Staying fit with a yoga ball?

Barnmouser Ash · Grand Prix

Staying fit with a yoga ball?

Barbara F · Grand Prix

Every night I pick up some weights, go into a squat position and do arm curls. It seems to strengthen everything at once.

As for that darned exercise ball, I had a trainer a few years ago and he made me get onto it on my knees and balance. It took me weeks to find my spot, but like riding a bike, once I had it - I had it. It was great for working my core, because a million muscles must have been firing at once to keep me balanced!

dbliron · Advanced

I use the exercise ball a LOT. You can ride hundreds of half halts, and hundreds of flying changes, in front of the TV while watching the news, or movies. You can do planks, jack-knifes, crunches, twists, etc. with a ball. As Barbara said, in order to not fall off the ball you use all of your core muscles, and you train your mind to manage your balance and torso control without conscious effort. Using weights concurrently with the ball work really strengthens you, and works on all those balance issues at the same time.

I also do lunges, hip flexor and piriformis stretches, and hip drops every night.

I'm finding that at my age (53), I can't ride multiple horses per day productively and without pain without the extra workouts. That sounds a little weird, but we tend to use the same muscles in the same ways over and over again in the saddle, and the ball work, with and without weights, makes me use myself and push myself in other ways. Heather Sansom, of Equifitt, helped me enormously with my pain and flexibility issues - I've fractured most everything, and some of it twice, and the extra unmounted work is really paying off in terms of productivity and pain management.

I hope this helps!

dbliron · Advanced

Hi, Ash!

I had a thought (an extra thought!) while thinking about your query. I spent 2 hours at Isabelle Aube's presentation on Equestrian Athlete Conditioning at the recent education conference in Kelowna, BC, hosted by the Horse Council of BC.

The following is Isabelle's follow-up to that presentation, and I'll add the link for the HCBC website at the end of this post. You may wish to follow up on the website, and/or with Isabelle herself. She's a super person, very enthusiastic, positive, and helpful. Here's her follow-up:

Introduction to Equestrian Athlete Training & Conditioning Series

By Isabelle Aubé, Equestrian Athletic Conditioning Expert

I would like to begin this article by congratulating Horse Council BC for a very well organized 1st Annual Equine Education Conference! As a guest speaker I must say that it was a very pleasant experience.

During my presentation I spoke about basic athletic conditioning aspects including training sequence, frequency, as well as how to work with the neurological system to increase results. Volunteers demonstrated some very beneficial postural, flexibility and strength training exercises as well.

In my daily practice I work with coaches and their students to help them resolve fitness challenges like lack of core strength which translates into not being able to maintain a proper position for long periods of time. Common fitness challenges can be worked out through ground exercises. For example, last year I was working with a 15 year old Dressage rider who was unable to properly accomplish the sitting trot due to postural issues. Within 3 one hour sessions of showing her corrective exercises and specific stretches, her coach saw a 60% improvement in her position!

With 168 hours in a week, what you do when you're not riding has a great impact on the hours that you are riding. Every movement and motor pattern that you execute throughout the day is being recorded in your brain. Knowing how to work with the body and the brain teaching it correctly is the key to seeing results.

In the next 12 articles I will cover a variety of topics relating to equestrians, for example how to improve your posture with quick and easy exercises and stretches; what is tendinitis and what can you do to rehabilitate your body and prevent it from recurring.

I welcome feedback and questions regarding athletic conditioning, injury rehabilitation and ground exercises that will help solve common problems riders are experiencing. So please feel free to submit questions and feedback via email to riderquestions@hotmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Wishing You Good Health,

Isabelle Aubé

www.isabelle-aube.com

HCBC's website can be found at: www.hcbc.ca/

NaturallyUnbridled · Well Schooled

My FAVORITE thing to do with my yoga ball is a backbend to decompress my spine after too much sitting at the computer!