Did you know that 2 of 3 athletes are going to get injured? According to the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, almost 70% of runners will be injured, including athletes from other sports.
Well, you may have unfortunately got injured yourself! During any workout, which is intense enough, our body is exposed to huge forces, just for example - during running the body of a 130 lb runner has to absorb over 600,000 lbs of impact every mile!
Take into account that most athletes tend to push themselves over their current capacities and limits, and see how injuries are just a matter of time.
Any sport enthusiastic wants to get better. But getting better means work harder, and work harder means exposures to injuries. Most common injuries are in the joints and muscles, but some may end up even with fatal heart attacks. No doubt that our competitive world has its effect on us. We are too much competitive, and ready to take risks on the way of getting better, in almost any aspect of our lives.
For many years, athletes and their coaches were looking for ways to keep the athlete fit and injury free, and of course - in the best shape. An injury is a nightmare for any sport enthusiastic. It can finish a professional athlete's career and for those of us who just enjoy sports, an injury can mean losing the fitness we worked on for years. In the good scenario, it takes time to heal from an injury, and time to get to into shape again. In any case - we all want to stay in shape and avoid injuries & to get stronger and better as athletes, but how? In the past, there were the stretching exercises. We all remember it from childhood through college. Still, it was not enough. Something was missing...
In the last decade, a cure was found. A 5000 years old cure that arrived to the western world in the 60's.
Yoga.
At the beginning, Yoga was a Hippies thing. Hippies who were looking for internal growth and meditations brought their knowledge from India. Only in the 90's it started to become a trend, and today 1 of 4 Americans practice yoga.
In the 90's the trend skipped the athletes and sportsmen/sportswomen. It was considered to be a "different" workout not to blend with sports. But as the trend skyrocketed, athletes and especially runners began to add Yoga exercises to their trainings. The reason was simple; bestrunnersyoga.com Yoga for runners gave many benefits, and helped famous runners and athletes to win competitions. It was the only workout that brought nothing but benefits. Soon, everybody started adding Yoga to their major workout and today....well, today you have yoga classes in almost any health club or gym and even kids can learn yoga at school. Olympic runners, athletes and coaches are using Yoga. Martial artists do yoga. Businessmen, busy moms, kids, seniors - all do yoga. What began as a Hippies trend is now everybody's fitness workout.
But what makes Yoga so beneficial?
Yoga has many styles; almost all include the same basics. It's actually composed of physical positions that coordinate breathing techniques with movements, postions and stretches. This form of workout is the ideal complement to other forms of exercise, especially running, cycling strength training, and any sports that may create imbalance to the body as the postures systematically work all the major muscle groups, including those you hardly use, including the back, neck, joints, and shoulders, deep abdominal, hip and buttocks muscles and even knees, ankles, feet, wrists and hands. All is made in a slow and safe way, taking into account the body's physiology. By their nature, the Yoga poses and movement affect major and minor muscle groups as they simultaneously import strength, increase flexibility and bring nourishment to internal organs. The overall effect creates increased range of motion and balance to the body. Any athlete knows how important these benefits are.
Whatever sport you choose to practice, yoga can enhance and complement your ability. Most sports build muscular strength and stamina, often in specific areas of the body while others stay weak and loose. Take for example golf or Tennis. Golfers or Tennis players may be prone to one-sided or uneven muscle development. Yoga poses can strengthen weak areas and ease muscular tension. The standing poses improve balance and muscle flexibility. Yoga can help to check any imbalance in muscular fitness and will enable both body & mind to function more efficiently. If your body is flexible and supple you will be less prone to sports injuries, simply because your joints will be kept lubricated with an increased range on motion. Sports demand mental alertness, focus and awareness as well as good balance. Yoga poses strengthen your muscles, release physical tension and improve your concentration and poise. It makes your limbs balanced, strong and relaxed and your mind calm and focused, ready for any challenge. Yoga breathing techniques help runners, swimmers and aerobic sports activists to breathe in a controlled relaxed way when exercising and during sport events and competition, better breathing means you can last longer with high pace and lower pulse, save more energy, and get better results.
Yoga for stress relief is another benefit athletes enjoy. Imagine yourself before a big sport event. Are you calm & relaxed or stressed out? Are you in focus or are you destructed? Yoga also trains your mind, not only your body. The affect on your mind aligns with the affect on the body!
For more info about yoga, for beginners and pro's, visit our website, and discover powerful runners yoga and athletes yoga programs, as well as many other yoga programs that are easy to practice but yet are supper-effective!
Shannon Cruz
bestrunnersyoga.com bestrunnersyoga.com
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