How do you balance your fitness with time at the barn and time at the gym? This post will focus mainly on cross training for trick riding, but these forms of cross training are also great for staying fit for general horsemanship and will help you feel healthy in your daily life.
In general, I would recommend making sure you have a balance of strength, flexibility and cardio in your workout routine, but the following disciplines have some unique benefits that I have found super helpful!
Aerial Arts
Training as an aerialist has made trick riding so much easier for me. It has really helped me build my strength, flexibility, body awareness, and creative expression. Specifically, it has immensely helped in my upper body and core strength and also grip strength, which can be crucial in trick riding.
Since I don’t have my own horse here in town and can’t always train trick riding, aerial has given me an outlet to train hard on a daily basis. Aerial classes are becoming more and more popular and can be found in almost every major city and in some smaller cities as well. Even if there isn’t an aerial gym in your immediate area, it may be worth the drive to try a few classes with a qualified coach!
Lifting Weights
Not only is weightlifting great for targeting specific muscle groups, but it is also wonderful for keeping your body balanced. With many skill based disciplines, it is easy to work one side of your body more than the other, or to use one group of muscles much more than others. A good weightlifting routine will allow you to target all of your muscle groups equally and to equalize imbalances caused by your daily life or other activities. Keeping your body balanced will not only help your tricks, it will also help prevent injuries.
If you have never tried weightlifting before and are interested in getting started, I would recommend setting up a few sessions with a personal trainer at a local gym, or workout with a knowledgeable friend. Learning proper form is crucial for preventing injuries and getting the most out of your workout.
Yoga
Don’t always have access to a gym? A yoga practice is great to have in your fitness regimen because you can do it anywhere.
There are many styles of yoga to explore, and good instructors are trained to adapt poses for literally any level. My favorites are ashtanga for strength and symmetry, and yin yoga for flexibility of the fascia and connective tissues.
Dance
Dance is great for coordination, body awareness, and cardio.
While all styles will help you develop your movement and coordination, ballet is my favorite for working on my lines, which is so important in vaulting, trick riding, and all forms of circus. Ballet helps develop strong, straight legs, pointed feet, and a strong core – all things that will take your trick riding from technically correct to eye catching.
Flexibility Training
Want to add splits and backbends to your repertoire, or improve the ones you already have? If so, flexibility training should be a big part of your fitness routine. I have never been naturally flexible, so I have to dedicate a lot of time to this. I usually stretch five days per week for one to two hours.
If you are like me and you struggle with flexibility, I would advise two things: find a coach who can help you develop a stretching plan that works for your body, and stretch often. Don’t believe the myth that because you weren’t flexible as a child, you can’t learn as an adult. Flexibility is not just something that you are born with. It can be developed through persistence and hard work. I will make a flexibility-focused post in the future that will delve into the struggles and successes of flexibility as an equestrian circus artist.
There are so many great ways to cross train, and these are just a few of my favorites! A few others include rock climbing, gymnastics, martial arts, pilates, and hiking. I would love to hear what your favorite cross training is!