As the athlete/yoga movement gains steam, we here at Mann
Yoga thought it would be helpful to all the budding yogi athletes out there to
offer our top five reasons athletes should do yoga. After all, although our yoga + athlete = peak
performance slogan is catchy, it’s probably helpful to explain why it’s true.
So read on to find out how yoga will help improve your athletic
performance.
1. Improves Flexibility and Balance
With the exception of gymnastics, diving, or cheerleading;
most sports do not place a premium on balance or flexibility. Flexibility is extremely important in most
sports; the greater your range of motion, the less likely you are to injure
yourself when or tear your too-tight muscles.
Certain positions require greater degrees of balance and flexibility
than others (think pitchers in baseball throwing on one leg, quarterbacks
throwing a football while running and being tackled); however, most sports do
not focus on conditioning these areas as much as they do strength, agility, or
speed. Enter yoga!
By incorporating yoga into an athletes’ training, one can improve
on their balance and flexibility deficiencies.
A typical yoga class will offer a series of strength and balance poses. Just attending one yoga class a week will
improve on your balance by virtue of you just being there! Not to mention that most of the strength
poses incorporate improving flexibility at the same time. Triangle pose is a great example of this;
while it lengthening your leg muscles, you’re also improving the flexibility of
your hamstrings as well as your balance by holding yourself in this unnatural position
for an extended period of time.
2. Helps Prevent Injury and Improve Recovery Time from Injury
Tight muscles are more prone to injury in the form of
strains and tears. One of the most
common sports injuries is a tearing of the Achilles tendon. Loosening up those tight muscles with yoga is
perfect for preventing this sort of injury because so many of the basic poses
stretch the Achilles’ and hamstrings.
Hamstring stretch, downward dog, triangle pose, and the warrior series
all stretch the legs and specifically the hamstrings. This is just one example of the many common
injuries yoga can prevent.
Yoga is also great for recovering from injury. People who suffer from lower back pain as a
result of years of sitting and poor posture can find relief in yoga. The basic vinyasa some yoga books and yoga
instructors provide really help to stretch out the spinal column. By stretching the spinal column, the pressure
on the fluid filled disks between the vertebrae is relieved, lessening some of
the pain. This too is just one example
of the many common injuries yoga can help you recover from.
3. Improves Concentration
Yoga has been referred to as the key to the zone. Real athletes know the zone: it’s the mental
state you achieve where your body and mind are in complete unison, enabling
both to perform at their peak. Yoga
trains you to use your body, mind, and spirit in unison. It teaches you true control over your mind,
thus enabling you to master the art of concentration and focus. Yoga provides a vehicle for athletes to
access the zone, the unique mental state where your body and mind are working
in perfect harmony.
Yoga can also help with calming your pre-game jitters. These jitters can be detrimental for some
athletes, especially those who don’t have an entire quarter or inning to get
used to the nerves. Choking is an
unfortunate side effect that can result when one’s nerves get the best of them. The Olympics provides numerous examples of
this; gymnasts, divers, or archers who spent years training for these moments all
wasted their Olympic experience because of a bad choke. The breathing and meditation exercises
learned in yoga are valuable tools for calming the nerves prior to an event.
4. Makes Muscles Stronger
Since the muscle fibers can shorten in response to the
accumulation of lactic acid (a result of weight lifting and constant physical
activity), the poses one performs in yoga can be very beneficial because they
help process the lactic acid and move it out of the muscle. This helps muscles recover faster after a
tough workout. Over time, practicing the postures will stretch tight muscles
and encourage use of your full range of motion, unobstructed by lactic acid. Since yoga elongates the muscles, it also allows
them to be stronger by giving you more muscle to build upon.
Additionally, athlete’s repetitive motions usually mean
they’re super strong on one side, and severely underdeveloped on the other,
causing a large imbalance in strength from one side of their body to another. Legendary yoga teacher Baron Baptiste offers
this great tip for balancing your body.
When working with athletes, Baptiste teaches that in order to compensate
for individuals who use predominantly one side in their sport, the student
should hold strength poses longer on the weaker side of the body and
lengthening poses on the stronger, overused side. For example, a right footed place kicker
would perform the Warrior series with their left leg in front (acting as the
stronger, stabilizing leg) and right leg in back for balance. This technique helps with to strengthen
underused muscles while lengthening the overused ones.
5. Improves Breathing and Oxygen Flow through the Body
If you perform a basic downward dog right now, you’ll feel
your hamstrings lengthen as you breathe and relax into the pose. Holding this pose as you inhale and exhale
allows oxygen to flow into the blood and muscles and lengthen and stretch as
you hold. A critical component of yoga is breathing. Breathing exercises are the keys to success in
yoga; they help focus concentration on the pose and away from the discomfort
you feel. This technique can be used
both in the yoga studio and in everyday life.
Focused deep breathing keeps a steady supply of oxygen in the blood,
which helps your muscles work at their peak.
Breathing keeps your mind calm and focused which will improve your
workout.
