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- I hope you guys are all staying safe and well
in these times.
Today, I'm gonna be doing a video on rider fitness.
This is a request that I got.
And I'm gonna be going over five exercises
that have helped me in my riding to feel more secure
and be more effective as a rider.
And I know they're gonna help you out as well.
I'm gonna be going over how these exercises help you
when your riding,
and then I'm gonna be going over how to perform them,
how many reps you wanna do.
And stay tuned to the end of this workout
and I'm gonna give you a PDF of all the exercises
that I go over so that you can have success
doing them at home.
(gentle upbeat music)
So our first exercise is on posture.
Posture is super essential in riding,
being able to ride in the correct alignment.
This keeps us secure in the saddle.
If our horse were to spook and react
and we're in correct alignment,
we're more likely to stay on;
if we're in an incorrect posture alignment,
we're more likely to fall off.
So an exercise that can help you improve your posture
when your riding and get that correct,
your shoulder, hip, your alignment, is the plank.
And this is an exercise you're probably familiar with.
It's a wonderful exercise for your posture
because it targets multiple muscle groups.
And it's probably my number one exercise
for getting a fitter stronger position in the saddle.
(gentle upbeat music)
To start your planks,
you're gonna start in this modified position
with your elbows bent.
You're gonna hold this three sets, 30 seconds each.
And once this position is easy for you,
I recommend that you go into a full plank and do three sets,
one minute each.
(gentle upbeat music)
The next exercise is all about stability.
If you're a rider, you know how important it is to be stable
and balanced in the saddle,
especially if you're riding at the canter
and you're working at any speed.
So how do we have more stability in our riding?
A wonderful exercise to improve your stability
is a plank with shoulder taps.
Similar to the plank,
this is targeting multiple muscle groups,
so it's really helping with your posture,
but it's taking the plank a step further
and helping you to be able to also activate
and improve these deep stabilizing muscles
that are gonna make you feel more secure
and more effective when you're riding in motion.
To start your shoulder taps,
you can do this modified position with your legs bent.
And you wanna have a nice controlled motion here,
really trying to move those hips as little as possible
as you do these shoulder taps, three sets, 20 taps total.
Once this is easy for you with your knees bent,
you can go into a full plank position as I'm doing here.
And the same thing, you're gonna do three sets, 20 taps
on each set.
(gentle upbeat music)
The next exercise is all about getting your shoulders
back and down.
So if you're struggling with feeling your shoulders
are creeping up on you when you're riding,
you've got a lot of tension there in those shoulders,
this often comes from some weakness in your back.
And having an open collarbone, relaxed shoulders
that are down, it really helps you to be able to ride
more effectively and helps you to have softer,
more-giving hands.
So an exercise that has helped me with this is the superman,
and the superman is a great exercise to strengthen your back
and your glutes and help you to keep those shoulder blades
down and back.
(gentle upbeat music)
To start your superman,
you're gonna lay on the ground with your feet behind you
and your hands in front of you.
You're gonna really engage your lower back and your glutes,
lifting those hands and feet up off the ground
as high as you can.
You're gonna do one set, 10 reps,
with five-second hold each time you go up.
Really try to lift that chest up and those feet up higher
every time you go up.
(gentle upbeat music)
Okay, only two more exercises left.
This one is all about being secure in the saddle.
So when we think about being secure in the saddle,
we might think about some things
that we talked about earlier,
like being able to have good core strength
or being able to have a good strong back,
but another really important element of being secure
in the saddle, being able to stay on
is your glute strength and your hamstring strength.
And a wonderful way to be able to build those
is doing squats.
Squats help you to be able to strengthen those glutes
and hamstrings and give you a more secure position
in your pelvis,
which is gonna give you more stability in the saddle.
To start your squats, you're gonna stand with your feet,
hip width apart.
You're gonna keep your toes straight.
And each time you go down, you're gonna fold at your hips.
And each time you go up, engage your glutes,
really drop those shoulder blades down.
We're gonna do three sets, eight reps.
And if you wanna make sure you're engaging
the correct muscle groups,
you can lift your toes up a little bit more
to keep the back of your leg engaged.
(gentle upbeat music)
The last exercise is all about straight toes.
I did a video on correct leg positioning,
covered this a little bit in that video;
but having our toes straight versus turned out
is really important for our stability in the saddle,
as well as not accidentally hitting our horse with our leg
when we don't mean to be.
So it's really helping to keep a more stable position
of our pelvis.
And if this is something that's difficult for you,
an area of weakness,
this exercise is a great exercise to help you
be able to have those toes straight
and strengthen the appropriate muscle groups,
and that is the side leg lift.
And the side leg lift,
you're strengthening your glutes a little bit more,
you're strengthening more of your interior glutes
as well as your exterior,
and you're also strengthening the side of your leg there,
which is gonna help you to have a more stable,
effective leg position.
To start your side leg lifts,
you can lay on the ground with your feet stacked
on top of each other.
Lift your leg up, point your toe down to help you activate
that glute more.
You're gonna do 5 sets, 10 to 15 reps per leg.
And I like to do those 10 reps and then go for a little bit
of a pulse to help really activate my leg further.
So here I'm doing the little pulse.
And really working on engaging that side of my leg
and that glute more.
And then I go into 10 of the rainbows.
So I made a PDF of all of these exercises,
how many reps you need to do in each one,
how many days a week, and that is in the description below.
So you can click that and download it
if you're interested in trying these out
on a more regular basis.
And let me know how they work for you.
They've definitely been a help to me in my riding,
and hopefully, there'll be a help to you as well.
If you are having any pain or issues during these exercises,
I recommend that you consult with a personal trainer
in your area, they can check your form out,
as with all working out
if you're doing it in an incorrect form,
you can end up injuring yourself.
So be careful and use caution.
I hope you guys stay safe and healthy
over these next few weeks.
And I'll talk to you soon.
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