…Can yoga support your sport?…
Things have evolved in the world of yoga, and the typical yogi stereotype of a petite flexible female no longer rings true. Whether you are experienced or a beginner, yoga can be done to improve strength, flexibility, and it is also recognized now to improve and support your athletic performance. Nowadays we see elite athletes such as Andy Murray and the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team incorporating yoga into their rigorous training regimes to improve their athletic performance.
Regardless of age and gender, yoga is a mindful activity that relaxes the body whilst improving flexibility and strength. It can loosen the tight spots that you get with working out which can hinder physical performance.
The benefits
Whilst some athletes take additional workout supplements, such as a protein powder to support their workout, some athletes now consider yoga as another great workout aid. Yoga integrates a balance between strength, flexibility and mobility, and research indicates participation in yoga can yield improvements in overall physical fitness, increased muscular strength, co-ordination, and even endurance. The strong emphasis that is placed on breathing practices can result in a therapeutic effect, by reducing psychological and physical stress, something which can plague the best of us. The increase in physiological gains seen with participation in yoga can allow the body to recover from intense training and can prevent against injury.
Supporting your sport
Yoga can be used in addition to endurance or HIT training to help and recover muscles following a workout or as a way to correct muscle imbalances and poor body mechanics.
CYCLING
Long term cycling can cause the hamstring muscles to shorten as a result of the knees being bent over an extended period of time. Yoga can help to stretch the muscles following your ride and therefore allow you to engage these muscle groups sufficiently in subsequent training sessions.
GOLF
Yoga can help with your core muscles which aids your trunk rotation during the swing, allowing translation of power through the drive.
SWIMMING
Yoga helps flexibility and strength, so by doing yoga in addition to your swimming training, it can help to establish a good range of movement around shoulders and keep the back muscles open and strong, necessary for swimming.
ROWING
Yoga helps to support development in trunk stability and hip mobility, which are vital for optimizing rowing performance.
RUNNING
When your hips and IT band tighten up during running it can lead to injuries which can prevent you from training. Yoga can open the hips and relax the Iliotibial band (commonly known as the IT band).
By incorporating yoga into your training routine around 2-3 times a week, you can improve your flexibility and strength, balancing out the physical stress of exercise to support athletic performance.
