How much do you REALLY need to work out?

One of the biggest objections to strength training that I hear from riders is that they don’t have time to work out. They have full time jobs, kids to feed and shuttle to soccer practice, barn chores to get done… not to mention ACTUALLY riding and enjoying their horse. Strength training doesn’t seem like an option and despite best efforts here and there to try, athletes try and give up after a few weeks because keeping up with a full workout routine is near impossible and downright discouraging.

So I wanted to take the time today to discuss exactly how much time you should expect to be in the gym if you want to add strength training as part of your regimen. The answer might surprise you!

Let’s start here, when most people start a workout program, they want to immediately aim for optimal. They go and they google around for a plan and find something that promises killer fitness in 30 days or something like that. They pick a program with hard daily workouts and want to squeeze everything they can out of it. It makes sense when you think about it… in so many areas of life, the harder (and more) we work, the more we get. Overtime is paid at time and a half right?

Well the thing here is that shooting for optimal is going to work for maybe 1% of the population - those athletes who are preparing for the olympics and where being an athlete is their full time job. Optimal is not real, optimal is perfectionism wearing a labcoat. Optimal doesn’t leave wiggle room and optimal becomes failure very quickly.

Optimal is not designed for you. Would you take a green horse and throw it into the optimal program that someone on the internet created for a completely different horse? Absolutely not! You would start slow, give the horse some easy wins, adapt as you go. Keep it simple.

That is EXACTLY what we need to do with our programs too.

With my clients, we don’t talk about optimal. We talk about minimum effective dose. How little can we do to elicit the largest positive change. This is particularly important if you are new to strength training.

As riders, we have another unique scenario that many programs don’t take into account. We are already VERY active! Take a random internet program, and chances are it was designed for someone who lives a sedentary lifestyle, because that’s what most googlers are. That is not you! Jumping into a big program could very quickly lead to overtraining and injury if you are already very active. Again, we need to consider the minimum effective dose.

So what is the magic number that will move the needle for you? Well it depends on a lot of factors so I can’t just give you that magic number. My job as a Personal Trainer is to help you find that magic number through experience, trial and error, logistical constraints, and personality. What I can do, is give you some examples of clients who are doing the minimum and getting BETTER results than if they were doing more.

1) My group training sessions run 5 days a week and we do 30 minutes. The first 5 or so are warming up, and the final 5-10 are cooling down and stretching. So that’s about 15 minutes of actual strength training. We pick 2-3 exercises to work on each session and that is IT. No big long list of exercises, just a couple done really well. Most of the group has been with me for 2+ years now and are still seeing progress… the only downside is they are frequently shopping for bigger weights to lift! If you are someone who thrives on routine, this little bit every day technique is great for you and helps to avoid overtraining and burnout.

2) I have a client who has been with me about 6 months and was new to lifting. She comes in to see me once a week and we spend about an hour together. She doesn’t train at home, but things like better posture and body awareness does increase her activity outside of our sessions. She has made tremendous improvement, the other day she deadlifted 80 lbs for the first time, vs when she started she was able to lift roughly 20lbs. She is absolutely the poster for less is more! This is a very achievable program for most of us. 1 hour a week, focus on compound movements done well. You will have a lot of free time too!

3) Previously I had a client with a rather erratic schedule, so planning workouts was challenging. What I ended up doing for her was writing a program that was 3 different workouts, each 5 minutes long, that she could do at the barn before she rode (done twice if she was feeling frisky!) Pairing the training with something she was already in the habit of doing made it easy for her to work it in. There are lots of heavy things to lift at the barn and hey… you are already dressed to get dirty and move. Bonus here too is that it can help bring you into your body before your ride, which is great for your focus!

4) Myself - I would consider myself to be a pretty advanced lifter at this stage, so you would think that I need to do a lot to either maintain or to make progress. In reality, I do only about 2 full workouts per week (about an hour long). I go to the gym in town because I maxed out the dumbbells I have at home. To be efficient with my time, I push myself to lift heavy. I frequently join in with my group training sessions, but go light just to keep moving in between workouts. In the last year I have lost about 20lbs of fat AND doubled the weight I am capable of lifting on all my major lifts.

So as you can see, you don’t have to go excessively hard in order to have an impact. Newbie gains are a real thing and you can ride those out with a very minimal program. If you are more advanced, chances are doing less and really focusing on quality can still net you huge improvements. So if the committment to a large program has been holding you back, consider what the very least amount you could do would be. Do it consistently and make it quality.

If you need help, I do have some spaces available for one on one clients, don’t be shy, send me a quick email and we can chat about options (an added bonus of less is more is also that the cost is surprisingly affordable compared to programs that will require you to commit to 3-4x per week of personal training!).

Ok I know this is getting long but I have one more quick tip as it relates to this. Chances are your riding is pretty seasonal. If you are like me and you are looking out at knee deep snow and -30C windchill, now is the time to lean more to the optimal side of the spectrum. You can build strength in the off season then ride it out in the summer with shorter, fewer, and/or less intensity. Your program should always be adapting. Having a trainer on your team for planning can be a huge asset.

Ok, cheers and happy lifting!

Sarah

PS I lied, I still have one more thing I want to remind you - and that is your workout program should make you feel more energized, not beat up. The notion that we have to punish ourselves in the gym is outdated and counterproductive for gains and enjoyment of your sport. If you are finding you are feeling worse after your workout, that is a good sign you are doing too much. Scaling back to your minimum effective dose will help you make progress and learn to love your workouts again!