How do you riders get event fit?

About 15 years ago I went for a lesson with an event rider who was on all the senior teams for a while & asked him about fitness. He basically said that the only fitness he (and most of his team mates) did was ride lots of horses. And most of them smoked heavily. And eventing was long format back then. They all underwent fitness testing on various types of cardio equipment & most of them categorically failed!
I know that this has changed a lot now and riders of all levels are encouraged to do some form of fitness work, but it goes to show that off-horse fitness does not necessarily convert to on-horse fitness! As long as you have good core stability, aren't hindering the horse & aren't worrying about your breathing XC, I personally think you're probably doing ok.
 
I agree with Twiglet and also Ali16 above. No amount of cardio work will get you riding fit - simply because it is totally different.

For example - I work with 2 young national hunt jockeys. One is an experienced young jockey who has ridden plenty of winners and is well known for being a tough, strong rider who can keep pushing one for miles. He does not do any exercise other than riding and racing, save for a few miles running a couple of times a week - he would be the first to admit he is not a great runner.

The other jockey is a less experienced and struggles to keep pushing beyond a certain point. However he is a super keen runner that is one of the best in his age group in the county and is training for a sub 3 hr marathon at the moment. He is undoubtedly fitter in cardiovascular terms... but the first lad is much more riding fit - simply because he does more riding!
 
Twiglet said:
Does anyone else find that general fitness doesn't necessarily translate to riding fitness though? I maintain a pretty decent level of overall fitness all year (nothing spectacular but can run 10km and swim 3km without too much pain) and do a lot of pilates, spinning and weights classes, but unless I'm riding very frequently, my riding fitness is next to nothing.
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I definitely find this! There was a point I was running 2-3 miles every day & literally noted no improvement when it came to riding!
Obviously the best fitness is to ride a lot of horses but I can't do this so have definitely found that pilates and strengthening the key muscles used in riding does help, maybe not from getting you out of breath but certainly when stopping those legs burn quite so much!
 
Agree with the posters above that really you need a combination of both. I'm in my event planning now and have joined a running club, am dieting and visiting a sports physio to ensure I'm in the best shape I can be so I don't hinder the horse but I can only ride one horse regularly (and not every day as my work hours just don't allow for it) so just wanted to do a bit more. I'm of the opinion that I'd rather do too much than not enough.
 
The catch is most amateurs can't ride enough to get fit only by riding. In lieu of that option it makes sense to do some cv and sport specific work. Gb's suggestion of doing fitness work with super short stirrups is a very good suggestion, too.
 
TarrSteps said:
The catch is most amateurs can't ride enough to get fit only by riding. In lieu of that option it makes sense to do some cv and sport specific work. Gb's suggestion of doing fitness work with super short stirrups is a very good suggestion, too.
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Absolutely right. As you've probably noticed I'm a bit of a fitness freak... That's my compensation for not riding as much as I'd like to. My (personal) trainer and i have looked carefully at what muscles you use and how you use them when riding xc. Lots and lots of body weight work combined with pure strength and some cardio are what's working best for me. It will be different for everyone, but we've analysed how I ride and consequently been quite scientific in our approach! (Very interesting & a lot of fun too!)
 
I agree with the point about fitness not translating to riding fitness. At the peak of my marathon running I was running over 70 miles a week, my race times were pretty reasonable & I was incredibly fit. However my riding was no stronger or better than now... In fact it was probably worse because all the running training took time from my riding traing.

Many, many moons ago I went on a course at the Yorkshire Riding Centre. I was told I needed to improve my riding strength & so I was given a bike, with no gears & no seat! When I wasn't on my horse I was expected to ride this bike everywhere...not allowed to walk anywhere. I swear I've never felt pain in my thighs like it....but it worked!!!
 
As a note, I've taught many people over the years who have done riding as their "second" sport. I have to say running, gymnastics and skating all seem to cause specific "problems" for riders in terms of posture and how the body develops, although the fitness advantages are still there. The most interesting one though was a girl who was a martial arts champion - she literally got on the horse, did everything she was told without much trouble, and was riding at a pretty high level within weeks. Mark Rashid has become very interested in the connection between martial arts and riding with particular regards to the mental aspects but I suspect there are parallels on the physical side as well. Just a thought if anyone is thinking of branching out.
 
Interesting thread! I used to do kung fu and cycle everywhere...now, I cycle sometimes, and do pilates on occasion, but mainly I sing and do baroque dance. I find the singing and the riding complement each other really well. They seem to require a lot of the same breathing and core engagement (I'm obviously not talking about whining into a microphone here). I am aware that I need to be much fitter, though, for the upcoming season; though endurance clearly has somewhat different requirements than eventing.

TarrSteps, what problems does skating cause??
 
Women's figure skating, specifically. In the same way as gymnastics, it encourages a hyperextended lower back and a pointed toe, plus a toe out stance. Ballet goes into that group as well.

Don't get me wrong, being athletic helps riding but I'd say another common denominator with the activities I've mentioned is kids tend to start very young and have their patterns set subconsciously, which can have ramifications even for people who start riding after they no longer participate in the other activity.

Interestingly, there is definitely a music-riding link. The most obvious connection is through rhythm but I'm sure early attention to posture comes into it to. I think there is probably an advantage in feel, too, perhaps through the ability to 'think with the hand'. Musician's RSIs can play havoc with their riding though.

The microphone comment made me laugh. :D
 
FWIW, when I was very fit a few years ago, and doing lots of upper body work, I found it detrimental to my riding. The increased strength in my arms and shoulders led to me 'holding' much more firmly (unintentionally), and creating resistance in the rein contact.

And yet when training for long distance swimming, the improvement in my breathing and core seemed to help my riding strength.

Haven't tried martial arts....maybe that's where I'm going wrong?!
 
How on earth do you all fit all this extra training in?!?!?!?!

Maybe I am just lazy and negative but Monday-Friday I leave home at 7:30am to go to work, get back at 6:40pm leave again at 6:45pm to go to the yard. Groom, ride/lunge/whatever/feed and generally get home at 9:30 then I put dinner on (toaster ;) ) sit down at 10pm to eat and go to bed at about 11pm then up again at 6:30 to shower/bath/get ready to leave home at 7:30 for work.........
 
During my riding career I've always taken part in other sports, playing at regional level, making country tryouts and playing for my university in basketball, also rowing, swimming, ice hockey and doing the relevant cross-training/circuits that went along with.

I've never been more proper riding fit than right now, when I'm no longer doing any of them! I go to the gym for a half hour once or twice a week for circuits, and I jog too and from the field when catching /turning out, but otherwise it is just riding. And right now I only ride one horse, compared to this past when I could be riding 6/7 a day!

I find I get fitter for XC by going XC - I start by doing my canter work in short stirrups, and regularly schooling XC, and a Few hunter paces before getting out eventing.

Admittedly, we only do low level (I've never done higher than 100) and both me and my last few horses have had high base levels of fitness, but I actually feel I'm riding better now than I was with muscles developed wrongly (particularly swimming and ice hockey but even bball to an extent trains you wrong for riding!)
 
TarrSteps said:
Women's figure skating, specifically. In the same way as gymnastics, it encourages a hyperextended lower back and a pointed toe, plus a toe out stance. Ballet goes into that group as well.
[...]
Musician's RSIs can play havoc with their riding though.
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Interesting about the back, and the thing with the turnout makes sense. Baroque dance is much more grounded, and the turnout is far less extreme; I have been struggling with my toes creeping out when riding, though, which I never did as a child (I started dancing as an adult). My back has also been very tense lately (which one can see in the Ballerina Mare pics; I'm tipping forward a bit and a bit braced, which also wasn't the case before), but I attribute that more to defensive riding. Hmm. Something to think about! Though it's a fair assumption that the courtly French authors of the seventeenth and eighteenth-century equestrian treatises were pretty highly trained in dance.

Thankfully, my only RSI is recurrent bilateral tendonitis, which appears to be in abeyance for a few years now. That was at its worst in my teens and early twenties, when I was playing more piano, and then practicing organ very heavily.

If a long ride makes me tired and walk like a cowboy for 2 days, how on earth do people in their 70s and even 80s cope?
 
I started interval training tonight & it made me realised how much fitness I have lost !!
I used to ride eventers & canter 3 in a row that ran advanced so we did a decent bit of canter work
Tonight I got cramp within my 2nd lap & wasnt happy !

Think I might have to volunteer to ride out some of the pointers

I run in the summer but in the winter I dont have the inspriation! I have been contemplating swimming though
 
I think that although general fitness doesn't seem to necessarily equate to riding fitness directly, it definitely helps. I am a bit fitter than I was (although it's difficult with the dark/rain/mud to get out as much), having taken up running over the summer (and believe me I am not a runner!) and completed a half marathon in October. Now I run for 5km ish 2 or 3 times a week as well as riding 1 or 2 horses a day and trekking to the field etc. I would like to do more exercise, but I agree, it is hard to fit in around work (or studying in my case). I think it has definitely helped in having more patience with the horse and therefore improving discipline in training. I am not sure about XC as I haven't really done much (hoping to event a little bit this year though!), but I find that even in SJ (up to Newcomers on my youngster, so nothing major), I feel like I have been holding my breath for the entire round, and by the end feel ridiculously shattered, but I think this is more concentration/nerves/competitive angst than anything else!
 
Interesting to hear so many people mention Pilates... I've just bought a DVD as I want to improve my riding - not necessarily fitness although that would be great - what benefits have people seen from it and how much did you do?
 
Pilates will help strength but not cardio fitness so much. You need to be doing cardio and specific strength work. On it's own Pilates won't be much good.
 
[deleted user] said:
Pilates will help strength but not cardio fitness so much. You need to be doing cardio and specific strength work. On it's own Pilates won't be much good.
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Will it not help core strength and balance though? That's what I'm hoping, I cycle and do spin in terms of cardio but want to improve my position, seat, legs etc...?
 
eleanor79 said:
Interesting to hear so many people mention Pilates... I've just bought a DVD as I want to improve my riding - not necessarily fitness although that would be great - what benefits have people seen from it and how much did you do?
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I've done pilates for about 13 years now (so old!). It isn't a cardio fitness solution but it is a brilliant way of improving core strength, flexibility, back 'health' and an awareness of one's body. I would suggest trying to get some lessons in with a good instructor initially - some of the finer points are hard to grasp from a dvd I think, and it helps to get feedback to see if you're doing it right. I find it a bit similar to riding in that sense....it's all about lots of little adjustments.
In terms of benefits - I find it obviously increases my core strength, flattens my tummy, makes me more aware of my breathing, and leaves my back better able to cope with the demands of riding. It also enables me to feel more in tune with my body, be aware of where my strengths and weaknesses are, and how to correct them.
A good example is the classic 'hunching' - like many people I spend hours at a desk every day, then expect my shoulders to magically not be effected by the classic rounding. Pilates helps me strengthen the muscles that enable the broadening of my collarbone, the awareness to keep my shoulders 'back and down' and recognise when they're creeping up towards my ears.
 
Twiglet said:
I've done pilates for about 13 years now (so old!). It isn't a cardio fitness solution but it is a brilliant way of improving core strength, flexibility, back 'health' and an awareness of one's body. I would suggest trying to get some lessons in with a good instructor initially - some of the finer points are hard to grasp from a dvd I think, and it helps to get feedback to see if you're doing it right. I find it a bit similar to riding in that sense....it's all about lots of little adjustments.
In terms of benefits - I find it obviously increases my core strength, flattens my tummy, makes me more aware of my breathing, and leaves my back better able to cope with the demands of riding. It also enables me to feel more in tune with my body, be aware of where my strengths and weaknesses are, and how to correct them.
A good example is the classic 'hunching' - like many people I spend hours at a desk every day, then expect my shoulders to magically not be effected by the classic rounding. Pilates helps me strengthen the muscles that enable the broadening of my collarbone, the awareness to keep my shoulders 'back and down' and recognise when they're creeping up towards my ears.
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That's really helpful, thank you. I have had a couple of sessions in the past so have an idea of the basics/breathing and would love to go regularly but can't fit it in!
 
I agree with Ali (I think?) that people have different natural levels of fitness, and that different people find it easier or harder to maintain a level of fitness.

Pre-baby and during pregnancy, I cycled about 50 miles a week and rode four or five times a week. Then I stopped for about a month, had a baby and did my first event eight weeks post-baby. And did I think I'd bitten off more than I could chew. After about three XC warm up fences, I was quivering and struggling to breathe; I've never felt that way before! Perhaps that has something to do with Gamebird's point about adrenalin; I was nervous about my first post-baby event.

So I went from being a struggling wreck in April, to finding it easy (fitness-wise!) in Oct. The only fitness I did was to ride my horse each day and I actually noticed how my fitness improved hugely as the season went on. I think this was probably because I was fit to start with, pre-baby, so I found it easier to jump back to my old level of fitness. In an ideal world, I'd have done some running or cycling, but I never quite got to it!
 
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