Yoga for Teen Athletes at Sportsplex begins 10/6
Improve your balance, strength & flexibility in this dynamic class
Great cross training for all sports!
TIME CHANGE
Ages: 13-18
Tuesdays 5:15-6:15 Sportsplex, Brownhouse Rd. Stamford
$150 for six weeks 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27, 11/10, 11/17
Maximum 14 participants Instructor: Eliza Littrell
To register: Call (203) 344-9277 or download the registration form and waiver and fax to (203) 344-9278
Why Yoga Is Great For Athletes
Whether you are a soccer, tennis or hockey player, avid runner, swimmer, golfer, any kind of sport enthusiast can benefit from improved range of motion and flexibility. Yoga routines incorporate slow and steady stretches, breathing techniques, and core strengthening exercises that are ideal for athletes. Practicing yoga is a wonderful way to cross train which is necessary for athletes who do the same sport or exercise routine continuously. Learning and incorporating new movement patterns into the body will help reduce injury, relieve training boredom and help revive and lengthen tired, bound muscles and achy joints.
Over the last several years, yoga has gained acceptance among athletes. The uptight jocks of the past, who thought of yoga as something only for incense-burning hippies, have been replaced by today's more open-minded trainers, who will try anything that promises to improve their competitiveness. Yoga definitely does that. It increases balance, strength and flexibility - three of the five essential components (along with speed and endurance) of physical fitness. And, maybe most important of all, it teaches focus and relaxation, integrating mind and body. Anyone who is prepared to swim, bike and run for three to six hours knows the importance of mental, combined with physical, strength.
Professional triathletes use yoga as part of their strength training regimen. As healthy history attests, strength is key to avoiding injury. Yoga is also a welcome respite from high-impact aerobic workouts. Training schedules published in various newsletters included yoga on rest days. Restorative sessions, that put the mind and body back in balance and deeply open tight muscle groups, provide an ideal way to relax... while staying ready for the next challenge.
Other athletes use short yoga sequences as warm-up and cool-down. Breathing exercises center the mind and steady the pulse. Stretching increases range of motion, which supports and stabilizes the skeletal system, further preventing injury. And quiet introspection allows the athlete to meditate on the task at hand, or bask in the accomplishment of a completed workout.
It is this kind of session that we have outlined below, using breathing, stretching and mental focus as a way of preparing for a race. It is a short practice, ideal for the last quiet moments that come before the athlete leaves the house, hotel or campground and gets caught up in the nervous excitement of the transition area.
If you have never sat on a sticky mat and you are racing next week, it is unrealistic to expect to have a productive, independent pre-race yoga session. That is not to say scheduling a class or two before your competition won't do some good; it will. But this article is written for those who have practiced yoga enough do these poses on their own, with an understanding of the basic principles of alignment.