The Rotten Tomatoes review came in at 95% and IMBd gave them a 9/10!
Ok, not really. BUT – these videos are great for this quarantine with no gym access. Some of us may have the tools we need at home to workout, but for those who don’t have equipment? These videos are here to help you either continue a strength training program OR to start fresh with strength training. No equipment needed.
I know you may be drowning in a sea of Instagram workout videos giving you “tips and tricks” to improve your fitness using body weight exercises. Some of those workout videos can be helpful, but VERY few of them specifically target equestrians. Equestrians are a special group! So I think you need things that are tailored specifically to what you do.
I want to show you five body-weight exercises that will:
- Increase your mind-muscle coordination (hang in there – we’ll get to definitions)
- Create dense muscles (more on this in another blog)
- (And most importantly) Increase your strength for riding
Ok – so let’s start with those definitions. BORING – I know. But it will get us on the same page, so hang in there with me!
DEFINITIONS (please don’t fall asleep yet – good things are on the horizon)
Muscle recruitment
This is all about how many muscles you use to perform a movement. When you go through the process of muscle recruitment your mind is getting better at recruiting more muscles to perform a task. It makes the movement more efficient so it’s easier to do.
Mind-Muscle Connection:
This is essentially how well can you talk to your muscles and tell them what to do. Performing a movement or an exercise over and over creates the opportunity for you to become aware of which muscles you’re using. Once you’re aware of the muscles you’re using – it’s easier to talk to them and tell them how to work. You can even start to self-correct your technique or form. Why? Because you know what it “feels” like to have good form! Studies show that learning to create the Mind-Muscle connection for one task can even transfer over to other tasks that you’re trying to learn. Score! And once you have a really high level of Mind-Muscle Connection? You start to engrain things in your memory. That means you can complete tasks without even having to think about it. Double score!
Muscle Contractions
There are three forms of muscle contractions (eccentric, isometric and concentric). But don’t worry! We’ll just cover one of those today.
Eccentric muscle contraction happens when a muscle is being lengthened and put under tension. For example: During a squat, the eccentric part of the movement is when you are lowering yourself into a sitting position and your glutes, hamstrings and quads are being lengthened.
The longer it takes you to sit into a squat (meaning the slooooooower you lower yourself) the more of a strength exercise it becomes. If you take seven seconds to sit into a squat vs. dropping it like it’s hot in two seconds – you’ll see much better results from a strength perspective.
The muscle contractions that happen during a squat are the main muscle contractions that help you when you ride. The stronger your glutes, hamstrings and quads are – the better you’ll be at absorbing forces. You’ll remain strong when landing from jumps and you’ll stay in proper position during gallops.
Tempo
When I prescribe exercises for my riders I always give them the speed (or tempo) they should use when performing the exercise. To stick with the squat example – if I gave you tempo of 4 seconds for the eccentric part of the exercise – you would spend 4 seconds lowering yourself into the sitting position of the squat.
Ok good – we’re done with definitions. Still with me?
The five videos below are exercises that will help us with strength AND the fancy definitions you just learned.
Alright so how many times do you perform all these exercises? And how many seconds should you spend on the eccentric phase? Answer: Start at Phase 1 below. Once you’ve done the exercises at Phase 1 for three to four weeks you can move onto Phase 2. Disclaimer: If you’re not very consistent during those three to four weeks, you may need to stay at a Phase longer than 3 to 4 weeks to make sure you’re ready for the next Phase.
Phase 1
- Perform a 4-6 second eccentric phase on each exercise
- Complete the exercise a for total of 2-3 rounds or “sets” (as we say in the strength and conditioning world)
- For each set – complete the exercise 6-8 times (or for 6-8 “reps”)
- Rest for 1 minute in between each set
Phase 2
- Perform the very first rep for a 30 second eccentric phase, then perform the next 7-10 reps with a 2 second eccentric phase. That super long rep? It’s called a “Pre-Exhaustion Rep” and it will make each exercise harder on you.
- Complete the exercise for a total of 3-4 sets
- For each set – complete 8-10 reps
- Rest for 1 minute in between each set
Phase 3
- Perform your first rep for a 30 second eccentric phase, complete 7-9 reps with the 2 second eccentric phase THEN on the final rep – perform another 30 second eccentric rep. YIKES THAT IS TOUGH. That’s a Pre AND a Post-Exhaustion Rep.
- Complete the exercise for a total of 3-4 sets
- Rest for 1 minute in between each set
Performing this Eccentric work will not only increase your strength to absorb forces during riding. It’ll also build dense muscles (again – more to come on this topic), improve your athletic abilities AND increase your capacity to learn new skills faster. Triple, quadruple, crazy big wins!
Along with a dense muscle blog – stay tuned because I’ll also be covering the other two muscle contractions we skipped today and how they can improve your riding.
I know a covered A LOT today. If you found anything to be confusing, please feel free to look me up on Instagram (@coachsandotraining) and DM any questions you have. You can also email me at [email protected]. Now let’s get after it!
