the trot than in the gallop, which makes muscle training while riding versatile and varied.
It's very interesting that every different horse you get to know in your riding career, as well as every different saddle, challenges your muscles in a different way.
Have you ever noticed that, for example, show jumpers who ride again after a long time with a dressage saddle immediately notice a change the next day (often even in the form of slight muscle soreness)?
Why do I even need complementary exercise?
Riders often argue, “If I ride my horse, do the stable work, and push the wheelbarrow around, I’ve moved enough.” and therefore skip complementary body training. But just like with any sport, riders should pay attention to their physical fitness.
Therefore, you should do regular strength training to keep your muscles trained. This allows you to sit relaxed and upright in the saddle from your own body tension without tensing up, which has been proven to reduce complaints like back pain.
Also, our muscles in the legs and back shorten from sitting regularly in the saddle, making mobility training an absolute #TO-DO for every rider. Sports like yoga or Pilates can help you stay supple and balanced to influence your horse effectively.
Get Moving – These Exercises Will Make You Even Fitter in the Saddle
We searched for some exercises made by riders for riders that you can do at home with little time investment.
With the innovative styles from our #TOPBRAND MAXIMILIAN EQUESTRIAN, you’re perfectly dressed not only in the stable, but the SCULPT RIDING LEGGINGS are also great for a variety of other sports.
Stabilization
Plank – The Exercise for a Strong Core
The plank, also known as the forearm support, is considered one of the most effective bodyweight exercises. With planks, you especially train your core, the abdomen, and the back. With various variations, you can make your training more diverse and increase the intensity with weights or other variations. For example, you can lift and lower your pelvis or alternately stretch one arm forward. Supported on your forearms, you look down at the floor and bring your elbows and shoulders to the same height. At first, try to hold your position for 30 seconds. Once 30 seconds become easy for you, you can increase the duration and do the exercise for one minute. If that’s no problem either, you can place a weight plate on your lower back to especially train your core.
But why is this actually important?
The muscles in our core are involved in most of our movements – including riding. Your torso plays a big role and is involved in almost every movement in the saddle. Without a strong core, we cannot sit upright, let alone maintain our tension.
Mobility – For More Flexibility in the Saddle
Above all, we riders must not become stiff and rigid. Mobility describes the interaction of muscles and joints. With appropriate mobility training, you challenge your muscles and joints to use them in their full range of motion unrestricted and pain-free. This training mainly consists of three aspects: fascia training, various movement patterns, and stretching exercises.
One of our favorites is yoga. Yoga is regularly on the training plan of many athletes for a reason. Here, the correct alignment of your body is a priority. Yoga is the perfect balance to equestrian sports and can be quickly and easily integrated into your day. This improvement in your movement quality transfers to other activities and has a very positive effect on your posture in the saddle.
Did you know? Many gyms offer yoga classes that you can attend for free.
Balance – For the Ideal Stability While Riding
Anyone who rides with passion knows that horse and rider should form a unit. Both should be balanced so the horse can move relaxed in rhythm. With various balance exercises, you as a rider can improve your balance on the horse and thus advance your shared success in equestrian sports.
The one-legged stand is a classic exercise for stability. Here, you lift one leg bent upwards and try to maintain your balance. While doing this, breathe calmly and controlled. Ideally, you can hold this position for thirty seconds or a minute, then lift the other leg.
Are you already a pro? Then you might even manage the one-legged stand while brushing your teeth in the bathroom.
Strength and Endurance Training
We’ve mentioned often enough that riders should do complementary exercise. But especially muscle strength and endurance help you achieve a better seat in the saddle. Stronger muscles make it easier for you to sit upright in rhythm, and your shoulders can work better, which automatically results in a steady rider’s hand.
You can perfectly train both your strength and endurance at home. No matter which basic exercise you choose – the correct execution and regularly increasing the intensity are important.
A great exercise is squats. For this exercise, stand shoulder-width apart and distribute your body weight evenly on your feet. Make sure your knees point slightly outward and in the same direction as your toes. Lower your hips backward and down, then push back up using your leg strength. The deeper the squat, the more intense and effective your training. If you want to make your training especially intense, you can include supersets. That means you alternate between two exercises and only take a short break afterward. Squats mainly train your legs and core muscles.
As you probably know, riders usually have very strong inner thigh muscles. It’s important to also train the opposing muscles. For this, you can tie a resistance band around your thighs, lie on the floor, place your legs up, and calmly and controlled press your legs apart. If you have a gym membership, you can also easily use an abductor machine there.
Jump Rope – The Leap to Good Endurance
Not only do our horses need good endurance, which we should work on in training, but we riders also need a high level of fitness and stamina alongside all our skills. To quickly build your endurance without having to leave the house after a tiring stable day, we recommend a simple exercise: jump rope.
As a child, it was a popular leisure activity, but many probably never touched a jump rope again as adults. Yet this sport is an incredibly effective strength-endurance workout that trains your speed and jumping power, among other things.
Did you know that jump rope is the ideal sport to burn fat? With ten minutes of jump rope, you can potentially burn as many calories as with 30 minutes of jogging.
Ready, Set, Go!
We hope our exercises help you find your routine for complementary exercise. Increase your training slowly and take breaks when your body needs them. This way, you’ll be even fitter for your horse this summer! :-)
