Whenever I assess my clients riding I look at whether they are sitting straight both on a straight line and on turns and circles.
If a rider is sat rotated on a straight line quite often they are not aware of it. If you’re lucky you can make them aware of it and they will straighten right up- but it’s not always that easy.
Aside from not being aware,the reason riders are sat crooked is due to a restriction and weakness somewhere in the body that they are not able to hold themselves straight in the saddle.
If it only happens on turns and circles -again just bringing awareness to the pattern can help but sometimes these riders also just need a little extra strength in their turning straight muscles to help them out.
In order to move and therefore be still freely both left to right we need to be able to first move equally left to right.
I like to use pole rotations (yes it’s just a broom handle, a long schooling whip will do). These help to identify asymmetry in the rotation pattern and repeated practicing of the pattern will result in improvement.
To then strengthen the area I like to do two things.
- Strengthen the muscles that wrap around the trunk in slightly more isolation-there will be other muscles involved but I like to take out the symmetry requirement to focus on the left and right more individually.
- Get the trunk to work in a rotation pattern and focus on the straightness.
To work the muscles in a more singular manner I like Windmills if you have access to light weights or side plank dips for a no equipment exercise.
To the then work in the rotation pattern I like a cable or band Russian Twist or for no equipment a seated Russian Twist.
