Endurance Magazine May/June 2020

Page 18

Series 2

Is there a difference between

being fit and being fit for riding? Not all exercise is equal:

B

eing fit generally means having the ability to perform everyday tasks with ease, with a good level of muscular strength, endurance, aerobic capacity and flexibility. Unfortunately, moving hay bales and bags of feed, poo picking, mucking out and pushing wheelbarrows (as examples), whilst perhaps beneficial to general fitness, doesn’t develop the correct muscles, within the correct movement patterns or ranges of motions which will help improve your riding. As with all sports, exercises need to focus on the muscles that riders use when in the saddle, this is what makes the exercise transferable to your riding and will help you become more stable, balanced and confident but will also reduce the aches & pains of being in the saddle for hours as the body will be better prepared, better conditioned.

18

rider fitness

Working around the yard, caring for horses will improve your ‘general’ fitness but will not necessarily improve your riding fitness.

Creating your Rider Fitness Home Workout

As many of us are not riding at the moment, it is the perfect opportunity to invest some time into yourself. When we do return to ‘normal’ and start going to events we can do so with better body awareness, control and confidence in ourselves as we are more prepared. #Wewillrideagain As with all exercises, it is really important to feel the movement of each exercise, and engage the correct muscles, which are detailed in the description, to perform the movement. This way you will get the maximum benefit of the exercise and create a connection from your mind to your rider muscles.

As mentioned in RiderCise® Series 1, Rider Fitness is about improving riding ability, performance and reducing associated aches and pains and the severity of injuries that can occur.

features | endurancegb.co.uk


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