Shape up!
By Imogen Johnson
General news
21 December 2011 07:00
If you’ve made it here you’ll already know that we asked (or rather told) Your Horse editorial assistant Emily Laughton and Your Horse gear editor Allison Lowther to undertake a fitness assessment by Matt Hart and Anth Roland of Torq Fitness, followed by a carefully tailored fitness and nutrition plan that could be monitored and followed up three months later.
Before the fitness tests could take place Matt and Anth asked Emily and Ally to give them an idea of their exercise and diet and here’s what they looked like:
Emily Laughton
Emily owns two horses, an eventer and a young horse. She events at intermediate level and has been riding for 14 years.
EXERCISE
• I Muck out in the evening daily.
• I ride my event horse six days a week for 45 minutes (first thing in the morning or after work)
• I ride my young horse for 45 minutes, five days a week
• During the event season I have one or two one hour lessons a week (jumping) - normally late at night after work!
• I don’t do any other formal exercise.
DIET: NORMAL DAY
• Before 9am: it varies between, toast, cereal or nothing
• Mid morning – chocolate or crisps, very rarely fruit
• Lunch: varies between soup, noodles, sandwich or chips
• Afternoon: chocolate if I've not had any in the morning
• Dinner: chilli and rice or pasta - (I'm vegetarian so all veggie stuff)
DIET: COMEPTITION DAY
• A banana if I can manage it!
Allison Lowther
Alison owns two horses, both of which are kept on DIY livery. She competes in dressage at novice/elementary level and has ridden for 31 years.
EXERCISE
• My horses are kept on DIY livery so I muck out two stables, carrying water, filling haynets, turning out etc seven days a week (twice a day).
• I ride for approximately 40 minutes six days a week. Mainly schooling in trot and canter and I’ll hack once a week mainly in walk.
DIET: NORMAL DAY
• At 6am I have breakfast, which is normally porridge or toast and ac up of tea
• At 9.30am I’ll have a cup of tea and a cereal bar
• Mid morning I have a banana
• For lunch I’ll usually have a sandwich or salad, a bag of crisps and several pieces of fruit (apple/pear)
• Mid afternoon I have a chocolate bar
• In the evening I always have a cooked meal including vegetables etc.
DIET: COMEPTITION DAY
• A cup of tea and possibly a banana
• I won’t eat until I’ve finished competing then I have something like can of coke, a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar!
Matt and Anth agreed that both Emily and Ally’s diets left a lot to be desired and that their lack of formal exercise was certainly something they could both work on.
Following their assessment day at the Torq Fitness HQ Anth put together three -month plans for Ally and Emily to follow. To see an example of their weekly workout plans click on their names below.
Ally
Emily
Watch our video to find out what went on during the fitness day by clicking here
Your Horse would like to thank Matt and Sasha Hart and Anth Roland for all of their help with this exciting feature. Our day at Torq HQ was extremely interesting and really inspired all of us to think about our fitness and diets. We really look forward to seeing the results of this experiment and hope you enjoy reading about it!
To find out more about Torq Fitness visit www.torqfitness.co.uk