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| Functional Training |
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FUNCTIONAL TRAINING What does that mean? In this instance function means movement applicable to the relative discipline. Still, what does that mean? The basic functional movement all able bodied people do is walking and all further movement stems from that. Functional movement for a horse rider means just that, sitting on a horse and moving the relative muscles to make your body ride. Therefore Functional Training is training that is going to enhance the movements required to ride a horse! Let’s break that down a bit. Perhaps the most obvious function when riding is moving smoothly with the horse. Strong core muscles will ensure good posture. The limbs play an equally important part as they communicate the rider’s instructions to the horse. Therefore strong limb muscles and good proprioception (awareness of motion or position as it pertains to one’s limbs), (Plowman & Smith 1997) are high on the list. This means that we have three main areas to train for optimum function.
Core training is a buzz word at the moment. Most trainers will agree that the core encompasses the centre of the body from the pubis to the diaphragm longditudinally and the abdominal and spinal muscles laterally. However, good core strength can only be achieved when all the muscle chains are strong. We often train muscles in isolation, but the reality, functionally, is that muscles work in groups. Therefore to train the core muscles to improve function will involve more than working the abdominus rectus (tummy muscles) by themselves. The same rule applies for training the legs. The legs join into the body at the hips. Good leg and hip training will ensure that all the relevant muscles are working in the proper order and that the chain is strong. Although the arms play a less important part in riding ability, there is one area where the arms often take over control. Balance. How often do you see someone flailing around with their arms to regain their balance? However, good control of balance emanates from core control, so we are back where we started. In order to improve balance we need to improve core control. Try an experiment to test your balance. Stand on one leg and then pretend to brush your teeth with your eyes closed. Perhaps I should say stand in an open space just in case you topple. If your balance is poor, you will need to use your free arm and leg to counter your body weight to stop you from falling over. Now try it again, but this time, suck your tummy in, pressing your tummy muscles towards your spine. It should be much easier. You have effectively “turned on” your core muscles and consequently improved your balance. Let’s have a look at a few exercises that can assist in functional training and I’ll explain why I have chosen them. Before you start on the serious stuff, here is a little flexibility exercise that will help to loosen the hips. (no photo) Stand with your legs hip width apart and place your hands on your hips. Now make a figure of eight with your hips, taking the bulges of the eight out to each side of your body. It is a good idea to do this exercise facing a mirror to make sure you are moving your hips and not your shoulders. When you have done this some half a dozen times, turn the figure of eight 90 degrees, so that the bulges are in front and behind you. Make sure that you keep your shoulders still and all the movement is in the hips. Try doing this exercise drawing the figure of eight in both directions. The following exercises should be performed in sets of 8, 12, or 15 repetitions with a rest of up to 45 seconds between each set. You should perform 2 – 5 sets. It is better to perform fewer exercises well than try to achieve 15 repetitions of a new exercise and lose technique. As soon as you feel your technique is slipping, it’s time to stop. PALMS UP BICEP CURL ON UNSTABLE SURFACE. (TARGETS CORE MUSCLES) Stand on a Disco-sit cushion or a BOSU. If you do not have access to either of these pieces of equipment, standing on a plump, firm cushion will have a similar effect. Take weights in each hand and with your palms facing outwards and your hands at your side, raise your arms keeping your elbows straight and the weights at the same level as you raise your arms up to shoulder height. Hold for a count of 2, 3, or 4 and lower. Standing on an unstable surface makes a greater demand on the core muscles. The core muscles stabilise the body, giving good posture and improving strength. The movement of the exercise will make demands on all the core muscles. Improving strength in the core muscles will assist in keeping your balance and moving fluidly with the horse. Because you can feel the muscles working, this will also improve your proprioception, making you more physically aware of where your body is in space in relation to how you are sitting on the horse. - Helping to eliminate leaning to one side for example.- SIDE HIP RAISES (WORKS THE MUSCLES AT THE SIDE OF THE HIPS – THE FIXATORS) Lie on your side on the floor with your top hand on the floor in front of you. You need to have the hips sitting on top of each other which means leaning forward a little farther than you might think. You can rest your head on your upper arm, or come up on your elbow. Elongate the spine and hold your tummy in to ensure good posture. This exercise focuses on the Gluteus Medius, Minimus and the Tensor Fasciae Latae. All these muscles control the sideways movement of the hips. Strength and subtleness here will ensure good control of the body when the horse changes pace. ADDUCTOR SQUEEZE (WORKS THE MUSCLES OF THE INNER THIGH) Lie on your side on the floor and take your top leg forward, placing the foot on the floor. Rest your head on your outstretched arm. Raise the lower leg, keeping the leg straight, leading with the ankle. In many ways this exercise needs little explanation to a fraternity of horse riders. The adductor muscles are the communicators. Strength and subtleness here will ensure a good rise. If you are aware of these muscles and are able to switch them on at will, your ability to use them effectively will be greatly enhanced. PEC DECK (WORKS THE MUSCLES OF THE CHEST, PECTORALIS MAJOR AND ON THE RETURN WORKS THE MUSCLES OF THE BACK, LATISSIMUS DORSI) Stand on a Disco-sit, BOSU, or firm, plump cushion. Take a pair of weights in your hands. Take your arms up, so that your elbows are in line with your shoulders and your forearms are vertical. Squeeze your forearms together, keeping your elbows at shoulder height and your forearms vertical. This direction works the pectoralis Major muscles (the pecs). Now take your arms back to the start position, the return action works the opposing muscles, the Latissmus Dorsi. This is a very common exercise. Most gyms have a Pec Deck Machine. The beauty of doing this exercise with free weights, are twofold. Firstly, you have to control the weights on the return, therefore working the back muscles, (on the machine, there is no weight resistance on the return) and secondly, using free weights in a standing position involves greater muscle recruitment. Sitting down at a machine in the gym hardly involves the gluteal (the buttock muscles) or the legs. Now, you are also standing on an unstable surface and guess what? You are also involving your core muscles! So, in one exercise you are working shoulders, chest, back and core all in one! Theresa Wright is a Personal Trainer and Remedial Massage Therapist. She works in Woolhampton, between Reading and Newbury in Berkshire, where she has her own gym and clinic. Theresa holds the Premier Global Diploma in Personal Training and the London School of Massage Therapy Diploma in Sports’ Massage. She also holds a Diploma in Aromatherapy. Visit her website at www.theresamwright.com
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