Fitness for Riding

I have decided to keep fitness notes with this blog post instead of posting daily to avoid confusion:
Summary as of 1/28/2014: Janice Dulak's new pilates dvd is perfect for me right now plus taking the time to do other stretching, strength building etc for overall fitness. This frees me up to shift my focus to other things once I get to Rollover and Try/Devon.

Some Initial Thoughts

Strengths: legs, grounded from hips to floor, body awareness and knowledge, background as an athlete

Weaknesses: abs, opening chest, shoulder girdle—flexibility

Known memorized old routines and exercise resources:

·        Pilates dvds 2-3, side lying series I currently do and book

·        yoga notes, books, dvds

·        physical therapy exercises—see notes

·        Cheryl’s abs and Katie’s upper body weights—these I do now

·        Jazz dance isolations for neck and shoulders—also ingrained

·        Stretches—lie on the floor and do whatever feels like it needs attention

·        Relaxation various methods and book for body parts

·        Study: Eric Franklin, Also Sally Swift Centered Riding

Assessments:

·        For Strength: lower body strength always, quads tho are too tight and need to be stretched, hamstrings are weak, knee stabilization for bends and ability to hold a plié without rolling isn’t there anymore and likely relates to knees rolling in when I do no stirrups posting trot

·        Flexibility: hamstrings more than ideal—quads tight, biceps/triceps are so-so—I can find them and use when I think about it. External hip rotation is fairly open, twists and sideways—much less flexibility

·        Aerobic capacity: needs work and I prefer to do so in posting trot and occasional short distance run/jog/walk—preferably with Try at the farm. True running is not a good idea.

·        Relaxation, breathing and meditation: always does wonders

·        Old injuries: Achilles tendonitis, torn ligaments and broken bone in feet, hamstrings pulled numerous times, lower back, groin, one elbow from fall, both shoulders, one wrist from a fall.

Priorities:

·        upper body flexibility in case of falling from a horse

·        abdominals for stability riding.

Consider being “tight” Just do it

Positive self talk: I have always been able to make physical changes in my body easily. My body responds quickly and well to exercise and conditioning. Be aware and get rid of negative self-talk.

Where and when issues:

·        I am not willing to commit to a gym membership and take time away from horsemanship. I truly want to take the knowledge I have and make it happen at home.

·        Time allotted: The best timing now before warm/hot weather is 8:00 in the morning.

·        Duration: Between 20-40 minutes and I am undecided on this.

·        I hate the physical therapy exercises—awkward, don’t feel good, etc.—just do em and track how it feels

·        Plan, picture, feel???

·        I could use more abs ideas than pilates and situp stuff.

Thursday, January 23 – 20 minutes

·        PT exer: quad stretch, ball/wall stretch for knee stability, rollups, lunges

·        Cheryl’s abs

·        My moment to new moment whatever my body felt like it needed

·        Relax, diaphragmatic breathing

·        Isolations and stretches especially shoulder area flexibility

Friday, January 24, 2014

·        New pilates dvd has arrived. 57 minutes—did the tape for the first time  Adv. Good corrections—looks like it can put a lot of body parts together as one piece  Disadv. Some terminology confusing, images not as helpful as could be possible.

Saturday, January 25

Today is a perfect day to exercise--another cold day. Issue repeat the new pilates dvd or cross train with something different. I spent a lovely 1/2 hour or so with basic abs, lots of easy stretching, tension release, breathing and some knee stabilitiy and upper body strength exercises. I sat at my desk and thought what does my body need today.

Sunday, January 26

Today I am undecided--looks like I can get a ride in weather-wise from 1-3. Also if I want to get as much out of the pilates dvd as possible that I should do that as well. Monday is going to be a zoo with chest x-ray, bone density and mammogram test and riding sandwiched in between.
Did the dvd: I learned--good news--the abs trio I can really do with the dvd and fully understand. The upper body three i.e. triceps, open chest and scapula muscles (back of arm pit moving down)--is much the same as ballet BUT I have lost more of this than the abs--some osteoporous and rounded shoulders and sunken chest--was better with the dvd today and I do understand. Third part: seat muscles, adductors and hip extenders--I am still working to understand this. 1. Double check that my understanding of seat muscles is correct, 2. Interesting that adductors are not just pressing to each other but in combination with lower abs/lifting pelvis and seat muscles are rotating outward. This is interesting as its used in a parallel position rather than turned out legs as in ballet. Hip extension is long thigh and the angle is how close the thigh is to the upper body. Hmmm.
Riding today: I started with the 9 muscle groups really there without thinking aout it and thought about it periodically as well. By the end I was tired and losing it--thought about the process as we went for a passenger walk.

Monday, January 27
Today I am tired and sore with waaaaaaaaay too much to do. I will not do the pilates dvd and hope to have some casual riding time midday with Try. Back to dvd tomorrow.