Health & Fitness

 I have talked before about how Bob Gutowitz shows dozens of young riders every year at the RDHMW how really out of shape we are.  That fact plus the awareness I gained from Nike of the necessity of having a more complete health and fitness package to be a highly competitive athlete has made me step up my physical demands of my training.  Most of us ride several horses a day, six days a week.  We do endless barn chores like cleaning stalls, lifting hay bales and we are getting in lots of walking to and from the pastures! But looking fit and feeling fit enough is not enough.  

So I researched the gyms in Wellington and met with some personal trainers.  For my most intense training I selected the Youfit gym on Wellington Trace.  I like the more personal nature of a small gym over the what I call ‘fitness supermarkets’ like LA fitness.  Youfit doesn’t have a pool, saunas or many group classes.  But it has 2 stories of both cardio, circuit and freeweight training. I also like the fact that the cost is only 10 dollars unlimited use per month with no contract.  A personal trainer is 25 dollars an hour which is also very reasonable.  I see Jake for 3 hours of work a week and Steve the owner for one hour and they each concentrate on different objectives.  They also have nutrition and dietician specialists that are working up an overall diet plan for me.  So that probably means no more devouring whole chocolate cakes.  Ok, while the cake story is true those of you that know me also know I am usually a good eater.  I have never liked soda, and I have never in my life eaten all my Halloween or Easter candy.  In fact, I buy bars of dark chocolate and they stay in the fridge for weeks.  I eat lots of fruits, veggies and protein.  I thought I was a healthy eater other than the occasional binge!  But I have been told by the nutritionist that sometimes the things we think are ‘healthy’ aren’t.  So I am really excited to get my new diet.  Also I received several boxes of Raw Revolution protein bars.  Now some of you also know I won’t eat anything that I don’t like the taste of, and most health foods really make me gag.  However, the Raw Revolution bars actually taste great.  I particularly like the cranberry, almond and coconut bars the BEST!  I guess I look at changing my eating similar to how we feed horses.  Different horses with different ages, body sizes and physical work get different mixes of calories and grains verses hay.  So people depending on what they will be doing physically, their size and age also would have different nutritional requirements.  Maybe that would be a great lecture to add to all the EDAP clinics!  We always do a horse nutrition lecture but not so much about people.  Interestingly, I think most youth riders research and care more about what they give their horses then what they put in their own mouths!  I know I always have. 

In about two weeks when I get over the initial, “I am in so much pain I can hardly move phase,” I intend to add back in Pilates and other individual classes in my routine.  I loved them in SoCal and they helped my back and core a lot.  But I had such an amazing instructor in SoCal that I haven’t been as happy here.

Finally, ANY youth riders out there who want to encourage each other or work together to share ideas on workouts, how to fit nutrition in at the barn and other ideas, lets communicate on my blog, fan page or over Instagram!  I am also going to be posting little videos from my workouts to give everyone ideas to try at home.  That way those of you who are at school and don’t have time or the benefits of a personal trainer can get the knowledge I do from Jake and Steve!  Oh, and just so you meet them I will post pictures of my trainers too.  Let’s get fit together and motivate each other.  I know there are times I do not want to get back up after a long day at the barn and go back to work out.  I need you guys too!