Healthy habits of rival Natalia Belova
Under the heading "Lifestyle" we ask different people about healthy lifestyles with a human face: we talk about the importance of taking care of yourself and pleasant ways to make life more comfortable. The heroine of the new release is competitor Natalia Belova, who told us about equestrian sport, communicating with horses and overcoming fears.
I began to engage in equestrian sports in childhood at nine, in the Moscow pony club Sokoros. I tried the dressage and show jumping - I immediately liked the second one: more extreme, more emotion. So later I chose him.
Any professional sport imposes many restrictions. The horse has its own nuances: a person, of course, can choose for himself what competitions he can participate in, but spontaneously take time out and go somewhere with friends for a couple of weeks will not work. It is undesirable to leave sports horses out of work for a long time: just like riders, they need a constant uniform load. Moreover, I have five of them, and each one needs to be brought to the peak of the form as the important competitions approach.
Before competitions it is important for me to sleep well. Then I will have a good mood and a lot of energy for the upcoming loads. I achieve good results when I am in high spirits. I really like to communicate with friends and acquaintances before the start - it helps to relieve tension and charges with positive energy.
Overcoming yourself and circumstances like nothing else, makes me move forward and believe in myself. When my parents adopted me at the age of five, I couldn’t run or talk. Mom was predicted that I would never be able to study even in a special school. So I consider all current achievements a real victory on all fronts.
My main horse is Cosimo, with which we are now collecting medals, was also a refuse. For a whole year he refused to jump, no matter what I did. Nobody believed that he would be an expert: in due time they didn’t even take me to the European Junior Championships, saying that neither I nor the horse could cope with such a route. This did not prevent us in a few years to get a personal qualification for the European Championship in Aachen (already for adult athletes) and for the Olympic Games.
I have many such stories. Last summer in Spain we had a bad start on the Longhin competition with my other horse Mercury, where he made a miscalculation in the triple system, because of which we fell. It was one of the most serious falls in my career. For the first time I had to go straight from the field to the hospital. Fortunately, I got rid of the dislocation of the finger and stretching the muscles of the neck. After that, Mercury and I diligently trained the triple systems, jumping them in all possible ways.
I do not adhere to a special diet, but I try to eat as much as possible vegetables and fruits. For a good state of health, the main thing is not to overeat, but in general I can afford anything. The main thing is to be delicious. My favorite cuisine is Italian. Ready to eat pizza and pasta at least every day, not to mention the desserts.
To keep fit, I regularly go to the gym, where I try to do exercises on all muscle groups. Very often horsemen think that they are okay with them, but if you do horse riding alone, they use the same muscles, and for a healthy body you need the whole body to receive the load.
I TRAIN in a studio in the center of Vienna, on simulators in which literally everything is moving. They not only involve all muscle groups, but also develop a good balance. I study either on the simulator, or simply with additional weight. My favorite exercise is called "Russian twist" - it strengthens the oblique muscles of the abdomen well, and the name is pleasant to me.
Horseback Riding not only helps to keep yourself in good physical shape - it helps to form a character, because training with horses requires persistence and determination. Communicating with a horse enriches a person: it is no coincidence that many horsemen say that equestrian sport is very addictive.
