Balancing your professional life with your horses and still managing to have quality family time and a social life can be challenging, even when things are running smoothly.
Katie Bleekman, an online fitness coach and personal trainer specialising in equestrian athletes, shared her advice for those who work full-time with horses and those who are trying to fit in horses around a full-time non-horsey job on episode 92 of The Horse & Hound Podcast.
“When we’re talking about fitness and nutrition, or getting stronger or maybe gaining or losing weight, we often focus on just the nutrition or the training side of things when training and fitness is so much more than that,” explains Katie, who evented to CCI3*-L level and also won a team silver medal at the European Pony Eventing championships.
“Having lifestyle markers of being that person who goes to the gym three or four times a week, or making sure you have eight hours of sleep per night are important so that you can ultimately start to feel your absolute best. These will help you to get the most out of your horses and also give you the longevity and energy you need so you have the ability to balance everything that is going on in your life.”
Katie says that in her line of work, the most common thing she hears from people when discussing how they can obtain a healthy work/life/horses balance is that they are “too busy”.
“It’s hard and a complete balancing act. At the end of the day, a lot of riders find they don’t have a social life and feel like they don’t have any time for themselves. They also have a lack of energy and they don’t feel good about themselves,” says Katie. “Part of my ethos as a coach is really thinking about the holistic, whole body approach – it’s not just the training and nutrition side of things. It’s considering your work/life balance. Do you only get like five or six hours of sleep a night? Are you feeling really stressed all the time?
“All of these areas are so so important to consider if you are wanting to become fitter or stronger or just generally happier, to have energy for the things you want to do. Whether that is coming home in the evenings and having enough energy to be able to get your horse ready, load them up, take them out in the box for a lesson, or maybe it’s to come home and play with your kids.”
Katie says that, in terms of having a social life, a great deal can be put down to mindset.
“For instance, I’ve got a couple of hunt balls to go to and attending those are not an issue for me. I now look forward to them,” she says. “I used to slightly dread them because I would think ‘I’m going to eat so much food, probably drink too much and then feel really rough the next day and then I’m going to feel like I have to work it off’.
“But once you get away from that mindset, it makes your social occasions far more enjoyable. We want to feel amazing when we socialise – not just from an aesthetic point of view, but also to have the energy to spend time with your friends and feel good. At the end of the day, if you have a really busy week and you can’t make it to the gym for a few days, that’s not the end of the world.”
Katie stresses that if you are super-busy with horses and/or work, it is important that you don’t panic if you’re not going to the gym as often as you usually would.
“Your training and nutrition can take a backseat for a few days or a couple of weeks, if necessary, and then you can get back to it.”
Prioritising and time management are key, explains Katie.
“You have to prioritise what matters to you – things like sleep, which will make you feel so so much better. Your sleep affects your mood, it affects your stress levels and weight. Sleep is also really important for recovery and healing from injury.
“Making the most of your time is crucial. I challenge you to really think: ‘do I not have time or am I wasting time?’. You absolutely need to give yourself an hour or so off to watch your favourite programme and switch off. But at the same time, if training and getting stronger and getting fitter to ride is a priority, then that is what you need to put first.”
Katie explains the “controllables” and their importance to how you feel.
“If you control of all of the controllables, such as the amount of sleep you get, your diet and your activity levels, and make sure that they’re as good as possible, you will feel so much better. If you do things that make you feel bad all the time, you’re just going to feel worse.”
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