I, like most women, tend to carry a little extra weight in my butt and thighs… but I also long for sculpted arms and a smooth, lean belly!
Since getting to the gym is the hard part about working out, why not workout where you hang out most – the barn? Try these simple exercises next time you hit the barn to ride, clean, or feed, and get ready to kick your performance into high gear!
We at Equus Athletics call this the “Shed Row Lunge”!
With your barn buddies cheering you on from the side lines, any isle way becomes a great, fun place for walking lunges.
1)With hands on hips or behind ears, concentrate on keeping your front knee over your heel; balance your weight in your heel. Your forward leg should be forming a 90-degree angle.
2)Push off in a controlled fashion and take a step forward with the leg behind you, perform the lunge on your opposite leg, as you walk forward.
3)Continue walking forward and lowering into a lunge on each step until you’ve reached the end of the isle/as long as space will allow.
4)Turn, and perform the walking lunge back. Try to get in 10-20 lunges on each leg, rest, repeat 2-3 times.
Doing lunges is going to tone your glutes (your bum), your quads (front of thigh) and hamstrings (back of thigh), giving you sexy, strong legs, which will help you perfect your riding position and seat.
Walking lunges also engage smaller muscles as you try to stabilize yourself, often working your calves, abs, and back as well. According to HealthStatus.com, a 150-lb person can burn up to approximately 51 calories with 10 minutes of lunges.
This we like to call the “Hay Bale Incline Push-Up” … modified to become the “Hay Bale Ab Touch”
Ok, so here our equestrian fit model, Jennifer, is using a dense bag of shavings to accomplish the next two moves, not a hay bale! You can use a sturdy bale of hay, shavings, tack trunk, or other similar sized, safe item if you want.
1)Lower your body down into the push-up position, keeping your arms in line with your shoulders as best as you can. Make sure that the object you are using is STURDY!
2)Lower your body down, bringing your chin as close to the bale as possible, and attempt to keep your elbows from flaring out to the sides as best you can. This will become easier as you gain strength.
3)Try to do between 5-20 push-ups, as your fitness level allows, if 2-3 sets.
Doing these push-ups will help you work your triceps,pectorals, and deltoids, preventing that flab under your arms from flapping while you ride, and making everything seem just a little more “perky”, if ya catch my drift
After you have completed your push-ups, stay in the position pictured above.
1)To engage your abs (or core) which will help your balance, seat, and control in the saddle, start by bending your right knee and bringing your leg forward.
2)As you bring your right leg forward, touch the toe of your right foot to the middle (or as close to as possible) of the hay bale, below your right hand. It should look as if your right knee it almost touching your right elbow as it comes forward.
3)Hold for two seconds, return your right leg to the ground in starting position, and complete the exercise with your left leg.
These toe-taps engage your abs, and the farther you reach, the harder they are. Having a lower “hay bale” will make them harder, and engage your abs more. Try to do between 10-20 toe-taps on each leg as your fitness level allows, in 2-3 sets.
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