#position problems

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

Part 4 - sitting trot and canter biomechanics.

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

Actually went to the gym and filmed some stuff for @dressagestrengthtraining which i will try to upload in the next few days 😎😎

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

Part 2

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

Part 3

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

Walk and rising trot work with the physio today. Started off with some straight lines to get an idea of my crookedness lol.

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

@the-golden-paw that's so sweet ❤ for lower body, things like squats on the bosu, on the foam roller, single leg deadlifts, balance lunges in the trx/suspension trainer or balancing on a step, squats raising the swiss ball, things like crab walks and clams for my glutes, hamstring curls on the swiss ball, basic squats with weights (big thing with me was always doing it as heel/hip aligned as possible tho shoulders ofc tipped forward), all that kind of stuff off the top of my head. Idk if you know of my blog @dressagestrengthtraining but check out my 'lower body' tag there, that has way more stuff than i can remember atm! The big thing my equestrian pilates class offers is a Pilates Reformer. They're really reflective of riding bc you have one central bit that moves around with resistance cables and super challenges your stability. Unfortunately they're like 1k but yeah a lot of exercises were on there once a week too!

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

Showed pilates instructor my pelvic tilts which i have been practising like a biatch And she said they were hugely better!! Like i could do it on the ball AND incorporate a bounce like in the rising trot!! Eeeek! I'm so amazed that I could get it that fast! Next step (1) - incorporating engaging my core and doing it, aka not tucking the pelvis to engage, followed by lunge lessons working on it. Next step (2) - canter :(((((( so goddamn hard. Aghhhh Anyway i thought it would take me montths just to get it on the ground and it's taken me two weeks I'm so happy

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

I can't afford a gym membership (they're all fancy boutique ones near me!) but I think I need to work on my muscles especially in my back and shoulders - do you have any ideas? You're like go-to-girl for fitness questions for me hahaha...

Hey! 

Don’t worry, I’m going to my gym because it’s the el cheapo-est around at $13 a week (and no contract yasss)

Aight well I’m going to discuss some equipment and then some exercises, and then you can decide which exercises you would like to prioritise/which equipment you might buy.

Equipment

In terms of equipment, you could get away with setting up a home gym for yourself for (I’m just checking out US kmart/target [which are surprisingly more expensive than ours considering your minimum wage is lower????] for these so if there are special fitness stores, you may get them for better prices, not to mention there might be sale pages on fb of this equipment which after a bit of sanitising spray are as good as new):

-Swiss ball (I do 55cm bc short legs - I’m 156cm/5′1-’2) - You can get them for between $13-15

-Bosu Ball / Balance Board. I checked out American Kmart/Target and bosu’s are like $45USD minimum so up to you if you want to spend that much - otherwise you could probably get away with a balance board like this [X] or a wobble disk like this [X] - both are about $25. These are generally more helpful with lower body/balance stuff, but they’re always good to have around even if you do need to focus mostly on your upper body. 

-Foam roller - $21 from Kmart [X]I would get a full one. You can do stretching exercises on it which are awesome as well. If you’re like me, then your weakness in one area also means you have tightness in another muscle group that you’re using to compensate. So for me, my particular weakness is in the stabilising muscles around my shoulder blades which help to keep my shoulders back. So I compensate by hunching and so have significant tightness in my chest bc that area is always ‘closed off’. So anyway my go to stretch is lying with my back on the foam roller, and putting my arms out to the side in an L shape, hands towards my head. It stretches out the chest like a mothafucka and is soooo good for me. So anyway, I would recommend it.

Resistance Bands - about $12 [X]

TRX - totally optional, but just if you want a bit of variety. I didn’t see any of these on target, but yeah, not that important, but does work the muscle in a different way which can be good:

Weights... depends on how strong you are. I have always had difficulty putting on muscle *correctly* bc of my stabilising muscles in my upper body, and my lower body’s issues caused by years of walking flat footed and so closed hips/shitty glute strength etc etc etc. So even with pilates for the last 10 months, and gymming for the last 4, I’ve been putting on muscle slower than I would like. 

So anyway, in upper body, the absolute max I can do in anyyy exercise is 6kg. Which is like one. They’re my back exercises. My shoulder exercsises the most I can do is 4kg, I started out being able to do 1-2kg. And in particular exercises I went from not being able to lift my own weight of my arms lmfao. Legs, I used to be seriously weak there too, but they’ve come a long way. In a deep squat I can still only do 10 x 4kg in a set, and then in a shallow, more horsey squat I can do 12. Again, 10 months ago, I actually couldn’t do my own body weight lol.

So anyway, depends on how strong you are.

I personally change whether I prefer kettlebells or weights for particular exercises. Shoulder presses, my pilates instructor prefers me to use kettlebells, but I find them bulky and awful so use dumbbells. Squats I prefer kettlebells, same as exercises on the swiss ball like russian twists. So which one you prefer is up to you. It may be worth booking in a casual visit to a gym and going and trying out each of these exercises before you decide which lot of equipment you’d prefer to buy, if any.

In terms of buying, I’ve found a badass place on aussie ebay where you could get a 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 10kg set of kettlebells for $30. You could probably get away with one of those 3 piece dumbbell sets you see at kmart if you’re weak like me, and then just buy ones up from that as you go.

Exercises

General exercise posts from my gym tag -

[X]

[X]

[X]

[X]

Specific exercises for shoulders

Wall Pushups

Shoulder Press

Variation 1 

There’s more room for error here so I tend to stay away from this one

The one I do is kind of like this? I start more with my arms in an L shape, thinking shoulder blades together, then go up/down. 

Back against wall lift

I could find no pics of this online, so anyway. Stand with your back against the wall, so your shoulder blades and butt are making contact with the wall. Your legs will probably be a tiny bit in front of you. I prefer to do this with more than a slight bend in my knees, bc it reduces the chance that I’ll fuck up my knees by overcompensating with an area in my legs.

So ja, back against wall, then extend your arms from being flat against the wall, to up over your head. You want your palms facing down. Point is that your shoulder blades will want to leave the wall, but they need to stay flat against it. This is the one where I could initially only lift my body weight and can now lift like 1.5kg lol. So yeah, then you add a weight if it’s feeling easy, again, your arms are facing downward, not open palmed.

Pullbacks on swiss ball

So sitting on the swiss ball like so:

And putting your resistance band around some object which isn’t going to move, break, pulling back, with shoulders back etc etc:

Bent over row

The swiss ball isn’t necessary for this one.

Shoulder lift

Again, this is one that was very specific to my weak points.

So I would lie face down on the mat, arms down by your side, head on the mat, etc. Keeping your head down, lift your shoulder up on one side, careful you’re not tensing up through your neck to lift it. So one of your shoulders will be doing this, just not as high with your arms, and no legs:

Then you basically lift your shoulder blade up in that position, then you do lift your arm to that height. Then return your arm to the original height, then carefully lower your shoulder blade. Repeat on the other side. If that gets easy you could add either a dumbbell or a resistance band under your tummy and pull it up. Just careful you don’t lock your elbow straight or you’ll end up with joint pain.

These ones below are good for shoulders if done correctly. You need to keep your weight over your shoulders and think about keeping them back etc etc.

Supermans on the foam roller:

Starting like this

Then this - 

Just yeah, the off arm on the roller.

Russian twists

I do these with a dumbbell and not a medicine ball. Again, solid shoulder blades to get that benefit.

Jackknives -

Or start on the foam roller (easier)

Again, all of the benefit comes if you keep your weight over your shoulders and keep them in a solid position. Obviously these are going to work different muscles, eg your core will hurt like a bitch, but then it’s challenging yourself to be able to hold a solid shoulder position while dying in these other exercises. 

Anyway I hope all of this helps! These are just ones I have been given myself, I don’t want to give advice on exercises I’ve never tried, and there may well be some out there which I’m too weak to try but could be good for you. And yeah, if you want stuff for all over the body, check the posts which I’ve hyperlinked (I would recommend working all areas rather than just one, though you can focus on one by doing more sets, days a week, etc on that area than you would on others).

Good luck!