From essentialequestrian.wordpress.com:

If you don’t currently exercise outside of riding, I highly recommend it. While I completely understand it is tough to imagine doing anything other than crash on the couch after a 12+ hour day, I’ve found that it has made a huge difference in my body control and body awareness while I’m riding.

As a groom or working student when you are lifting buckets, pulling hoses, raking, shoveling, etc., it does not necessarily make sense for you to hit the gym and start repping it out with weights. A better solution, especially if you are tired at the end of the day, would be to do some yoga to stretch out tight muscles. This can definitely help prevent soreness the next day and develop suppleness (if our horses need it, don’t we?!). I wouldn’t completely forgo strength training, however, as it will develop your body in a more well-rounded way which prevents injury.

I know a gym membership isn’t financially possible for many. Personally, I love Jillian Michaels’ DVDs. The workouts are 20 minutes, which is, relatively speaking, easy to fit in on any given day. Also, because you know the short time frame, it is easier to give it all you’ve got for those 20 minutes. Best of all, they come with several workouts per DVD, and you only pay once!

I also want to stress again the importance of a strong core. As riders, we hear all the time how important our core strength is, but good core tone also can protect our backs while we are working in the barn, not just help us in the saddle.

To get you started, I recommend checking out Heather Sansom’s website. Sign up for the e-newsletter for lots of tips and exercises. If you are ready to hit the ground running,jillianmichaels.com has all of her DVDs for sale.

And, really, at the end of the day, who wouldn’t want to look like this:

I’d love to hear your comments about your exercise routine and how it has helped!