WHAT IS YOGA FOR SPORTS
Yoga often congers up pictures of skinny women in bright leggings doing crazy poses on Instagram or ancient gurus from Indian sitting chanting. Whilst yoga originated in ancient India as a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices the western world tends to look at it as a form of exercise that focuses on flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental well-being.
There are many different forms of yoga each with their own take on the ancient practices. Just as there are many different types of cycling, from mountain biking to time trialing. Yoga for Sports is one of those forms. It is inspired by yoga but adapted for sports and sporty people. But what does this mean in practice?
Lets look at Yoga for Sports aims, content, language and delivery style.
Aim – To be a better athlete
The aim is not to be a Yogi or to do crazy poses but to compliment your training and build a better athlete that is strong, supple, and healthy. To build a more resilient, balanced body that can weather the pressures of training and competing and be more efficient in your sport. Yoga for Sports can help you keep in peak condition for longer by reducing the risk of injuries and niggles and helping you recover better.
In Yoga for Sports, we are aiming for “normal” range of movement and good functional movement patterns. This means we won’t be doing the splits or putting our legs behind our heads.
Content – Relevant to your sport
Content is relevant to the movements that your body takes in your sport and therefore the areas of your body that may get tight and stiff as a result. The movements and poses are aimed to aid recovery, to stretch and lengthen your connective tissues that may have become short and tight through your sport.
In my triathlon inspired classes as running, cycling, and swimming are all predominantly sagittal movements we introduce lateral movements and rotation to balance the dominant forward and backwards motion. Running and cycling are movements that compress the lumber spine (lower back) therefore we stay away from any poses that may tend towards lumber compression and we look to decompress and loosen up the spine.
Hip flexor stretches and glute and hamstring lengthening poses are also commonplace in my classes as these areas of the body are working hard during running and cycling and are often tight and short in endurance athletes. Frequently endurance athletes round their shoulders and upper backs, therefore, poses that counteract this and encourage thoracic extension and external rotation of the shoulders are commonplace too.
Language - English
We use English rather than Sanskrit yoga terms (Sanskrit being the ancient language of yoga) to make the classes more accessible to beginners and clear and easy to understand. Language is non whoo-hoo with an emphasis on the physical. Many anatomical terms are used as well as references to sport and training.
Delivery – Clear and non-spiritual
Clear simple explanations of the poses are given with guidelines about where in your body you are likely to feel the stretch and what kind of effort level you are looking for. Ideally, we aim for a 5 to 7 out of 10 stretch. This is where you can feel the stretch, but you are not shaking, grimacing, or holding your breath and you are able to ease into it. This is different from athlete to athlete and will depend on what training you have recently done. A stretch that gives a 7/10 feeling for you may look different to a stretch that gives a 7/10 for another athlete.
Therefore, I encourage students to find what is the best position for their bodies at that moment in time. If you have trained hard or raced recently, your body may be tighter than normal.
By introducing a regular Yoga for Sports practice into your training regime you will go faster for longer, training and competing will feel easier and your body will move more fluidly. So why not join a class and check it out for yourself.