GROUNDWORK (RIDER) EXERCISES WITH TRANSITIONS By Lisa Wieben and Birgit Stutz
It’s the time of year when the cold weather may be limiting your time with your horse and increasing your time inside. Since both Birgit and Lisa have recovered from injuries during their careers they would like to share some of their exercises that helped them regain their strength, balance, and flexibility as well as keeping fit during off times.
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hen coming back from an injury or starting a new workout plan it is important to make changes slowly and work within your own limitations. Riding is a sport where balance is key so finding exercises that help you work both sides of the body and that allow you to develop more core stabilization are important. While strength training has been part of their programs it is important to bring in some form of flexibility/mobility exercises. Building muscle can be a cause to tightness in the body if the body has not been trained to release tension. When riding we need to have the ability to use a muscle when necessary, but then be able to release the tension when the required task is completed. If you have one hip that does not move as easily as the other there may be tension in that hip that needs to be released. Lisa and Birgit like Somatics for this reason. Through simple movements you can train your body to release muscle tension that has been held by your unconscious mind (see our three-part series in Saddle Up issues November 2018, December 2018, and February 2019, on the Saddle Up website under the ‘Archive’ tab). Cardio is always a great place to start, with walking being one of the best forms of cardio exercise. Find an app that counts your steps/day and build up each week. 10,000 steps/day is the recommended number of
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steps for health and fitness. If you are currently recovering from an injury you may be starting off with much fewer steps; if you own a barn you may be used to doing much more. During the winter you can use a treadmill, elliptical machine, or stationary bike for a convenient workout. One of Lisa’s favourite ways to exercise at home is with a minitrampoline. Likely you’ve had one in your home at some point in your life. Walking or bouncing on the mini-trampoline is working on your balance as well as cardio. Turning while bouncing brings awareness to the inside knee of the turn rotating more open in order to step in the new direction, much like one would do when riding. Rotate in both directions and see if one direction is easier to do. Jogging on a mini-trampoline is much easier on the body than running on a hard surface and helps increase lung capacity and lowers blood pressure. It also has proven benefits for the body’s lymphatic system which fights bacteria and viral infections and transports waste products. Lymph fluid relies on muscle contractions to move around the body and rebounding is one of the best exercises for this because so many muscles are involved. Because people tend to hold themselves straighter, without leaning forward this is also a great way to strengthen the back. If bone mass is an issue for you, a NASA study of astronauts showed that rebounding was the best exercise to rebuild the
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