11 Jul Athletes Need Yoga

There is a misconception that yoga is for mainly females but it’s something that should be done by men too, especially athletes. There are 5 ways all athletes may benefit from doing yoga.:

1. Core Strength- Most athletes ignore building up their core strength, but it is vital for connecting the upper and lower body’s overall strength and energy. Athletes playing football, rugby, kickboxing, and any sport would benefit from building up their core strength.

2. Body Awareness- This is very important for athletes because it helps enhance performance and being able to read the body’s stress signals and condition during competition. By doing so it prevents you from not overextending yourself and avoiding injury.

3. Balance- There are several yoga poses that focus on the purpose of balancing your body. It also helps with co-ordination and increasing your agility. Proving useful in all sports (i.e. basketball, football, soccer).

4. Flexibility- Possessing strong and flexible joints have obvious performance benefits in any sport. Joint flexibility decreases as you age, but yoga helps build it up with strength. Many athletes have to retire earlier than they like due to the burden on their joints from the sport they play, but yoga can help prevent that.

5. Relaxed Mind and Body- This is the least practiced and most ignored by all athletes, but would greatly assist in an athlete’s career. Having a strong mind proves helpful in the extremely competitive environment all athletes are faced with and prove extra beneficial during game changing moments. It helps relax the muscle and mind.