Fitness of rider

J

Jo C

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How fit are you? Do you do exercise other than riding/mucking out etc? What form of exercise compliments riding?
Just curious really, I am unfit although do try and do situps and go on the crosstrainer. I just wondered what form of exercise is the best for riders.
 
I do spinning classes and run (sometimes) at the gym to keep my cardio fitness up....... I find mucking out etc keeps me toned but I do get knackered on an hours lesson if I don't go to the gym as well
 
Hey Jo, I would love to do pilates or yoga once a week as I think that would really help with my riding but all my spare time is literally taken up with schooling the horses. When I had less to ride I used to go swimming, work out in the gym and go running but those days are long gone!
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Jo I think you'll be surprised at how fit you actually are. You are fit for your sport if you know what I mean. The only exercise I normally do is riding and walking the dog but since I haven't been able to do that I've noticed that I now get so tired all the time and everything has gone flabby
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. Walking up the stairs makes my legs ache and taking a wheelbarrow up the muckheap makes me physically out of breath
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It has proven to me that riding is actually very good exercise!!
 
Apparently I am now average fitness. Was below poor last august
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Going to the gym helps, but ive actually put on weight, although im much fitter. Ive now started to do a fitness dvd a couple of times a week too to help with buring fat and more cardio.
Plus mucking out and riding, but tbh i just cant seem to shift the weight without starving myself, and im not about to start doing that.
 
I've just joined a gym and go 2-3 times a week. I had a free personal training session which I used to get a programme specifically for riding worked out for me. The guy was really good, he really asked the right questions and thought about muscle groups I'd use etc, right down to hand position in relation to holding the reins.

The best bit is the gym is 2 mins from work, really smart and really cheap (£15 a month).

I don't think I am nearly fit enough and I am very conscious that mistakes XC get made when people are tired - there have been too many fatalities recently for me to want to risk my neck any more than I have to, and for me this is one way of reducing the risk as the fitter I am the less chance there is of me getting tired and making a stupid, and possibly fatal, error.

I do a mix of cardio, endurance and weights, with stretches to open my hips and improve my seat and core strength exercises.
 
I walk to work every day which is 20mins up and down some steep hills, i dont dawdle along either - its a brisk walk! Every evening i do 100 situps with my dynaband, and i do leg stretches with the dynaband too. Ive got a thigh toner which i use probably 4-5 times a week and i do as much as i can before my poor muscles cant take anymore!! Ive also got a stepper and i do 20mins 4-5times a week on that on the hardest setting. Im getting an elypital crosstrainer thingy too which il use 4-5 times a week aswell
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All that on top of having 2 horses on DIY and getting up at 5:45 am everymorning
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Apparently I am now average fitness. Was below poor last august
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Going to the gym helps, but ive actually put on weight, although im much fitter. Ive now started to do a fitness dvd a couple of times a week too to help with buring fat and more cardio.
Plus mucking out and riding, but tbh i just cant seem to shift the weight without starving myself, and im not about to start doing that.

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V - muscle weighs more than fat, so if you are fitter, it's no surprise you weigh more!
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When I was the fittest I've ever been (training for adventure racing where I'd do the gym in the morning then run or bike in the eve) I was the heaviest I've ever been too. Think of the weight as a positive!
 
I do notice if for any reason I stop riding or mucking out that my fitness goes down, I just feel I should be fitter really to help in any way I can.
Rachel I know how you feel about lack of time, by the time I have mucked out, been to work, ridden, mucked out again, played with daughter and put her to bed and eaten dinner I'm way to tired to do anything else.
 
My job means Diva is on full livery so I no longer muck out or do yard jobs
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I am making a reallly big effort to get fit not only to lose weight but improve my general fitness becasue as things are getting tougher I am running out of puff.

I ride a minimum 3 times a week and try and ride more if I can.

I go to the gym 4 times a week and do a combination of cardiovascular, weights and core stability exercises using a ball.

I do 10 minutes bike to warm-up, 20 minutes cross-trainer and between 10 and 15 minutes on the treadmill. I then do selected weights building more on resistance and strenght than pumping iron!

I try and swim once a week too.

I spend all day at the weekends running around OH either at the yard or competition so keep very active!

I have noticed that although I can run for a long period (ran the marathon in 2002) I find I still get really out of breath when I am riding, especially jumping. I think that may be in part due to the fact I don't breathe!
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TBH there is nothing like riding to get riding fit! Although when I was marathon training I used to do circuit training which really helped me. I did attempt to go at my new gym but I was really intimidated by the pumped-up iron men so never went again
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I do notice if for any reason I stop riding or mucking out that my fitness goes down, I just feel I should be fitter really to help in any way I can.
Rachel I know how you feel about lack of time, by the time I have mucked out, been to work, ridden, mucked out again, played with daughter and put her to bed and eaten dinner I'm way to tired to do anything else.

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I go in my lunch hour - not only do I now have more energy not less, but it also does not eat into time for horses and OH!
 
I think swimming is good, no pressure on your joints, whilst giving you an all round workout. You could take your daughter with you then!!

I'm hoping I may be able to swim after seeing the surgeon tmrw and deciding my fate!
 
Gym 6 days a week, 3 weights sessions, 3 on elliptical trainer. Once a fortnight I do a martial arts private lesson instead of an elliptical session. My gym is on my yard between my tackroom & hay barn so no excuse for not going! Also riding every day, which has got a lot more strenuous since I got my arena in December as I can now do a lot of trot/canter work instead of plodding around in walk. Compete & do lessons at the w'end.
 
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I walk to work every day which is 20mins up and down some steep hills, i dont dawdle along either - its a brisk walk! Every evening i do 100 situps with my dynaband, and i do leg stretches with the dynaband too. Ive got a thigh toner which i use probably 4-5 times a week and i do as much as i can before my poor muscles cant take anymore!! Ive also got a stepper and i do 20mins 4-5times a week on that on the hardest setting. Im getting an elypital crosstrainer thingy too which il use 4-5 times a week aswell
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All that on top of having 2 horses on DIY and getting up at 5:45 am everymorning
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God Tempi, I'm tired just reading that!
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I go to sleep at 10 every evening in the week tho - and i am exhausted by the time it comes......Im also doing a distance learning course in Advanced Computerised Bookkeeping, and im now studying for my Fellowship which is really hard work
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Oh, and the last week ive been cramming as ive got my LGV Theory test this afternoon.....
 
In addition to riding specific fitness, I also walk to work (20mins each way, half uphill), mountain bike and rock climb in the summer when I have more time, and have an active job. In the summer it's not unusual to be on site 2 or 3 times a week walking all day, I reckon I do roughly 10km per site visit probably.
 
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I go to sleep at 10 every evening in the week tho - and i am exhausted by the time it comes......Im also doing a distance learning course in Advanced Computerised Bookkeeping, and im now studying for my Fellowship which is really hard work
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Oh, and the last week ive been cramming as ive got my LGV Theory test this afternoon.....

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Good luck! Expect lots of strange looks for being a girl! I provided lots of excitement to my test centre who'd 'been waiting all day' to see what kind of girl did their LGV apparently
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I do notice if for any reason I stop riding or mucking out that my fitness goes down, I just feel I should be fitter really to help in any way I can.
Rachel I know how you feel about lack of time, by the time I have mucked out, been to work, ridden, mucked out again, played with daughter and put her to bed and eaten dinner I'm way to tired to do anything else.

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I go in my lunch hour - not only do I now have more energy not less, but it also does not eat into time for horses and OH!

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I don't really get a lunch hour as if I do I have to leave work later which eats into my riding time.
 
I'm relatively fit I think. As well as mucking out and riding, I walk 20mins each way to work every day. I used to run, but my knees are shot so I can't do that any more. In summer I swim and play tennis; that definitely helps me with fitness.
If I had time I would do pilates or yoga, but I simply don't. I used to cycle a lot but my bike broke and it was going to cost too much to get it fixed than it was worth.

I can ride for an hour, mostly all in sitting trot or canter, and not get tired or out of breath. But I think doing three sessions like that would kill me.
 
Gosh I am a lazy slug compared to you lot! I barely walk anywhere, except for taking the dogs out for 20 mins a night and I only muck out once a week
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. Prehaps a good job I dont compete lol.

Must get back into Pilates I felt so much suppler [sp] after doing a 5 week course, I would recommend that to anyone who was thinking of trying it. I used muscles I never thought I had and really concentrated on my core strength. Tempi your dynaboard sounds interesting ... might have a google.

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Thank You!

When i turned up for my first lorry lesson (looking quite smart as i went straight from work) i think the guy thought i was potty! Especially as im doing the Cat C one - the lorry was massive
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I am lucky in that my work pays half for the gym and its only just down the road. As I go to the yard before and after work the only time I have it lunch time so I go 4/5 times week, mix of spinning, running and body pump classes. I did get moaned at for doing too much running by my instructor as it tightens my hamstrings and lower back but I just make sure I do extra stretches and I'm fine. I do find I ride better if I'm fit.
 
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Thank You!

When i turned up for my first lorry lesson (looking quite smart as i went straight from work) i think the guy thought i was potty! Especially as im doing the Cat C one - the lorry was massive
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I did the Cat C too - makes driving a 7.5 tonne one a doddle afterwards! The company I leart with were pretty geared up actually - they even offered me a female instructor if I did not feel happy with being on my own in a cab with a male one.
 
Dynaband is really good - i got a pilates DVD with mine, think it was 19.99 for the band and the DVD. So i did the DVD once and picked up what 'movements' i thought would be beneficial to me and do them in the evenings.

I started using it for situps off my own initiative (!!) - i place the band over my heels, straighten out my legs so they are raised in front of me and upwards. Then i just wrap the band round my hands so its tight ad use my stomach to do the situps. You have to be careful to keep your shoulders relaxed tho, otherwise they can end up taking all the strain.
 
I also have to be in bed by 10pm or I can not get up in the morning!
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I exersise two horses every day, muck one out in the evening and skip the other out. Im up at 6am every morning to get them done (1 exersised) by 7am then to get to work for 8.30am.

I would consider myself quite fit, I try to run once a week with my brother and do sit ups or squats or something every other night. Will start to run a bit more in the next couple of weeks ready for the event season
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I consider myself to be pretty fit ATM. I’ve just had another running session with my trainer and I am apparently in the ‘high performance’ category in the speed and distance that I travel in a 12 minute maximum effort trial.

I run 3-4 times a week and am gradually increasing the distance as I am running the Bath Half marathon in March and being ultra competitive I want to be able to do it somewhere round the 1 hour 45 mark.

This is along with a demanding job, getting up at 6am to do horses before work and running a house. I can usually cope on about 6.5 hours sleep a night during the week, but I do have to get one decent sleep at the weekend, so either a lie in or an early night to give me my 8 hour ‘top up’.

Since I have started running, I have toned up massively, hardly any wobbly bits anymore (not that I really had that much in the first place) and have also managed to drop half a stone which is great.

After the fun run, I will still run, probably once or twice a week, and then take up swimming again - something that I have not done for a while (used to swim for county and region) as I hated it and my ultra pushy coach, to keep myself toned and at the weight I am at now ready for my wedding in June.

After June I intend to eat as much as I can and become a huge fat blob!! (Not really!)
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JB xx
 
I go to the gym about three times a week, and have occassional personal training sessions to make sure I am training correctly for my sport. I do predominantly interval cardio training - to boost general stamina and fitness levels; and then I probably spend about 40 minutes doing resistance training. My mare is a big horse to hold together and I find that I make a lot less mistakes over fast work like XC, when I am strong and fit. It is amazing how I noticed a different in my XC control when I began my gym work last summer. I now know how beneficial it is and try my best to fit the gym sessions in. Some weeks it is just impossible though - as I work in events so some weeks I work odd hours and keeping my mare happy and fit (she is on DIY) is obviuosly the priority
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!
 
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Apparently I am now average fitness. Was below poor last august
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Going to the gym helps, but ive actually put on weight, although im much fitter. Ive now started to do a fitness dvd a couple of times a week too to help with buring fat and more cardio.
Plus mucking out and riding, but tbh i just cant seem to shift the weight without starving myself, and im not about to start doing that.

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BB, muscle weight more than fat, so don't get hung up on what you weight - maybe try measuring yourself instead if you want to see the difference (waist, bum, thighs etc)

I think that you are superfit if you ride as much as most of you seem to, even more so if you do yard work. I took my brown belt in kickboxing last summer and was extremely fit at that point - but I only rode once a week then, and used to get very sore indeed after an hour of dressage! Sitting trot on a big-moving horse can be like doing an ab-crunch with every step!
 
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