Develop Endurance for Riding

The core must withstand long periods of time working in the saddle.  At some point every athlete hits their fatigue point.  Physical training is done to increase endurance and the threshold within all muscles surrounding the core. 

Endurance has many components that develop overall physical stamina within muscles.  Most would just consider cardio as a high endurance training but cardio is only part of endurance training.  There’s strength, balance, flexibility, coordination and agility and stability that must be developed in the muscles as well as aerobic. 

Creating athletic endurance through fitness!  

Start by doing compound exercises, which is kinda a two-in-one-exercise.  This can cut your time in half and burn more calories as well.  Pressing the hands upward and lunging is a compound exercise.  Similar to riding horses, athletes need to know how to operate both upper and lower body parts for long periods of time. 

 A good challenge for a horseback rider is to increase the build up of the exercises.  Take the Diagonal Crunch which is demonstrated on this page.  Start with 20 reps upper body crunch and keep both feet on the floor.  When the 20 reps are complete, immediately start alternate lifting one foot off the ground as the elbows are crunching upward towards that side.  

Progressing an exercise can really get the abs burning and increases overall core endurance.  You can continue to build up the exercise by holding a plate or medicine ball or increase the number of repetitions.