How do you build leg strength for riding? I workout a lot along with riding, but I found that I really need more leg strength. Could you please give me some examples of recommendations?
Like leg strength to grip? or to stay in two point? Riding without stirrups will help more than anything at the gym, but if you want to back up the riding then yoga and pilates are going to do the most good. If you must do weights, do a lesson without stirrups and see what gets sore. Work out those muscles. Doing a ton of weight machines can develop unbalanced muscle strength because they are designed to isolate particular muscles or groups. Machines also do a poor job of strengthening the small supportive muscles and connective tissue around your ankle, knee, and hip girdle which are so important to prevent injury and give you the minute control you want when riding. On top of that, your core is arguably more important than your legs in being an effective rider. So whole body exercises that emphasize control and flexibility (yoga, pilates, barre) are going to do more for you than the treadmill and the weight machine circuit. Hope that helps!
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I found that spin class helped because you get up off the bike a lot so it is somewhat akin to two point, but I really really hate spin class so it was a short-lived experiment for me, lol.
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Ride without stirrups and do some exercises like that. Stay in two point for as long as possible, I’m talking 10 minute intervals increasing each time, these do wonders for building up position and leg strength.
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Other then riding exercises. I run in the summer and all year have been going to SoulCycle (spin class). I think its really helped with cardio and the resistance on the bike has really built up my leg strength. Also i like the positiveness of the Soul Cycle classes.
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I agree that exercises on the horse are the best (though Spin, Pilates-type exercise, and the like are also fabulous all-around prep for riding). If you can’t bear the thought of riding without stirrups (which is my go-to), then try standing straight up in your stirrups at the walk, trot, and canter. Hanging onto mane is totally acceptable, and probably required in the beginning. I’ve never found anything on a horse that helps solidify and strengthen a rider’s legs as much!
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There is a certain degree of leg strength involved with riding, but oftentimes riders who think they need more leg strength really need a stronger core.
My go-to program is no-stirrup work plus yoga. No stirrup work, done correctly, makes you use everything more correctly and builds strength and endurance in the legs.
I find yoga to be extremely effective because it emphasizes the small muscle groups we use while riding and gets you connected and strong in the core. It also emphasizes strength through grace and ease, which I find has really translated well to riding, because in riding you need a soft kind of strength, particularly with a sensitive or hot horse.
I think in riding you need general strength in all the usual areas, but you especially need core strength so that every area can work independently of the other. That’s what’s tough. An automatic release, for example, is impossible if you don’t have the independence of the arm from the body and leg. Or being able to make a correction with the right leg while holding the body in position everywhere else. And I think that’s where the core and torso strength really come in.
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Pilates or yoga. My pilates parallels riding in so many ways its almost freaky. Both trainers gripe at me for the same things and they compliment each other enormously.
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Conveniently, there’s a good article in this weeks COTH that is all about lower leg strength exercises!
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A lot of it depends on the horses gait as well. On one horse no stirrups work may be comfortable and easy, on the next horse the impulsion may move you in all directions which really emphasizes how important a strong core is. It’s often the opposite for two point. A horse with a lot of impulsion will “bounce” you back up so it seems like two point is easy, where a smoother horse will make it obvious if you keep falling back down towards the saddle.
Can you tell I have one of each?
I spend a lot of time doing squats or balancing with my toes on a ledge or step dropping my heels without falling forward when I’m waiting for patients at work. At home whenever I’ve got a few minutes I’ll work on my core, lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. I spend a lot of time sitting at work so I try to make sure that when I activate muscles it will be in the correct order.
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@GoodTimes so true!! My mare is nicknamed The Sofa, but my youngster is a freaking bouncy castle at the trot. So I do all my no-stirrups posting work on the mare, and the no-stirrups sitting work on the boy.
Now, if someone can offer advice on core strength for the office jockey amateur whose youngster has suddenly found his Papa-endowed (Cabardino) withers at an oxer, I’m all ears. I swear he discovered his hocks and his shoulder shrug in one school. And I was struggling to keep up with him!
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I almost burst out laughing! My bouncy castle is also a Cabardino! He’s 8, I’ve had him since he was a yearling. I can stick with his jump 99% of the time, it’s when he lands off a big oxer, feels all proud, and bucks like a rodeo star that gets me -_-
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Luckily for me I think I have another year before we start jumping anything substantial. searches kiji for personal trainers
Squats! Doing them with a free bar will build leg strength & core; I also find that it helps me really lock in where my center of balance needs to be. If you haven’t done them before, make sure you get someone knowledgeable to help you with proper form, at least for the first couple tries.
I also do squats on a balance board, without weights, which helps my leg position a ton. Like other people said, it’s hard to know if you really need core strength or leg strength, so a lot of the best exercises will develop both at once.
If you have access to a gym, you can also try the weight machines; I tend to edit my workout a little based on what felt the weakest during my last ride.
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