34/ MAY 2020 THE RIDER Rider Fitness:


Home Workout for Small Spaces - and Mental Health


By Heather Sansom We are in strange times these days for sure.


This month’s tip is about how to make sure that your off horse workout helps you stay physically and mentally resilient and ready. The exercise sug- gestions cover a full body workout in an efficient 20 minutes or so. In Ontario, the Province in Canada where I


live, riding stables are shut down along with all other recreation and sport facilities, except for workers essential to the care of the animals. With social distancing, more riders than ever find them- selves with time to ride, while not being able to. It’s a perfect time to work on your unmounted body training from home. Workouts from home with very little equipment have always been a spe- cialty of mine. Over the 13 years of working with riders on their fitness and biomechanics, most of my clients have wanted workouts that were adapted to home with very little equipment. So, don’t despair: there is a lot you can be doing to keep your body ready to ride, and stay focused on your health and wellbeing in these strange and ex- treme times. This month’s exercise routine is de- signed to use little equipment, or substitutes that you can easily find at home. This month’s tip is a short and sweet 20-30


minute workout routine that builds strength and balance in key areas for riders. You can supplement it with other workouts you find on the internet for variety. You can also tweak the workout to in- crease the cardio-vascular component but amping up your rhythm, adding cardio ‘breaks’ (3-5 minute bursts of more intense activity such as skipping, jogging, dance, jumping jacks, air-boxing). You can dial down the intensity of your exercise routine (for example to accommodate an injury, fibro- myalgia, or mild cold) by slowing down the exer- cises, and taking dynamic stretch breaks between exercise sets. The way that working out helps you in your


life is often very personal. Some people need an intense workout that releases tension in the body and mind. These folks get frustrated with trying to ‘zen’ through yoga or meditation, or anything that doesn’t break a sweat. They are often self-de- scribed ‘A-type personality’ or ‘ADHD’. Others need workout time to be about patient caring for body, mind, and soul. For these folks, the intense workout is soul/mind punishment- another task to will-power through. Pay attention to what brings you the most peace and feeling of satisfaction, and go with that. Remember that extreme conditions such as the current pandemic can impact us in ways we do not expect. What you need most may surprise you. It may be out of character. It may even change from day to day. There is no one-size-fits-all, and not even


‘one-solution-works-all-the-time’ for the same per- son. Use your off-horse workout time to tune in to your mental state and inner needs, regulate stress and bring you into the present in a way that grounds you. If you can, engage household mem- bers or use technology to virtually share your train- ing time. You know whether you need alone time, or more connection. You might just be the encour- agement someone you know needs right now. Acts in support of health and wellbeing are important ways to build resilience for yourself and others. Acts supporting wellbeing are an important act of solidarity and resistance at this time.


Cardio: As a rider, really anything that gets your heart rate pumping and uses both sides of your body is a great cardio option. You don’t even need to worry about consistency, because you are not training in the cardio modality. You’re using it as a cardio component for your riding conditioning. That means that you can have fun and take the boredom out of cardio training by trying a different workout that you find online, each time. If you don’t have a piece of cardio equipment in your home, there is no stopping you from getting a heart-pumping workout. Unless you can power walk or run in spaces where you are extremely un- likely to come within 20 feet of other humans, breathing heavily while exercising in public spaces


is not a good idea right now. However, you CAN zoom or skype with a friend or family member and work out together virtually. You can even screen share to stream the same cardio video you found. Working out under a pandemic lock down does not need to be a solo, lonely, or boring activity. When it comes to strength and core training,


it’s also fun to try new exercises and different workouts. While you do want to be efficient and get a good workout, one element of being shut in is the danger of boredom. Boredom opens doors for grumpy moods, anxiety, and other unproduc- tive energy. Shaking things up with new exercises or workout routines that are unfamiliar, shakes up the boredom. As a rider, shaking up your physical routines is really helpful because it restore ‘physi- cal vocabulary’ and improves the body awareness that is so important for good riding in any disci- pline. Plus, you might find an opportunity to laugh at yourself (or the fitness program), and laughter boosts those positive neurotransmitters. To add to your options, this is a little routine


for a whole-body workout that I have often used (with clients or myself) when pressed for time, or travelling. If you don’t already have a fitness ball or exercise stretch band, they are two of the most versatile pieces of fitness equipment a rider can have. If you can get them delivered online, great. If you can’t, there are workarounds.


Warmup: Turn on favourite workout music beat, and flow through a series of stretching motions counting a rhythm as you flow in (6 beats) and out, repeating each movement six times. This routine is similar to the one in my Handy Stretching Guide for Riders:


1. Side to side adductor (inner thigh) stretch,


legs wide. As you bend one knee and lean to stretch the opposite leg, you can add reaching an arm overhead and out to the side for additional benefit to your waist area muscles


2. Toe touch circles: Still holding your legs in


Side to side reach: stretch those obliques (ribs and waist) bending and reaching over your


a wide stance (wide enough to stretch your inner thigh), stretch one or both arms up overhead, draw a huge circle in the air from the top of your stretch, around and down to your toes. Make a big circle in air by leaning, bending, folding as you sweep your arms and body around into a toe touch on one side, across the floor to the other foot, and then around and up to the starting position. Breathe in at the top, and out as you flow through the toe touches. Do 4-6 in each direction. Go slowly enough to feel different areas stretch as you flow through the movement. 3.


head and out to the side, alternating side to side. Do 4-6 in each direction.


4. Swan dives with arms out, torso tipping at


the waist (bend your body but not your back it- self—as if diving forward to the ground with your chest), feet shoulder width apart until you feel a stretch in the back of your legs, pause, then round your back and roll your spine up to a standing po- sition again. Repeat 6 times.


5. Side to side twists. Repeat for 6 times in both directions.


a forward or overhead raise, or tricep kickbacks. Combining motions really takes co-ordination and concentration. If you have high blood pressure do not raise your arms above your head. Your arms and shoulders will be likely to tire out before your legs do if you perform the upper-body exercise for both sides of the rep (e.g.: step back with left leg, then return to legs beside each other, then step back with right leg, doing two overhead presses, one while your left leg went back, and one while the right leg went back). When the arms tire out, just keep doing the exercise with your legs until they are tired too. You can make the exercise more difficult by using stepping forward or ‘walking’ lunges instead of stepping back lunges. You can modify it by have more or less weight (or just the weight of your arms), or by holding a single weighted object with both hands. You can also substitute for upper body exercises which involve holding an exercise tube in one hand while pulling


Photos Above: Side bend and side to side lunge for stretching inner thigh. Photos originally used in


Killer Core Workout (www.equifitt.com/ebooks4riders/)


Core Exercise 1: I like to use ball crunches for 30-60 reps. You can substitute crunches with your lower back supported on a cushion on the floor. You can also substitute standing crunches: legs wide, bring one knee up with a body twist and crunch motion in your waist, as if you are trying to connect your knee with the opposite arm-pit. Twenty pairs is a good goal.


Total Body Exercise 1: Repeat ‘wall sits’ (slide down wall to a sitting position with legs at 45 de- grees or wider bend at the knee, hold five seconds, slide up the wall, repeat 30 times. While doing it, perform lateral arm raises holding weights. Ideally, you would do this exercise with an exercise ball between your back and the wall, and freeweights in your hands. Without those two pieces of equip- ment, you can substitute a rolled up towel placed vertically in the wall to soften it for your spine and allow you to slide up and down without marring your wall, or just get into the seated position and hold the position for 30-60 seconds while doing the lateral raises. For the weights, you can substi- tute anything (such as a heavy boot in each hand). Just repeat enough to exhaust both the shoulders and the legs. Your legs have had enough when they start shaking. Your deltoids in your shoulders have had enough when you catch yourself swinging into the motion, which is a sign that your body is start- ing to cheat. Wall sit with lateral raise Youtube Video.


Core Exercise 2: Pick something specifically for your sides or back such as a side plank, back ex- tensions, or Bird Dog exercise. Repeat until tired.


Photo Below: Back extension on wall with feet propped against wall. You can also do them with feet hooked under a piece of furniture, or modified to lying over a cushion on the floor.


Total Body Exercise 2: Lunges while performing with the other.


Photos Above: Equifitt client doing walking lunges with overhead press. With each step, the weights go up. As she brings her legs back together to end the step, the weights come down. If doing forward raises in- stead, the weights go up and for- ward with each step, and hang back down at your sides when your feet are together again. If confined to a small space, you can step (back or forward) on the spot.


Make it as complicated or


simple as you want, but make sure that you maintain balance and coor- dination. If you start launching or swinging yourself into or out of an


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