Why DO we Cross-Train?

By Jec A. Ballou

The search for mastery brings with it the question of specificity. If you are trying to master a particular sport, should you focus on and practice that sport exclusively? Or might cross-training, and using tools from outside that sport, benefit you in some way? Certainly, there is a lot to argue in favour of practicing only your sport in order to get better at it. From a physiological standpoint, there is even more to argue for multi-disciplinary training.

Most simply, cross-training allows you more tools to accomplish the job. And isn’t it always better to have a few possible solutions rather than just one?

Having more tools allows you to avoid repetitive movements and to change neuromuscular patterns quicker. Let me offer a real-life example.

Riding down hills is an excellent cross-training exercise for the crooked horse as it requires him to equalize the load and effort of each forelimb, helping his movement patterns to become symmetrical. Photo: Shutterstock/Skumer

Many horses have a dominant side, meaning they lean with their bodies or drift towards that direction. Turning the horse in this direction, or trying to ride around a circle, will feel like being on a motorcycle that is tipped towards the ground. A horse with this kind of crookedness in his body alignment can be rough to canter, difficult to bend, and unresponsive to your leg cues. 

Related: How Horses and Humans Learn, Adapt, and Grow

When a horse has a side-dominance, the respective forelimb becomes not only stronger but also “stuck” to the body because of fascia adhesions and tighter muscles. The scapula loses its full range of motion to rotate back each stride. To use analogy, it is like one of your shoulders being glued in a rolled forward position. In a simplified description, the shoulder is frozen in place. To correct this, our job is to help the scapula rotate back fully each stride in order to move with more grace and fluidity.

In dressage, we usually attempt to accomplish this by riding exercises like circles, shoulder-fore, or shoulder-in. These tools work by encouraging the shoulder that is positioned on the inside of the turn to draw upwards and back as the horse curves his body. As with any exercise, though, many horses quickly become clever about modifying their body position slightly in order to NOT draw the shoulder up and back. Sometimes they will make their necks rigid and push their jaw/head to one side or they might make other small changes that negate the outcome we are trying to reach. These include changing their speed, holding their breath, or shifting their hips off the line of travel.

To use another human analogy, these occurrences are the same as when I change my form ever so slightly in order to make doing push-ups a lot easier. When I do this, I end up going through the motions of a push-up but without the positive result. A perfectly good exercise fails to reach the intended goal because of minor interference.

Luckily, we can eliminate this interference through cross-training and utilizing a collection of varied exercises instead of drilling the same unsuccessful routine day after day. I consider this working smarter, not harder.

In the above example of the crooked horse, an excellent complimentary exercise is riding down hills. The balance needed to negotiate this terrain necessitates good scapula rotation for the horse. The horse has to equalize the load and effort of each forelimb. Gradually, asymmetrical movement patterns become symmetrical. Crooked horses almost always are able to ride better circles in the arena after spending some time riding down hills. This is one example of the value in using multiple tools to resolve a challenge.

In closing, I offer the words of Dr. Gerd Heuschmann: “An excellent dressage horse moves safely through the countryside and willingly jumps obstacles of every sort.” Let us keep this goal of a well-rounded, mentally composed athlete at the core of our training, and let’s allow good old fashioned cross-training to be an integral part.

Related: More Fun (with your Horse) and Why It's Important

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Main photo: Shutterstock/Olgaru79