TRX and Horseback Riding

One of my TRX clients does horseback riding on weekends. She started doing TRX workouts with me about a year ago. Recently she spontaneously told me how TRX training had helped her to become stronger on the horse! Especially her glutes and core became a lot stronger. This inspired me to create a special workout for all of you who practice horseback riding. At the same time this special workout is suitable for everyone who wants to work their glutes and core!!!

Read here why you need to strengthen your glutes and your core.

Muscular Adaptations to Horseback Riding

Horseback riders have a pattern of movement.  A posture that they repeat over and over again each time they mount the horse.  It’s these habitual patterns of movement that become ingrained when we’re kids that become harder to get out of as we age.

Let’s talk about the muscular imbalances that develop with consistent horseback riding.  First up, you’re sitting.  If you sit at a desk all day and sit in your car during your commute and come home and sit on your horse, and sit to eat dinner and sit to watch TV…. that’s a lot of sitting. Weak glutes and tight hip flexors are a likely result of all that sitting.

When your hip flexors get tight, they can pull your pelvis forward.  Many of your inner thigh muscles are also hip flexors.  And you use your inner thighs to grip the horse.  So, there’s a compounding effect from the short hip flexors in seated position and the really strong inner thigh muscles all pulling on the pelvis.  If you don’t have strong glutes to prevent the hip flexors from taking over, then you can develop an anterior pelvic tilt.

Anterior pelvic tilt posture can lead to a lower back pain, knee pain, over pronation, and plantar fasciitis.  So, it’s really important to get out of the alignment your body is resting in and reverse those muscular imbalances.

Horseback riding works the core muscles that stabilize the trunk: the abdominal, back, thighs and pelvic muscles. These stabilize the torso while fortifying coordination, stability, balance, and flexibility. This activity is isometric, which means the muscles contract against something that does not move.

 Staying on a horse in motion requires many things, especially balance.

Although the saddle and stirrups help stabilize a rider in the seat, good balance is important to follow the movements of the horse and work together in a harmonious way.

A balanced rider should have a straight line from the shoulders, through the hips to the heels. He has an equal distribution of weight through the sit bones, keeps the back straight with a neutral spine and all joints supple.

The rider’s center of balance should always be in tune with that of the horse. When the horse moves, its center of balance shifts and the rider needs to constantly stay in sync with it. This requires a lot of strength and balance, which is why targeted training outside of the arena is so important to progress as a rider. Core Training

Your core must be able to stabilize your entire upper body while riding the horse.  So having a strong and stable core will definitely make you a more efficient rider.

The way you sit tall on top of the horse makes a big difference as to how stable your core is.  There are two ways to sit tall:

The Right Way — Getting long through your spine and reaching the top of your head to the sky.  In this position your ribs stay down.

The Wrong Way — Getting taller by arching your middle back and flaring your ribs.

TRX exercises are excellent to improve all that is required for horse riding. Some good examples are:

TRX Single Leg Squat

The Single Leg Squat recruits those outer thigh muscles into a functional movement.  This exercise will teach the muscles how to stabilize the hips. Use a TRX to provide balance while your body is learning the movement. 

TRX Half Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

This exercise is more of a mobility drill for the hip flexors than a stretch.  It is recommended to slowly moving in and out of the stretch 6 times per side.  But make sure to keep your tailbone tucked under the whole time.

Other good ones are mainly glute exercises, meaning all types of TRX squats and TRX lunges, TRX hamstring curls and runners, TRX side planks with thigh lifts (targeting the outer thigh, so, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus) and core exercises s.a. TRX plank variations.

Try to do 10 reps of the following TRX exercises 3 times a week. You’ll find them in TRX Exercise Library on our website or in the New TRX for Equestrians video!  

TRX Half kneeling hip flexor stretch, TRX Squat, TRX Single Leg Squat, TRX Crossing Step Side Lunge, TRX Crossing Balance Lunge, TRX Hip Press (Glute Bridge), TRX Hamstring Curl, TRX Hamstring Runner, TRX Step Back Lunge, TRX Balance Lunge, TRX Elbow Plank, TRX Plank, TRX Crunch, TRX Side Plank, TRX Single Leg Side Plank with Thigh Lift.

While you want your core muscles to be strong enough to stabilize the spine, you need the spine itself to be mobile.  If the spine becomes too rigid, then movement quality can suffer off the horse.  It is therefore recommended to include some mobility exercises for moving the spine. I recommend the

TRX T-Spine Rotation for this.

In The Spotlight

Nathalie, 57 years old equestrian, started TRX training with us about a year ago. This is what she experiences…

“I have been an equestrian for many years, but only started practicing TRX a year ago.

In order to be well balanced on a horse, you need to have a straight line from the shoulders from the hips to the heels, and to stabilise the trunk, you need to work your core muscles especially abdominal, back, thighs and pelvic ones.

TRX has been great to build strength, coordination, flexibility as well as many other benefits. Practicing TRX with Carla helped me a lot to get more strength and helped me reinforce my stability and balance on a horse. Throughout the year, I could feel my ability to stay more in sync with the horse’s center of balance. And of course, the horse could feel it too!”