Pilates for horse riders
Women and men alike will reap the amazing benefits from performing this therapy on a regular, frequent basis
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Page content headings
Equestrian fitness needs
For maximum results in your riding, (for women and men), your fitness rescheme needs to achieve the following:
Pilates provides all of these, and more
Pilates explained
The purpose of Pilates training for horse riders is to maximize your over all performance and abilities in order for you to achieve your individual horse riding goals. To be a proficient horse rider involves many elements mentally, physically and emotionally, Pilates training is a highly effective, proven exercise system that connects mind and body, which is essential for all horse riders.
When you have fully adopted the Pilates Training Method, the principles and keys will have a direct positive influence on your riding, and in turn, your horse's performance. Pilates covers key ingredients required for Equestrians.
Pilates is a low impact form of exercise, developed by Joseph Pilates, which emphasizes the balanced development of the body through core strength, flexibility, and awareness in order to support efficient, graceful movement. Training in the Pilates method creates a mind and body that is controlled, coordinated, poised, flexible, stabilized, relaxed, energized, healthy, aligned, long, lean and strong (all essential elements for effective horse riding).
Pilates is highly renowned for core strength of the body, as well as increasing flexibility of muscles, range of motion and stabilization through joints, increasing endurance and strength. The practical application of Pilates training teaches correct breathing as well as added benefits of healing existing and preventing future injuries, slowing down ageing, balanced and deep toning and firming every part of the body. These are a healthy combination of elements, all complimenting each other in synchronicity.
The style of Pilates offered by Remedial Equestrian Therapies is Mat work. It is performed on a mat with some small apparatus, or just using your own body. Pilates Mat work is divided into levels of experience and ability. Ranging from introduction, beginners, to intermediate and advanced. Pilates levels are designed to give structure to the "repertoire" of exercises. This ensures that you are learning essential principles, before moving onto more challenging exercises. Introduction and beginner level teaches the basics and principles ensuring solid foundations, each subsequent level has a logical progression.
Small apparatus - balls, Bands, Rollers, Rings, light weights, The apparatus equipment is small, light weight, and easy to use. The small apparatus used in Pilates, add more interest, challenge, instability or support to your exercise repertoire. small apparatus is an add on to Traditional Pilates. Small apparatus is not essential for training in Pilates. Small apparatus equipment should only come in when you have mastered the foundations of Pilates, are gaining strength and flexibility, and your joints are stable (you don't wobble through your joints as you perform the exercise). This is vital for you to reap the true benefits of Pilates training.
Important Note - In Pilates, you don't use weights over approximately 2kg. This is because Pilates exercises are mostly eccentric contractions, meaning that the muscles stretch as they contract, and the joints open, with a straight, outstretched limb. This is a HIGHLY EFFECTIVE form of exercise that creates maximum results, without using heavy weights. If you use a heavy weight while performing Pilates exercises, you can damage your muscles and joints. You can, however, use Pilates posture/alignment and breathing techniques while performing traditional weight lifting exercises and cardio exercises, that you can cross train with if you wish.
To further understand why you should never use heavy weights when performing Pilates
Imagine (or even do this exercise for yourself) lifting a long pole from the middle, then go right the way to one end and lift again. By lifting all the way from one end, the same pole becomes a lot heavier than when you lifted it from the middle. Now if you put a heavy weight on the other end from which you are lifting it, the pole not only becomes a lot heavier, there is significant strain on the pole due to the heavy weight on the other end from which you are holding. Pilates exercises work in the same way, which is why you should only use light weights.
Through the introduction and foundations, then subsequent levels of Pilates, you train your body to have a very stable, controlled base or "core". By training your body (and mind) with Pilates, you can then move your limbs or various other body parts from this controlled, stable base. Combined with flexibility, mobility, strength, balance and endurance. A couple of common horse riding examples of this include; while riding your horse, you are able to look over your shoulder (or look behind you) without one foot-leg-seat bone-shoulder moving forward while the opposite foot-leg-seat bone-shoulder moves backwards. Another common horse riding example; while jumping, or leaning forward to ride up a hill, you are able to keep your legs and feet underneath you (and in the stirrups), without them going backwards and out from underneath you. Giving yourself a Pilates trained body and mind is highly advantageous for your horse riding.
Benefits from Pilates training
Pilates training is the perfect complement to your riding
and much much more......
Pilates has 6 Principals
These principles all have a direct correlation to horse riding
1. Centering: Physically bringing the focus to the center of the body, the core area between the lower ribs and pubic bone. Energetically, Pilates exercises are sourced from center.
2. Concentration: If one brings full attention to the exercise and does it with full commitment, maximum value will be obtained from each movement.
3. Control: Every Pilates exercise is done with complete muscular control. No body part is left to its own devices.
4. Precision: In Pilates, awareness is sustained throughout each movement. There is an appropriate placement, alignment relative to other body parts, and trajectory for each part of the body.
5. Breath: Joseph emphasized using a very full breath in his exercises. He advocated thinking of the lungs as a bellows -- using them strongly to pump the air fully in and out of the body. Most Pilates exercises coordinate with the breath, and using the breath properly is an integral part of Pilates exercise. Pilates breathing is different to other breathing styles - "lateral breathing" into the back and side of ribs, while inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. This helps to keep the core engaged at all times.
6. Flow: Pilates exercise is done in a flowing manner. Fluidity, grace, and ease are goals applied to all exercises. The energy of an exercise connects all body parts and flows through the body in every way.
Keys to Pilates training, and their benefits
All of these keys have an incredible positive influence on your riding.
When you ride effectively (in mind and body) it has a direct positive influence upon your horses' ability to perform. This means, when you get the most out of yourself, it will mirror in the horse.
1. Alignment and Posture
The position and alignment in your body when you are performing the Pilates exercises, is how you strengthen up. Proper alignment balances your skeleton so your muscles are held at their ideal length, without tension. If your body is constantly held out of good alignment, it places a great strain on your muscles, ligaments, and joints, which will reduce your body’s ability to react to the force of gravity, resulting in aches, pains, inhibited movement, and often leads to injuries. Pilates gives you an opportunity to learn to correct your misalignments and allow your muscles to work as efficiently as they should.
The risk of strain or injury is lessened with good alignment.
Improvements in your posture, how you carry yourself, and how you move every day result from awareness of body alignment.
Key benefits
2. Strength
Pilates training is a wonderful body-conditioning method. It can be done with little to no equipment. Strength begins with a determination to achieve your best. Over time, you will see your muscles gaining tone and looking sculpted, but you’ll also feel much stronger and more energized. Strong body and strong bodies go hand in hand.
Pilates strengthens the whole body, targeting each muscle group evenly with a mixture of dynamic and static strength training. No body part is neglected. It teaches each muscle to move “anatomically correctly” which means each muscle is trained to do the job it was designed to perform, by nature. You also work on all planes of movement – sitting, lying, standing. This means that the muscles are worked from many different position and directions, producing a uniform and very deep strength and tone, even without using heavy weights.
Pilates emphasizes slow, controlled movements in each exercise. When you move quickly through a movement, momentum often takes over. This means your muscles do less work. By moving slowly with control, you are applying your own strength through an the entirety of the movement. This also forces the nervous system to fire maximum muscles fibers, rather than just the ones you use the most. This strengthens your nervous system, movement and postural muscles.
When you move quickly, it’s easy to compromise your technique and form. Increasing the risk of injury. Rapid movement also shortens the range of motion of your joints. Therefore, performing an exercise too quickly, ends up shortchanging yourself out of getting the most from your workouts. Slow controlled exercises means you’re more likely to use your joint’s full range of motion, leading to greater mobility and strength.
Slow and controlled movements that pilates promotes, is more effective at building strength than faster movements (where your muscles are just along for the ride).
Key benefits
3. Flexibility
We all want to achieve a strong body, but there must be a balance between strength and flexibility, and Pilates is the perfect exercise regime to achieve this. Tight muscles hinder your mobility and can lead to tension, aches, pain and possible injury. Overly tight muscles are called “hypotonic” and in this state can not work effectively. They are like an overly tight dry rubber band. Flexibility is essential for your overall fitness and vitality. It ensures a greater range of movement in your joints, and will in turn mean your joints remain healthy and fare better against normal wear and tear as they age.
Pilates utilizes “eccentric contraction”, which means the muscles elongate as they contract. This involves taking your body into and out of a stretched state repeatedly, in a choreographed movement that is slow and controlled. It warms up the muscles so that they respond more effectively. As you progress through the exercises, you should find your range of movement increasing and your flexibility improving.
Key benefits
4. Shape and tone
For a lot of us, our muscle tone while at rest may be quite weak. Muscles respond quickly to regular exercise, and after a few weeks of Pilates training you should notice visible muscle tone and see your body begin to evolve. Pilates uses your body weight and some small exercise equipment as resistance for shaping your muscles. The method trains every part of your body evenly – front, back, and sides. It utilizes types of muscle contraction that is highly effective for strength, length, stability, and endurance. It also engages the deep postural muscles of your body. All highly necessary for horse riding.
Key benefits
5. Endurance
Pilates builds endurance within individual exercises and also within workouts. The various forms of muscle recruitment utilized in the pilates method have a direct impact on endurance, strength and flexibility. Pilates ensures a focus on improving your concentration to build all its key elements – endurance is derived from the various muscle recruitment styles, that never allow a muscle to be over worked in one exercise (ensuring you do not compensate and use incorrect muscles or go out of alignment), mental strength and therefore requires determination and persistence. In pilates, your mind has conscious control over the body. Your mind visualizing what is wants the body to do at any given moment, resulting in your body becomes stronger, and is able to stay strong, stable and aligned throughout increasingly challenging exercises.
Once you have progressed through the foundation of Pilates, more advanced exercises are performed in sequences without breaks, like a choreographed piece of movement. Initially, while practicing the foundations, you need to take breaks, to learn the movements correctly, utilize the correct muscles, and breathe correctly. More advanced Pilates requires you to perform a linked sequence of exercises. Your muscles will begin to tire after several repetitions, but you need to stay focused and to complete the set. As you work through the levels of Pilates, you will be able to complete a sequence of exercises without pausing.
Key benefits
6. Stress Relief
Stress is one of the biggest negative factors of modern life, affecting your physical, mental, emotional wellbeing just as much as disease does. Frequent exercise is one of the best remedies for stress and has many benefits. Pilates focuses on breathing – a deep, mindful pattern of breathing that instantly enhances feelings of calm and release in the body and mind. When you are strong, controlled, aligned, balanced, coordinated and aware in your body, they have a direct positive effect on your mind and emotions, through the mind-body connection. Pilates also works constantly on posture: a poised and lifted body, free from tension and pain, creates a calm and stable mind.
Key benefits
7. Balance, coordination and proprioception
Pilates training has a highly profound effect the human body. The structured, precise, controlled, slow movements Pilates exercises involve, combined with a variety of effective styles of muscle contractions and correct breathing grants the person dedicated to training consistently with countless benefits. It works a lot with training the nervous system (nerves fire muscles) and muscle memory. These give rise to high levels of balance, coordination and proprioception. This Creates bilateral coordination (using two hands together), ability to cross the midline (imaginary line that runs from nose to pelvis) and hand eye coordination.
Balance and coordination work hand in hand. Balance is the ability to stay upright and in control of your body movement. Coordination is the ability to move two or more body parts under control, smoothly and efficiently.
Proprioception, put simply, is knowing where your body is in space in relation to other parts of the body and objects, the sense of self movement and body position. Proprioceptive signals are transmitted through the nervous system to the brain, where the messages are interpreted and then feedback it given to the body about over all body position and movement. Correctly practiced proprioception exercises leads to movements becoming automatic.
Key benefits
Pilates, Self Massage and stretch, meditation and self development all work directly together
All these modalities increase the effectiveness of each other.
These are a great combination, effectively complimenting each other in synchronicity.
Massage and stretch works by releasing and realigning. When muscles are over tight (hypo tonic) they won't fire correctly leading to less effective exercise results. Self massage and stretch is designed to mirror Eastern Remedial Massage (A modality of massage I created and have clinically practiced for decades). It is excellent at realigning and opening up the body leaving you able to perform pilates with more ease and movement, therefore getting more out of your workouts. When your body is strong, stable, controlled, open, movable and flexible, it has direct same impact on you mind and emotions. This allows you to cope with challenges, stress and solve problems with ease and clarity
Page content headings
- Equestrian fitness needs
- Pilates explained
- Benefits of Pilates training
- Pilates has 6 principles
- Keys to Pilates training, and their benefits
- Pilates, Self Massage and stretch, meditation and self development all work directly together
- Pilates history explained (video)
Equestrian fitness needs
For maximum results in your riding, (for women and men), your fitness rescheme needs to achieve the following:
Pilates provides all of these, and more
- Correct posture and alignment
- Trains the nervous system and creates correct muscle (nerve) memory
- Prevents and corrects and muscle imbalances
- Promote mobility, flexibility and suppleness
- Promote balance, coordination, stability and proprioception
- Teaches precision of movements
- Create a strong, toned, well functioning body
- Stabilize, mobilize and protect joints
- Create a mind-body connection
- Create correct biomechanics in the body
- Teach the correct recruitment of muscles for the movement being performed
- Improve performance as well as longevity in your riding
- Improve endurance
- Teach correct breathing
- Decrease effects of ageing
- Help prevent future, and heal existing injuries
- Reduces stress
- Helps to manage emotions and stress, fostering stability, strength and stability
- Promotes over all health and wellbeing
- Produces maximum results in your fitness, body, mind, emotions, and overall health and wellbeing
Pilates explained
The purpose of Pilates training for horse riders is to maximize your over all performance and abilities in order for you to achieve your individual horse riding goals. To be a proficient horse rider involves many elements mentally, physically and emotionally, Pilates training is a highly effective, proven exercise system that connects mind and body, which is essential for all horse riders.
When you have fully adopted the Pilates Training Method, the principles and keys will have a direct positive influence on your riding, and in turn, your horse's performance. Pilates covers key ingredients required for Equestrians.
Pilates is a low impact form of exercise, developed by Joseph Pilates, which emphasizes the balanced development of the body through core strength, flexibility, and awareness in order to support efficient, graceful movement. Training in the Pilates method creates a mind and body that is controlled, coordinated, poised, flexible, stabilized, relaxed, energized, healthy, aligned, long, lean and strong (all essential elements for effective horse riding).
Pilates is highly renowned for core strength of the body, as well as increasing flexibility of muscles, range of motion and stabilization through joints, increasing endurance and strength. The practical application of Pilates training teaches correct breathing as well as added benefits of healing existing and preventing future injuries, slowing down ageing, balanced and deep toning and firming every part of the body. These are a healthy combination of elements, all complimenting each other in synchronicity.
The style of Pilates offered by Remedial Equestrian Therapies is Mat work. It is performed on a mat with some small apparatus, or just using your own body. Pilates Mat work is divided into levels of experience and ability. Ranging from introduction, beginners, to intermediate and advanced. Pilates levels are designed to give structure to the "repertoire" of exercises. This ensures that you are learning essential principles, before moving onto more challenging exercises. Introduction and beginner level teaches the basics and principles ensuring solid foundations, each subsequent level has a logical progression.
Small apparatus - balls, Bands, Rollers, Rings, light weights, The apparatus equipment is small, light weight, and easy to use. The small apparatus used in Pilates, add more interest, challenge, instability or support to your exercise repertoire. small apparatus is an add on to Traditional Pilates. Small apparatus is not essential for training in Pilates. Small apparatus equipment should only come in when you have mastered the foundations of Pilates, are gaining strength and flexibility, and your joints are stable (you don't wobble through your joints as you perform the exercise). This is vital for you to reap the true benefits of Pilates training.
Important Note - In Pilates, you don't use weights over approximately 2kg. This is because Pilates exercises are mostly eccentric contractions, meaning that the muscles stretch as they contract, and the joints open, with a straight, outstretched limb. This is a HIGHLY EFFECTIVE form of exercise that creates maximum results, without using heavy weights. If you use a heavy weight while performing Pilates exercises, you can damage your muscles and joints. You can, however, use Pilates posture/alignment and breathing techniques while performing traditional weight lifting exercises and cardio exercises, that you can cross train with if you wish.
To further understand why you should never use heavy weights when performing Pilates
Imagine (or even do this exercise for yourself) lifting a long pole from the middle, then go right the way to one end and lift again. By lifting all the way from one end, the same pole becomes a lot heavier than when you lifted it from the middle. Now if you put a heavy weight on the other end from which you are lifting it, the pole not only becomes a lot heavier, there is significant strain on the pole due to the heavy weight on the other end from which you are holding. Pilates exercises work in the same way, which is why you should only use light weights.
Through the introduction and foundations, then subsequent levels of Pilates, you train your body to have a very stable, controlled base or "core". By training your body (and mind) with Pilates, you can then move your limbs or various other body parts from this controlled, stable base. Combined with flexibility, mobility, strength, balance and endurance. A couple of common horse riding examples of this include; while riding your horse, you are able to look over your shoulder (or look behind you) without one foot-leg-seat bone-shoulder moving forward while the opposite foot-leg-seat bone-shoulder moves backwards. Another common horse riding example; while jumping, or leaning forward to ride up a hill, you are able to keep your legs and feet underneath you (and in the stirrups), without them going backwards and out from underneath you. Giving yourself a Pilates trained body and mind is highly advantageous for your horse riding.
Benefits from Pilates training
Pilates training is the perfect complement to your riding
- Excellent for horse riders to cross train and massively enhance performance
- Creates correct riding position
- Enables correct and consistent application of aids
- Your body is able to do what your mind asks
- Allows you to ride with ease, and for longer periods of time
- Increases mobility of joints and flexibility in muscles
- Increased muscle strength and tone, particularly of your abdominal muscles, lower back, hips and buttocks (the ‘core muscles’ of your body)
- Helps you to stay on your horse, even through the rough stuff, preventing falls
- Balanced muscular strength on both sides, front and back of your body
- Enhanced muscular control of your whole body
- Improved stabilization of all your joints, preventing injury and slowing ageing
- Rehabilitation and prevention of injuries
- Corrects muscle imbalances and postural issues
- Improved physical co-ordination and balance
- Safe rehabilitation of joint and spinal injuries
- Prevention of musculoskeletal injuries
- Increased lung capacity and circulation through deep breathing
- Improved concentration, creates a mind-body connection
- Increased body awareness
- Increases mental and emotional capacity - deal with challenges efficiently
- Slow down aging process
- Stress management and relaxation which increases performance
- Works the deep and postural muscles in the body
- Provides strength and endurance without bulking up
- Healthy, well functioning body, mind, and emotions
- Correctly functioning "muscle memory" (nervous system memory) that works to your advantage - creating good habits
- Assists in effective stress management, as the benefits of Pilates training reflects in all aspects of the mind and body
- Effectively supports - Ingredients for Equestrians, a recipe for success and Posture and horse riding
and much much more......
Pilates has 6 Principals
These principles all have a direct correlation to horse riding
1. Centering: Physically bringing the focus to the center of the body, the core area between the lower ribs and pubic bone. Energetically, Pilates exercises are sourced from center.
2. Concentration: If one brings full attention to the exercise and does it with full commitment, maximum value will be obtained from each movement.
3. Control: Every Pilates exercise is done with complete muscular control. No body part is left to its own devices.
4. Precision: In Pilates, awareness is sustained throughout each movement. There is an appropriate placement, alignment relative to other body parts, and trajectory for each part of the body.
5. Breath: Joseph emphasized using a very full breath in his exercises. He advocated thinking of the lungs as a bellows -- using them strongly to pump the air fully in and out of the body. Most Pilates exercises coordinate with the breath, and using the breath properly is an integral part of Pilates exercise. Pilates breathing is different to other breathing styles - "lateral breathing" into the back and side of ribs, while inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. This helps to keep the core engaged at all times.
6. Flow: Pilates exercise is done in a flowing manner. Fluidity, grace, and ease are goals applied to all exercises. The energy of an exercise connects all body parts and flows through the body in every way.
Keys to Pilates training, and their benefits
All of these keys have an incredible positive influence on your riding.
When you ride effectively (in mind and body) it has a direct positive influence upon your horses' ability to perform. This means, when you get the most out of yourself, it will mirror in the horse.
1. Alignment and Posture
The position and alignment in your body when you are performing the Pilates exercises, is how you strengthen up. Proper alignment balances your skeleton so your muscles are held at their ideal length, without tension. If your body is constantly held out of good alignment, it places a great strain on your muscles, ligaments, and joints, which will reduce your body’s ability to react to the force of gravity, resulting in aches, pains, inhibited movement, and often leads to injuries. Pilates gives you an opportunity to learn to correct your misalignments and allow your muscles to work as efficiently as they should.
The risk of strain or injury is lessened with good alignment.
Improvements in your posture, how you carry yourself, and how you move every day result from awareness of body alignment.
Key benefits
- The impact of gravity on your spine and joints will be reduced every day, whether you are moving or at rest.
- Improve your seat and riding posture building quality riding
- Improves your ability to apply quality and consistent aids
- Allows your horse to move effectively while being ridden
- Decrease likely hood of falls
- Prevents postural related strain, pain, injuries
- Allows you to keep your center of gravity above and in line with the horses' center of gravity, an essential part of riding
2. Strength
Pilates training is a wonderful body-conditioning method. It can be done with little to no equipment. Strength begins with a determination to achieve your best. Over time, you will see your muscles gaining tone and looking sculpted, but you’ll also feel much stronger and more energized. Strong body and strong bodies go hand in hand.
Pilates strengthens the whole body, targeting each muscle group evenly with a mixture of dynamic and static strength training. No body part is neglected. It teaches each muscle to move “anatomically correctly” which means each muscle is trained to do the job it was designed to perform, by nature. You also work on all planes of movement – sitting, lying, standing. This means that the muscles are worked from many different position and directions, producing a uniform and very deep strength and tone, even without using heavy weights.
Pilates emphasizes slow, controlled movements in each exercise. When you move quickly through a movement, momentum often takes over. This means your muscles do less work. By moving slowly with control, you are applying your own strength through an the entirety of the movement. This also forces the nervous system to fire maximum muscles fibers, rather than just the ones you use the most. This strengthens your nervous system, movement and postural muscles.
When you move quickly, it’s easy to compromise your technique and form. Increasing the risk of injury. Rapid movement also shortens the range of motion of your joints. Therefore, performing an exercise too quickly, ends up shortchanging yourself out of getting the most from your workouts. Slow controlled exercises means you’re more likely to use your joint’s full range of motion, leading to greater mobility and strength.
Slow and controlled movements that pilates promotes, is more effective at building strength than faster movements (where your muscles are just along for the ride).
Key benefits
- You are less likely to suffer from muscular and joint aches and pains, or to injure yourself, because your body, muscles, joints are aligned and balanced - the way you carry yourself will be corrected.
- Strength leads to greater health
- Pilates builds strength from the inside out, from your deep core muscles, so that they support your body effectively in movement, and outwards to the limbs.
- Reduced tension and strain in the body results from a strong core, which will also allow your muscles to be free to work with an intensity that will create great results.
- You will have the strength to carry your body effectively with the horse’s movement. You will be able to handle difficult horses with far more ease
- You can ride more effectively for longer periods of time without getting tired
- A correctly trained nervous system means you have accurate subconscious "muscle memory". massively increasing performance.
- Strong bodies creates strong minds, meaning, as a rider, you are able to adapt to change, manage stress and challenges with success
3. Flexibility
We all want to achieve a strong body, but there must be a balance between strength and flexibility, and Pilates is the perfect exercise regime to achieve this. Tight muscles hinder your mobility and can lead to tension, aches, pain and possible injury. Overly tight muscles are called “hypotonic” and in this state can not work effectively. They are like an overly tight dry rubber band. Flexibility is essential for your overall fitness and vitality. It ensures a greater range of movement in your joints, and will in turn mean your joints remain healthy and fare better against normal wear and tear as they age.
Pilates utilizes “eccentric contraction”, which means the muscles elongate as they contract. This involves taking your body into and out of a stretched state repeatedly, in a choreographed movement that is slow and controlled. It warms up the muscles so that they respond more effectively. As you progress through the exercises, you should find your range of movement increasing and your flexibility improving.
Key benefits
- Your muscles are free from tension, and your movement is unrestricted, when you achieve good flexibility.
- Your posture will improve, because you will be able to hold your muscles correctly.
- Better blood circulation results from improved flexibility, because it helps the muscles to align more effectively. Improved circulation also gives you a boost of energy.
- Joints are strong and stable, able to stay healthy as you age: they resist wear and tear better if they are flexible and move freely.
- Your muscles and joints are able to move into, and hold positions that you need them to for riding
- You are able to easily adapt to the various, and sometimes erratic movements of the horse underneath you
4. Shape and tone
For a lot of us, our muscle tone while at rest may be quite weak. Muscles respond quickly to regular exercise, and after a few weeks of Pilates training you should notice visible muscle tone and see your body begin to evolve. Pilates uses your body weight and some small exercise equipment as resistance for shaping your muscles. The method trains every part of your body evenly – front, back, and sides. It utilizes types of muscle contraction that is highly effective for strength, length, stability, and endurance. It also engages the deep postural muscles of your body. All highly necessary for horse riding.
Key benefits
- Develop more muscle definition through Pilates exercise – sculpt your waist and shoulders and tone your abdominals, arms, thighs, and your buttocks. Strong postural muscles stabilize and protects you joints.
- Pilates training creates a toned, stable, aligned and lengthened body
- Having strong joints means they can move or hold the position that you require, for the length of time you require. Strong stable moveable joints are essential for horse riding
- Muscles are able to hold their position when you need, and for how long you need them to
- Muscles are flexible, yet strong
5. Endurance
Pilates builds endurance within individual exercises and also within workouts. The various forms of muscle recruitment utilized in the pilates method have a direct impact on endurance, strength and flexibility. Pilates ensures a focus on improving your concentration to build all its key elements – endurance is derived from the various muscle recruitment styles, that never allow a muscle to be over worked in one exercise (ensuring you do not compensate and use incorrect muscles or go out of alignment), mental strength and therefore requires determination and persistence. In pilates, your mind has conscious control over the body. Your mind visualizing what is wants the body to do at any given moment, resulting in your body becomes stronger, and is able to stay strong, stable and aligned throughout increasingly challenging exercises.
Once you have progressed through the foundation of Pilates, more advanced exercises are performed in sequences without breaks, like a choreographed piece of movement. Initially, while practicing the foundations, you need to take breaks, to learn the movements correctly, utilize the correct muscles, and breathe correctly. More advanced Pilates requires you to perform a linked sequence of exercises. Your muscles will begin to tire after several repetitions, but you need to stay focused and to complete the set. As you work through the levels of Pilates, you will be able to complete a sequence of exercises without pausing.
Key benefits
- Pilates builds stamina, not only physical, but mental.
- Immense strength and tone in the body is developed in Pilates by using your own body weight, and small apparatus equipment.
- Improved concentration results from focusing on completing each repetition, exercise, and sequence.
- You will be able to ride for long periods of time, without compromising your position, effective riding style or getting sore
- You muscles will be able to hold necessary positions for the time period you need them to without getting tired or sore.
- You won’t get mental fatigue due to physically getting tired, or from stress or challenges
6. Stress Relief
Stress is one of the biggest negative factors of modern life, affecting your physical, mental, emotional wellbeing just as much as disease does. Frequent exercise is one of the best remedies for stress and has many benefits. Pilates focuses on breathing – a deep, mindful pattern of breathing that instantly enhances feelings of calm and release in the body and mind. When you are strong, controlled, aligned, balanced, coordinated and aware in your body, they have a direct positive effect on your mind and emotions, through the mind-body connection. Pilates also works constantly on posture: a poised and lifted body, free from tension and pain, creates a calm and stable mind.
Key benefits
- A sense of calm and wellbeing is encouraged by the relaxation of tense muscles during Pilates.
- Pilates releases endorphins, which naturally cause the body and mind to feel more relaxed and positive.
- Your sleep will improve with regular Pilates, which will greatly reduce any fatigue and stress.
- You will feel energized and invigorated, because Pilates forces you to focus on the present moment and the movement you are performing, to the exclusion of your everyday preoccupations and stresses.
- Strong, flexible, adaptable, balanced, controllable, aligned bodies means these are mirrored in emotions and mind. having far reaching benefits as a horse rider.
7. Balance, coordination and proprioception
Pilates training has a highly profound effect the human body. The structured, precise, controlled, slow movements Pilates exercises involve, combined with a variety of effective styles of muscle contractions and correct breathing grants the person dedicated to training consistently with countless benefits. It works a lot with training the nervous system (nerves fire muscles) and muscle memory. These give rise to high levels of balance, coordination and proprioception. This Creates bilateral coordination (using two hands together), ability to cross the midline (imaginary line that runs from nose to pelvis) and hand eye coordination.
Balance and coordination work hand in hand. Balance is the ability to stay upright and in control of your body movement. Coordination is the ability to move two or more body parts under control, smoothly and efficiently.
Proprioception, put simply, is knowing where your body is in space in relation to other parts of the body and objects, the sense of self movement and body position. Proprioceptive signals are transmitted through the nervous system to the brain, where the messages are interpreted and then feedback it given to the body about over all body position and movement. Correctly practiced proprioception exercises leads to movements becoming automatic.
Key benefits
- Increase's body's ability to maintain control during challenging tasks
- Improves agility and reaction times
- helps prevent injuries
- helps prevents falls
- improves cognitive function, attention and concentration
- allows horse riders to meet any challenges horses can present with their own movements
- minimizes fatigue
- creates correct "muscle" (nervous system) memory, allowing you to ride with automatic effectiveness
Pilates, Self Massage and stretch, meditation and self development all work directly together
All these modalities increase the effectiveness of each other.
These are a great combination, effectively complimenting each other in synchronicity.
Massage and stretch works by releasing and realigning. When muscles are over tight (hypo tonic) they won't fire correctly leading to less effective exercise results. Self massage and stretch is designed to mirror Eastern Remedial Massage (A modality of massage I created and have clinically practiced for decades). It is excellent at realigning and opening up the body leaving you able to perform pilates with more ease and movement, therefore getting more out of your workouts. When your body is strong, stable, controlled, open, movable and flexible, it has direct same impact on you mind and emotions. This allows you to cope with challenges, stress and solve problems with ease and clarity
History of Pilates - |