The Jockey Pathway

The life of the modern day professional Jockey involves a lot of driving, sitting, long hours, and riding. This can lead to a lot of stress and tightness around muscles and joints.

The Jockey Pathway Strength & Conditioning coach, Wayne Middleton, has prepared a series of simple exercises for you to try at home, the first 10 ten exercises will help to improve general movement including flexibility and mobility.

Flexibility & mobility

1. T-spine rotation  2. Scapula shrug  3. Lower back roll  4. Hip rotations  5. Inchworm  6. Lunge with twist  7. Lunge with a side bend  8. Hip stretch  9. Upper back stretch  10. Calf stretch

Exercises to reduce the risk of injury

The aim of the following series of exercises is to reduce the risk of injury by increasing overall body strength, no jockey can avoid injuries altogether but you can work to reduce their impact by working on overall body strength.

Lower body:

11. Squat  12. Split Squat  13. Rear foot elevated squat  14. Reverse Lunge  15. Wall squat (hold for 30 to 60 secs)

Upper body:

16. Push up  17. Tricep dips  18. Push up plank  19. Upper body roll

You should do 8 -10 reps for each exercise and 3 - 4 sets in each workout session. You can split the exercises up to, e.g. do lower body one day, upper body the next. If you have any queries or would like more information contact S&C coach Wayne Middleton on 083 3133450.

Spaghetti Bolognaise:
Cost per portion = €2.70
Provides; 460 kcals and 22g protein per average sized portion.
This meal is the equivalent to eating 5 chocolate digestive biscuits; however you won’t feel full after biscuits!
Not only will this meal keep you feeling fuller for longer, it will provide your body with iron, antioxidants, B vitamins, energy and protein to fuel your muscles.

Chicken Curry:
Cost per portion = €3.00 – Save yourself money instead of going to the takeaway, make your own curry and rice. The average cost of a take away curry is €12 saving you €9 and a whole lot of calories.
Takeaway curries are very high in fat – so if you are trying to cut the calories and make weight – it’s time to make your own!
Provides; 443kcals per day and 36g protein per average sized portion as seen on video. A takeaway curry and fried rice will provide, for the same size portion, approximately 750 kcals, choose boiled rice for a lower calorie option.
Adding different vegetables to the curry will provide you with lots of fibre.  Add whichever vegetables you like to eat – experiment a little! 
If you use wholemeal or wild rice it will increase the fibre even more, fibre helps keep you feeling full by releasing energy slowly to your muscles over the day and helps keep your blood sugars stable. This will reduce your desire to snack on high calorie foods!
Chicken is a great source of protein which helps keep your muscles strong. It is also low in fat so a great choice if you are trying to make weight. Avoid eating the skin as it is high in fat!

Salmon noodle stir fry:
Cost per portion: €3.60
Provides; 555kcal and 44g protein per average sized portion as seen on video.
A portion of fish and chips from the local chipper will amount to approx. 1327 kcals and 65g of protein. Save your money, avoid the takeaway and make your own! 
Try sweet potato wedges as an alternative to noodles.
Oily fish provides us with omega 3 fish oils, these oils are essential to keep your body healthy and you need to consume them to get them. Oily fish is a good source of vitamin D and calcium (especially tinned fish such as sardines). Calcium and vitamins are needed to keep bones strong. Try to have oily fish at least once a week.
Fish is also high in protein and will keep you feeling fuller for longer, this will help prevent you from snacking after your meal.
If you are trying to make weight fish (without batter) is the ideal choice.