GROUP ONE
- Fish Out of Water
- Modified Push Up
- Squat Shifts
- Standing Side Kicks
Do each exercise, back to back without rest. Once all exercises of the group are completed, rest for a minute or two. Repeat the whole group once more before moving onward to Group One. Get heart rate down between groups of exercises, usually rest 2-3 minutes between sets.
Fish Out of Water
BOSU ball or no equipment just the mat
25 reps each side
Laying on the side of your stomach, cross the bottom arm over your chest to rest that hand on your top shoulder.
Raise your upper body slightly off the ground or BOSU, engaging the sides of your core.
I’s a short range of motion so pause at the top and slowly release back to starting.
Do a side plank as alternative with elbows or hands on floor
Modified Push Up
Stability ball
10-15 reps
Place hands under your shoulders with a slight bend in your arms. A classic push up position.
Squat Shifts
Mat on floor, use weight such as kettle bell if desired
45 seconds
Lower into a safe squat position, not too deep but deep enough. Bring hips back like you are going to sit. At the bottom, shift body to the right. Slowly rising from squat.
Center your body and lower again into squat. At the bottom, shift your body left before lifting up. Repeat
For the horse to go straight, you need to have balance between your right and left seat.
This exercise is easy on the knees, makes you think about side shifting which is very different for horseback riders. You will activate the entire perimeter of the lower core.
Standing Side Kicks
Floor (hold free weights)
30 seconds each side
Use kicking range of motion to lengthen inner leg muscles that shorten when we ride horses. The outer leg activates during the kick which helps our hips loosen up.
Remember to get a horse to go straight, you have to keep a balanced inner and outer leg positioning.
Lean to opposite side that is kicking. This allows the spine to stay straight and core to hold tight while only using the legs.
NEXT GROUP
- Side Lunges with Floor Taps
- Chest Press
- High Knees
- Overhead Squat
Do each exercise, back to back without rest. Once all exercises of the group are completed, rest for a minute or two. Repeat the whole group once more.
Side Lunges with floor taps
Floor (as in demo) / BOSU Ball back foot on ball
Gradually increase reps (2-5 total- each side)
Hold a side lunge and with hands or medicine ball, reach down near the lunging foot. Touch ground and move upper body back up but keeping the lunge. Push hands or medicine ball away from core.
Reach down to the same leg again and repeat the push out. Do three at once and then move to the other side. Increase to 4 reps on each leg and finally doing 5 reps to each leg before moving on. That is all one set.
Increase leg strength and independent stabilization on various planes of motion by doing this exercise. Make sure to separate each movement; side lunge (holding), bending down to touch floor (bend in hips) and rotation (turn hips with core’s center)
Chest Press
Resistance Band or Cable Machine
30-60 seconds
Standing with feet staggered and the band or cable is above the shoulders, facing away from attachment point.
Do 10 reps of pushing your hands away and coming back without dropping your shoulders, hands or chest. There’s no swinging in your core as your pressing.
This exercise helps riders gain strength for a tall supportive core as you strengthen the counterbalancing muscles.
High Knees
Free Weights Opt & Bench
1 minute (pace yourself)
The outer muscles in the thigh get super tight from riding the horse. This exercises engages those muscles as well as opens the muscles within the abdomen.
To have the best balance, all the muscles around the hips and pelvis need to be symmetrical. If any tightness is pulling one hip, the core can move to that direction.
Overhead Squat
BOSU Ball or Floor
15 total squats
The posting trot will throw you off balance and with 15 squats, this movement will fatigue.
Develop the leg strength that will help you get better at balancing, the longer you are trying to hold your balance. We must teach the body to support our body when we lift up into a squat and how do we come back into the saddle
Until balance is better, try doing 1/2 way down squats; which means to lower the body in a shorter range of motion before rising out of the squat.
The knees and ankles gain more stability as you practice so test how low you can go while still have complete control over your balance.
