12/ MAY 2023 THE RIDER Rider Fitness: Shoulder Challenge


By Heather Sansom This month’s exercise tip


focuses on strengthening your shoulders- the right way. Many riders develop shoulder tension as the body tries to support you, without enough strength in the right areas. Shoulders that are strong in the correct ways protect you against strain injury working around horses, and help you use your shoulders and body-weight effectively in the saddle without resorting to heavy, hard, or stiff hands. With strong shoulders, your neck can stay relaxed, and your hands stay soft. I’ve lost count of the riders


I’ve worked with who had tension in their trapezius muscle or neck area. One of the reasons riders can become so tight in that area is a paradox: it’s not from riding re- quiring it, nor is it from being strong. It is from having insuffi- cient shoulder strength in other muscles. Also, we live in a culture where shoulder tension accumu- lates through the week through ac- tivities such as working on a computer or driving a car. The


body starts sending firing signals to that area, and before we know it there is a super-highway of neuro- muscular connection that triggers whenever your brain signals a need for strength in your upper body. You can train your body to have an ‘off switch’ to this response by stretch- ing the area frequently, and teaching your body to relax more and more quickly after you start stretching. However, without building up the missing strength in other shoulder area muscles, those big trapezius muscles will remain the primary ‘go to’ for tightening signals. The fol- lowing illustration shows the trapez- ius muscle from the front view, in a rider who is tense in that area and scrunching up her shoulders. The deltoid muscles on the shoulder it- self are the ones we want to target for strengthening instead.


Shoulder Muscles An exercise I use frequently


Neck and


to target the deltoids is a simple lat- eral raise. The easiest way to start out is to do them standing in a spine neutral position: legs shoulder-width apart, pelvis tucked, core engaged, and a feeling of pushing your shoul- der blades down your back as you lift the weights. When you do the exercise this way, you will not be able to lift as much weight. Practice one arm at a time so that you can use your free hand to check tension in your trapezius. This is easy to do by placing the fingers of your free hand on the trapezius muscle. Try the ex- ercise with no weights first, so that


© Heather Sansom Asymmetrical Lateral Raise Seated on Ball


you can easily raise your arm to shoulder height without defaulting to tightening up that trapezius. It should remain relaxed and rubbery- feeling if prodded by your fingers. When you are sure that you can lift your arm while keeping your shoul- ders themselves ‘down’ without tension in your neck or trapezius, you are ready to add weight. You may need to practice one arm at a time. The right weight load will make it possible for you to repeat the exercise approximately 15-20 times without tension developing in the neck/trapezius. You should ac- tually start to feel a burning sensa- tion or fatigue in the deltoid. When you are sure you can control which muscles are engaging, go ahead and add difficulty and variety to the ex- ercise by: 1.


both arms at once 2.


ance challenging object 3.


Perform the exercise with Perform it standing on a bal- Perform it with one arm at a


time while seated on a fitness ball without losing your balance (re- member to engage your core!) 4.


Perform the same exercise as #3, with one leg raised.


Simple Symmetrical Lateral Raise


The image here shows the © Heather Sansom, illustration first published in Sansom, H. Fit to


Ride in Nine Weeks (published by Trafalgar Square, available through Amazon, Horsebooks.com, or http://equifitt.com/fit2ride/ ) Weight Handover With One Leg Raised


weight being transferred from one hand to the other, overhead, so that the model can continue to perform the exercise using her other arm. She has one leg raised to further challenge her balance. This varia- tion also creates a need for consis- tent and constant engagement of her core to keep her position aligned despite the shifting position of her arms and the weight. Contact me


through


www.equifitt.com or at personal- training@equifitt.com about coach- ing by video online, or joining a video online small group ! You can get help and support anywhere with internet. Equifitt clients live and ride all over the world. Don’t let rural/remote living keep you from being and riding your best.


© Heather R. Sansom, PhD. www.equifitt.com


© Heather Sansom, illustration first published in Sansom, H. Fit to © Heather Sansom, illustration first published in Sansom, H. Fit to


Ride in Nine Weeks (published by Trafalgar Square, available through Amazon, Horsebooks.com, or http://equifitt.com/fit2ride/ )


Ride in Nine Weeks (published by Trafalgar Square, available through Amazon, Horsebooks.com, or http://equifitt.com/fit2ride/ ) Happy Riding and Training!


Leading Equestrian Fitness since 2007. Fitness, Wellbeing, Biomechanics. Available for clinics & individual- ized online coaching.


Reprinted from the April 2020 Edition of The Rider


2022 Ontario Trail Riders Association Board of Directors


President Sonja Wyss 705-434-7947 info@barefoot-saddlecanada.ca


Secretary/ Promotions/Advertisement Tina Kerst 416-907-6051 tiamiadart@gmail.coma


Area Representative Treasurer/Membership Elaine Wiesner 519-940-1710 elaine.a.wiesner@gmail.com


Directors at Large Cathy Togeretz, cathytogeretz@sympatico.ca Yvonne Taylor, yvonnet@live.ca Sandy Salazar


Directors at Large Lynn Robershaw Gord Wiesner Catherine Dziedziejko


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The Ontario Trail Riders Association Inc, established in 1970, is an equestrian organization which promotes recreational trail riding and the creation, development, preservation and safe use of trails.OTRA and its members represent the equestrian trail user with Ontario Equestrian and Equestrian Canada. We welcome your membership to help support the voice of OTRA on your behalf. Visit our Facebook Page.


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