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Posts Tagged ‘pilates’

Five Proven Ways to Improve Your Horseriding

Sunday, August 15th, 2010


Five Proven Ways to Improve Your Horse Riding

By: Josie Amani

As most horse riders will tell you, there’s always room for improvement, even the most advanced riders work relentlessly at improving their riding skills. Here are 5 great tips to help you improve your riding:

1. Watch Others: Watching other riders can help you differentiate between good and bad posture. Humans are usually visual learners and you’d be surprised how much you can learn by watching good riders at work. Make an effort to attend a riding lesson and listen to what the riding instructor is saying, you can pick up a lot of good horse riding tips by doing so. Observe how riders communicate with their horse and pay attention to how the horse responds, you can learn a lot by simply observing others.

2. Enlist the Help of a Trainer: One of the most effective ways to improve your posture and poise is to hire the services of an instructor or trainer and to take some riding lessons. Professional riders enlist the help of trainers to help them fine tune their skills and keep on top of their game. A trainer can help identify problem areas in your riding and they can help you correct them. If you own a horse try to find a trainer who is prepared to work with the two of you, this is the ideal set up and you will find your riding skills improving dramatically.

3. Work on Your Balance: Balance is essential in any equestrian discipline, even if you just want to hack or trail ride. Achieving balance helps protect you from falling off; it helps your horse as well. To achieve good balance try to work with your horse without stirrups and reins and incorporate some bareback work. This is achieved with the assistance of a trainer or friend as the horse should be held on a lunge. If you don’t have someone to assist then try to ride your horse without stirrups or bareback as much as possible.

4. Cross Training: Keeping physically fit is essential as it helps you ride better! Pilates has become very popular among equestrians in recent years as it focuses on increasing the strength of your body’s core. This form of exercise in particular focuses on building lower abdominal strength which is vital for maintaining balance and good posture when riding. Almost any exercise will be beneficial, but especially so are strength and agility exercises.

5. Practice: You’ve heard the saying “practice makes perfect” so get out there and start practicing! Clinics, exercising and observing others will only get you so far, you need to apply what you learn. Whether you’re riding for pleasure or competing, the more you ride, the better at it you’ll become!

Author Resource:->  Stal Amani offers professional training and retraining services at competitive prices to help address any problems your horse may have. Whether your horse is untrained or needs retraining, Stal Amani can help your horse reach his full potential through expert assessment and handling. Transport can be arranged for your horse and you will even receive fortnightly video footage of your horse’s progress. Please visit http://www.stalamani.com

Article From Pet Article World

Exercise-Cardio,Strength,Flexibility

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

There are three types of exercise that can be of benefit to you.
Strength training could be the solution for you if you have been on the dieting merry go round for years, losing weight and putting it back on as fat. Lifting weights is one of the best ways to do strength training. It can be done with a personal trainer, in a gym class, or on your own using hand weights, resistance bags or your own body weight. Squats, lunges, pushups and tricep dips are effective ways to strength train the major muscle groups using your own body weight as resistance.

Cardiovascular exercise makes you a little or a lot out of breath, it is all about working the lungs, heart and circulatory system. Your muscles are getting a workout as well which involves a great deal of energy, so you’re burning off kilojoules which will be coming from fat stores which will help with weight control and shaping up your body. It can be brisk walking, jogging, running, cycling, rowing, aerobics, swimming,skiing, team sports, racquet sports. Interval training is the process of training at higher intensities for short periods followed by longer periods of lower intensity. Studies have shown that interval training increases the amount of fat that you can burn during a workout.
Flexibility is important as we age for reducing the risk of injury,preventing back problems, maintaining good mobility and posture. Stretching, yoga and pilates incorporate aspects of flexibility training. Improved flexibility can increase the range of movement through your joints, reduce stress through relaxing tight muscles, improve posture, improve circulation, reduce injuries.
Get more tips and strategies to begin your journey to better health here now.

Exercise versus Activity

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Activities are the smaller acts of movement that we perform during the course of our day, for example house cleaning, walking the dog, walking to work, gardening etc.
Exercise is usually a more formal session of intense movement which is more structured with a focus on a desired result. It includes taking part in team sport, running, swimming, cycling, or a class such as yoga or pilates.
More exercise can be incorporated into our daily lives through our activities.
Get started on improving your health now.