# 5 ways for the equestrian athlete to stay healthy at home



## TheEquestrianAthleteCoach

Hi there

I am new to this forum, I hope what I have written is of use to you.

My name is Matt. I am equestrian athlete fitness coach from the UK. I am currently trying to raise awareness within the sporting world for the need to improve the information available to equestrian athletes.

I have put together a little article for you all. I hope this will be useful for you.

5 WAYS FOR THE EQUESTRIAN ATHLETE TO STAY HEALTHY AT HOME

With the Equestrian Athlete being very much time constrained, being able maximise their time at home is crucial. Long gone is the need to travel vast distances to a gym. With time being crucial , now has never been a better time to start treating your body right! Here are 5 of the lifestyle habits that I have found to be very effective with my Equestrian Athlete’s, helping them to achieve the best they can, and ultimately achieve their riding specific fitness goals.

1. Eating cruciferous vegetables- These contain lots of phytochemicals that help to metabolise the oestrogen that is responsible for a lot of the body fat we carry. Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, brussel sprouts and curly kale are superb at helping to reduce excess body fat. This has a massive impact on the way you carry yourself on the horse and will dramatically affect your energy levels.

2. Short bursts of activity- By exercising for too long you may be actually making yourself fatter. It’s known that more than two slow steady continuous exercise sessions of over 30 minutes per week, can lead to elevated cortisol levels. Cortisol is a fat storage hormone that is released when we get stressed. If you are serious about being really efficient with your exercise, try exercising 4 times per day for 4 minutes at a time. These sessions will keep your testosterone levels high and your metabolism revved up!!I recommend that my Equestrian Athlete’s actually drink Tulsi Tea, which comes from holy basil and is highly effective at elevating the metabolism and acts as an anti oxidant.

3. Get to bed before 10pm. By going to sleep by 10pm, you increase your body’s ability to recover and repair. By going to sleep at 12am, you have cut your physical repair time in half! Sleep is crucial to maintaining focus throughout the day and on the horse!

4. Organise your 8:30-5:30!! This might sound like a short day to most of you, but once you start planning you will find that you will get so much more done. Admittedly this is far later than all equestrians get up, but at least you have 8 hours rigorously organised. I insist that my equestrian athletes plan their days as much as possible. Now we all have things crop up, but if you have a plan, it makes things so much easier. Try to concentrate on one thing, and doing it well, then move to the next task. This will free up time to spend with the family and time for doing the things you want to.

5. Reduce sugar, caffeine, alcohol and processed foods. These are all essentially robbing the body of what’s good for it, and increasing the stress on your liver to do its already mammoth job! Nutritional stress is a big problem for many equestrian athlete’s and I find that when I look at their diet they tend to be find sleep an issue.

I would love to know what you think. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Matt









Matt Luxton
Equestrian Athlete Performance Coach


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## Gwill

thanks matt for this interesting article . 



TheEquestrianAthleteCoach said:


> 2. Short bursts of activity- By exercising for too long you may be actually making yourself fatter.http://riderfitness.co.uk/


thats so true =| if i read this article a year ago i won't believe it , but because all this year i've been exhausting my self with exercising everyday and i actually gained a pound or so ..


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## equiniphile

Thank you, that was very interesting! Admittedly, I have not heard of #2. Seems interesting to me, but I'll take your word for it.


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## Speed Racer

Oh, I have one. NEVER, EVER go through menopause. :-x

That, more than anything, has flarked up my body. Even with regular exercise and eating right, I'm still a fatty Patty. :?


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## kitten_Val

2) is very true. I also have to add the problem with too much gym is that you build lots of muscle mass (plus use lots of calories to support the body). So if for any reason you can't exercise as much you are getting bigger (fat :wink: ) pretty fast. I've seen it happening several times. With that being said no exercise is bad too.


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## thesilverspear

I think I fail at all of those.


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## MHFoundation Quarters

Good thread! Here's a question as far as the nutritional side of things. I have suffered from what was thought to be IBS for years and recently found a fabulous Dr that told me I have Celiac disease (gluten allergy). I spend on average 10 hours a day in the barn. Any suggestions on quick snacks I can eat during my working hours? I was a granola freak, but with the new diet restrictions that is out.


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## Strange

^MH, what about some nuts and dried fruit? I'm a huge fan of almonds and some dried cranberries, anything to get you some protein, in my opinion, can really help you stay feeling satisfied. You could also couple that with some raw veggies that were mentioned above and have a nice little snack! 

I agree with all of these, Matt, thank you for sharing! I don't know if I can give up my morning coffee though, lol.


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## MHFoundation Quarters

Thanks Strange  I've been eating lots of raw veggies! Nuts & dried fruit is a great idea, the rabbit food just isn't doing it for my energy levels. I haven't bought too much pre-packaged stuff because I am not fluent in reading the labels yet. Dr. even warned me about chapstick & lip glosses, lotions, makeup, toothpaste, errr it's frustrating but at the same time I am really excited to know what it's like to live with a normally functioning digestive system  

I think the horses may get a day off tomorrow so I can drive 90 miles to the nearest Whole Foods.


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## Strange

You can find some nice premixed stuff at the store, and under the ingredients list of most foods it will list the possible allergens in them, usually in bold. It may say something like "This product contains x, y, z" or "This product is processed in the same place as a, b, c and may contain traces of them."


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## MyBoyPuck

OP, do you have an advice on how to build muscle mass if you're a 40 something? I'm finding my muscles fatigue very easily to the point where I can't get any real muscle building accomplished. It's definitely much harder to do as I get older.


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## Ray MacDonald

Great post! It's like basic things but gone into more explaination for us equestrians! And #2 is really good! 

Is there any stretches that would help build some muscle and flexibilty?


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## TheEquestrianAthleteCoach

Ray MacDonald said:


> Great post! It's like basic things but gone into more explaination for us equestrians! And #2 is really good!
> 
> Is there any stretches that would help build some muscle and flexibilty?


Dear Ray

Thank you. i hope you all found it useful. I would say that you need to focus more on mobility. This reflects the range of movement about a joint. This will in turn help your flexibility. 

In terms of specific stretches it is important for the equestrian athlete to stretch the inner thigh, calf muscles and chest. This will help to reduce the negative effects of riding on the posture.

You should consider performing exercises that open up the hip and activate the glutes. If you speak to a well trained exercise professional they will be able to show the exercises. Ask them to show you 'Hip Extension' exercises. It is a bit difficult for me to explain on here.

I hope this helps

Matt


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## Ray MacDonald

Thanks! It did!


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## purplefrog55

2. Short bursts of activity- By exercising for too long you may be actually making yourself fatter. 

That's cool, I never knew that ... 

What about things such as exercising my calf muscles? I only go to the horse farm on weekends, since I have school still, so I don't get to exercise my legs as much for riding horses. Are there any basic exercises I could do at home to help build my leg muscles?


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## Shasta1981

Hi Matt,

Very interesting, thanks! Wanted to know your thoughts on green tea? Never had tulsi tea but I drink heaps of green tea for those reasons. Also, shouldnt strength training help out? I feel like people in general give cardio more attention than strength.


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## TheEquestrianAthleteCoach

Shasta1981- Green tea is ok, tulsi tea is better. Green tea tends to have a small amount of caffiene in it.

Tulsi tea is from the holy basil, very powerful anti oxidant.

purplefrog55- Some of the best leg exercises are the most basic ones. Its hard for me to explain in typing, but here is a video I put together 






I hope this helps

Matt


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## thesilverspear

"2. Short bursts of activity- By exercising for too long you may be actually making yourself fatter."

I don't understand that. My other "sport" is mountaineering. That might involve 6-12 hours (or lots more if things go a bit wrong and you end up in an epic) of pretty continuous exercise. Does that really effect your riding? 

I've not noticed any effect of hillwalking and climbing on my riding, but find riding keeps me fit enough to get up a mountain even when I haven't been out in the hills for months.


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## purplefrog55

TheEquestrianAthleteCoach said:


> Shasta1981- Green tea is ok, tulsi tea is better. Green tea tends to have a small amount of caffiene in it.
> 
> Tulsi tea is from the holy basil, very powerful anti oxidant.
> 
> purplefrog55- Some of the best leg exercises are the most basic ones. Its hard for me to explain in typing, but here is a video I put together
> 
> YouTube - Equestrian Split Squat Pulsing
> 
> I hope this helps
> 
> Matt


Thank you Matt! That's just the thing I have been looking for


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## Moonstruck

I was wondering if doing yoga and pilates would be better vs an hr long cardio or aerobic work out? Also thanks for the vid  my calves are screaming just by watching YOU do it!


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## Moonstruck

MHFoundation Quarters said:


> I think the horses may get a day off tomorrow so I can drive 90 miles to the nearest Whole Foods.


D: Whole foods is so good..... Thankfully we are neighbors LOL


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## barrelracer107

I agree with all!!! I just don't think I can give up my coffee, I have severe chronic migraines and the caffeine kicks the edge off and helps me focus. But other than that I think I found my new training plan!


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## livelovelaughride

Yes, thanks for the health boosting tidbits! Although with no. 2, would you not agree that the exercise physiology field is vast and complex? I am including a link to Dr. Len Kravitz's article on cortisol and exercise physiology. He is an excellent researcher and I recently attended one of his presentations.

Role of Cortisol in Concurrent Training

"Recently a task force of scientists selected by the American Heart Association (AHA) introduced the 2020 U.S. 'Impact Goals' for cardiovascular health and disease reduction (Llyod-Jones, 2010). Ideal cardiovascular health includes four health behaviors (non-smoking, BMI <25 kg/m2, physical activity {150 min/wk of moderate intensity exercise or 75 min/wk of vigorous intensity exercise or a combination}, and consumption of a diet that promotes cardiovascular health {emphasis on a low glycemic load, high fiber, high marine omega-3 fatty acid, high polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio, and low trans fat content} and three health factors (total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, fasting blood glucose <100 mg/dL, and <120/80 mmHG for blood pressure)."- High Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Len Kravitz.

Working out for 4 minutes x 4 at high intensity may be functional for some, and aerobic fitness is still cumulative. At 16 minutes daily, vigorous exercise without a warm up or cool down could set up soft tissue or tendon injuries in some folks.


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## frlsgirl

Cortisol - interesting. I wonder if that's why I've turned into a skinny fat person. 

In my mad attempt to lose a whole bunch of weight, I worked out like a maniac and cut my calorie intake in half. I lost the first 15 pounds without any problems, but the remaining 10 just don't want to budge.

I'm small now (not that I was ever really big) but I'm not firm all over like I was when I was 16. 

I can do toning excercises for hours and it makes no visual difference. Maybe I've just been working out too hard?


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## ~*~anebel~*~

If you are interested in more about the "short bursts of activity" thing, The Daily Hiit is a whole community based around free workouts in a bit of an open source type format, like Crossfit but was more accessible and definitely without the astronomical box fees.
Another thing to look into are programs like Insanity, P90X, etc..

And there's always the tried and true personal trainer.

I've noticed the biggest difference in my body when I ditched trying to get into LD running and started lifting and training in a style more towards the Olympic lifts. And bonus, my training sessions got a lot shorter, with a lot more impact. That being said, you do also need to balance any heavy lifting with a lot of stretching and muscle care. I also do hot yoga (which is amazing just by itself) and acupuncture/massage therapy to help my muscles stay healthy and build correctly.

Fitness is so important for athletes. We are starting to realize this with our horses and moving towards having them out in fields and getting them in the horsewalker and out for hacks, along with riding. But the riders also need to get on the fitness train. I like Adelinde Cornelissen's approach "Train Hard or Die"!!


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## frlsgirl

~*~anebel~*~ said:


> If you are interested in more about the "short bursts of activity" thing, The Daily Hiit is a whole community based around free workouts in a bit of an open source type format, like Crossfit but was more accessible and definitely without the astronomical box fees.
> Another thing to look into are programs like Insanity, P90X, etc..
> 
> And there's always the tried and true personal trainer.
> 
> I've noticed the biggest difference in my body when I ditched trying to get into LD running and started lifting and training in a style more towards the Olympic lifts. And bonus, my training sessions got a lot shorter, with a lot more impact. That being said, you do also need to balance any heavy lifting with a lot of stretching and muscle care. I also do hot yoga (which is amazing just by itself) and acupuncture/massage therapy to help my muscles stay healthy and build correctly.
> 
> Fitness is so important for athletes. We are starting to realize this with our horses and moving towards having them out in fields and getting them in the horsewalker and out for hacks, along with riding. But the riders also need to get on the fitness train. I like Adelinde Cornelissen's approach "Train Hard or Die"!!


Interesting. I will look into that. Thanks.


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## Zexious

P 90 x or Insanity (by the same people as P90X) are both AWESOME


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## livelovelaughride

I've been weight training and teaching for decades...yes it does change your body composition in a positive way, but you have to lift heavy enough to really get results. Anebel, have you been doing cleans? They are amazing, a whole body exercise. Plus great for a anaerobic threshhold training!

You can *tone* but unfortunately if you don't lift heavy enough in your sets, you'll only be during endurance training, which is not a bad idea if you want to train for running, for example. When I was a serious rock climber I would train heavy for upper body and do high rep (endurance type) training for the lower body because I also ran long distance. Its great how you can mix and match your training.


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## ~*~anebel~*~

livelovelaughride said:


> I've been weight training and teaching for decades...yes it does change your body composition in a positive way, but you have to lift heavy enough to really get results. Anebel, have you been doing cleans? They are amazing, a whole body exercise. Plus great for a anaerobic threshhold training!
> 
> You can *tone* but unfortunately if you don't lift heavy enough in your sets, you'll only be during endurance training, which is not a bad idea if you want to train for running, for example. When I was a serious rock climber I would train heavy for upper body and do high rep (endurance type) training for the lower body because I also ran long distance. Its great how you can mix and match your training.


I've unfortunately been sidelined with a host of medical problems for nearly a year 
I'm just back trying to get to the gym as much as possible and get myself conditioned. I find it really hard not to push hard because I know what my body could do  I find it really frustrating being stuck back just condidioning, conditioning, conditioning. Want to be back on the heavy lifts!! So then the gym is just work and I don't want to go without lifting, and if I do I forfeit walking for 2 days and then riding the training horses is fun when I can't post lol. 

Those of you who are healthy - get your butts to the gym and lift heavy for me!! I swear you won't bulk lifting heavy and eating as much protein as you can get your mitts on. It's the best exercise for sure. Just make sure your form is good. Guys I lifted with made me do front squats in front of a wall until my back was straight lol. THAT is a core workout! Then bang out 50 roll outs with the wheelie dobber. It hurts to eat after!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## frlsgirl

Did my first HIIT workout today. It was pretty intense but I managed to stick it out.
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## Prinella

Awesome tips!
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