Equestrians spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve our horses' fitness. We increase their workload, incorporate conditioning rides, and recognize that building strength and endurance takes time.

But riders often forget that same principle can be applied to the human fitness aspect of our sport!

Maybe you carved out time in your schedule to get your regular off-horse training routine in, it feels fatiguing, your muscles burn... is it translating to the saddle? Are you increasing in muscle strength? Or are you just effectively fatiguing yourself out even more?

Just because a workout FEELS fatiguing doesn't mean it's developing muscle strength. 

One of the most important principles behind strength development is something called progressive overload. Understanding how it works can help you make more informed decisions about your training and if you are properly working towards strength goals OR just fatiguing yourself out. 

Progressive Overload:

Our tissues are very good at adapting to the demands we place on them. 

Think about the first time you tried to regularly perform an exercise - like when you started riding in the first place! It was a new movement with little muscle stabilizers that were needed to be used in ways you hadn't regularly used before! Your body typically is muscle sore for a bit while your nervous system organizes itself to this new movement. But once you are consistent with riding, your body adapts and it's no longer sore after rides.

And then you try riding a different horse?! You quickly find out your muscles are loaded a little bit differently. Maybe that horse needs more right leg, or you have to sit taller and more upright. It puts you back to feeling muscle soreness for a brief period of time until your body adapts. 

This is the foundation of progressive overload: gradually increasing the demands placed on your body as your physical capacity improves.

Now in this same example- once you got use to riding your body accommodates to the new movement pattern and then you aren't sore after your rides anymore. That is because your nervous system AND your muscular system have properly adjusted to the demands you need for that task. If you increase that demand- like with a long trail ride, or riding in a clinic - you may experience some increase in muscle fatigue or even muscle soreness after. 

The tricky thing is that once your body has developed the strength for that movement pattern (like riding for this example) it can maintain there with consistency, but it likely won't increase in strength without a change in the demand - like the clinic or trail rides. 

In the context of exercise : if you're consistently performing the same exercises with the same resistance, repetitions, and level of effort, your body may eventually adapt enough that the training no longer provides a sufficient stimulus for continued strength development.

That's where progressive overload comes in for off-horse training and why it is VITAL for equestrian athletes. 

This isn't about lifting heavier:

One of the biggest misconceptions about strength training is that getting stronger means you need to increase the weight you're lifting every single week. The truth is: you want to change the input. While increasing resistance is an important strategy for developing strength, it's not the ONLY way to progress your training.

There are actually several variables that can be adjusted!

• Resistance: Same sets, same reps, different weight. 
• Repetitions: Same sets but you can do more with the same weight.
• Sets: Same weight, same repetitions, but adding an additional round.
• Speed: Same weight, same repetitions, but slowing the exercise down OR speeding it up!
• Range of motion: Maybe your squat depth is further or lifting arms higher for the exercise.
• Exercise difficulty: Instead of a typical lunge you might make it a curtsy lunge or with a weight carried on one side. This can change the muscle activation (like a posterior lunge to a curtsy lunge) and will also challenge your nervous system.
  
  

Let's say you are doing a 10lb squat for 3 sets of 8 repetitions to start.

If we change resistance: you lift 15 lbs for 3 sets of 8 repetitions

If we change repetitions: you lift 10lbs for 3 sets of 10 repetitions

If we change sets: you lift 10lbs for 4 sets of 8 repetitions

If we change speed: you lift 10lbs for 3 sets of 8 repetitions but you add a 3 sec hold at the base.

If we change range of motion: you lift 10lbs for 3 sets of 8 repetitions but you go as low as possible with your squat

If we change exercise difficulty: you lift 10lbs for 3 reps of 8 repetitions but you do a heels-elevated squat for more quad activation.

That's how progressive load can be applied to just ONE exercise.

It's important to recognize that these different methods don't necessarily produce identical adaptations. Increasing repetitions may improve muscular endurance and performance at a particular load, while progressively increasing resistance is especially useful for developing maximal strength.

The key is understanding what you're trying to improve and adjusting your training accordingly.

Measurable Changes:

If you know me, you know I am a big fan of objective measurements. Yes, feeling stronger is important. But it is vital to have true objective data showing your progress. 

1. You Can Lift More Weight

One of the clearest signs of improved strength is being able to perform the same movement with greater resistance.

If you were doing the 10lb squat for 3 sets of 8 repetitions.. but now you can do a 20lb squat for 3 reps of 8 repetitions - consider that a strength gain!

2. You Can Complete More Repetitions

Maybe you're not ready to increase resistance, but you can now perform more repetitions with the same weight.

Now you can squat 10lbs for 3 repetitions of 12 repetitions! That IS progress too. 

3. The Same Exercise Feels Easier

This is a bit subjective - but still something to take into account as as sign of adaptation.

Maybe those squats use to feel like the hardest thing in the world and had you really dreading them. But now you don't LOVE them but they aren't as bad as they use to. 

One way to track this is through Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), a subjective scale used to measure how challenging an exercise or workout feels. 

In strength training, RPE is commonly measured on a scale from 1–10, with 1 representing minimal effort and 10 representing maximal effort. It gives a measurable way of documenting what is typically a subjective feeling! So it's a win/win for my clinical brain.

4. Objective Testing Shows Improvements

For athletes who have access to strength testing, measurements of force production can provide additional insight into physical adaptations.

In my practice I look at dynamometery for specific muscles AND performance based testing for power and speed. Repeating these measurements can help identify changes over time.

What Does This Look Like in Practice?

Let's use a simple example of how someone might progress a squat exercise over four weeks.

In this example, the athlete gradually increases repetitions before increasing resistance. The exercise is the same week to week, but still provides new challenge by changing stimulus. That way this athlete is ensuring progress and seeing measurable changes in real-time!

BUT take into account this is a static example with numbers, not a real workout.

What if there are multiple exercises within a workout?
Or if you're going to a horse show this week and don't want to be sore?

If you try to max your weight out at every single workout, with every single exercise, your body will accumulate fatigue after a few months of that type of training. 

AND if you do your 10lb squats for 3 sets of 8 repetitions on the most relaxing week of your life and then you did the same exact exercise on the week you have a big deadline at work AND you are coming down with a cold AND your kid wakes you up 4 times in the night AND your horse turns up lame... that exercise is going to feel different. 

So yes, progression is important in your training. BUT it is most effective if there is ebb and flow in the intensity of your training. That's why it can be helpful to navigate this with coach! 

The Bottom Line: Train for Adaptation, Not Exhaustion

Equestrians understand that building a stronger, more capable horse requires patience, consistency, and appropriately progressed training...  the rider's body also deserve that same intentional thought. 

If you are training off-horse (first off, YAY!, your body thanks you) you want to make sure that training is benefiting you in the tack. So your program should incorporate progressive overloading principles. BUT that doesn't mean constantly pushing harder, lifting heavier, or finishing every workout completely exhausted.

Your strength training should promote true tissue adaptation - not just make you just "feel the burn" and fatigue your system!

Feel overwhelmed or not sure where to start? Let's chat!