A common barrier to instituting an exercise regimen is lack of time. As riders, we already spend a great deal of time at the barn, in the saddle, caring for our horses, and in activities surrounding our sport. However, while riding is very specific training for a very specific sport, it doesn’t cover all of our exercise bases.

While we are often concerned with readily-available fitness markers such as body fat and endurance, other important exercise parameters are markers for insulin sensitivity, muscle health, and VO2max (a measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during intense exercise, which reflects the cardiovascular system’s ability to utilize oxygen, disperse it to the tissues, and turn it into productive energy).

Interval training – short, hard bursts of maximal or near-maximal exertion – can elicit similar or even superior changes in a range of physiological, performance, and health-related markers in a wide range of individuals. Martin Gibala, a PhD at McMaster University in the department of Kinesiology who has studied the effects of interval training extensively, wrote a book called The One Minute Workout detailing the science behind shorter and more efficient training. These intervals can improve the body’s ability to utilize blood glucose and store it for energy, and improve transport capacity, fitness levels, and decrease body fat and blood sugar, thus conveying health, fitness, and performance benefits across the board – all within a fraction of the time commitment of traditional endurance exercise.

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