Yoga Poses for Sport Person

By Patricia | April 28, 2009
Yoga Poses For Sportsmen

Optimal performance in sports activities requires first and foremost perfect health. Disease saps the body of its strength and can leave the muscles weakened. Yoga poses help to build up the body’s resistance to invasive microbes by stimulating the internal organs. In addition to health, it is also important that the muscles are strengthened but not stressed. Yoga poses require slow deliberate movements. These postures help to strengthen the muscles without straining them.

Yogasanas or Yoga postures have been around for over three thousand years and today, many physical therapists, fitness and athletic training centers incorporate many aspects of Yoga into their training programs. In addition to strengthen the muscles, they also help a person to develop focus; gently slowing down one’s breathing, and cultivating abdominal breathing. Experts recommend Yoga stretches and crunches both before practice and exercise, in order to prevent injury. This helps reduce muscle stiffness and soreness. But, that is not the only reason to practice Yoga.

Top athletic trainers recommend exercises and poses as the most effective way for strength training. These exercises and poses include the Sun Salutation, Lunges, Warrior Poses, Plank Pose, and Upward Facing Dog. No matter what the sport is, total warm-ups and cool downs greatly help prevent stress, sprains and fractures. Then again, a lot of sports rely heavily on specific body areas, for which extra attention is required, to maintain perfect balance. For instance, tennis calls for great flexibility in the spine and shoulders and lunging ability. Hence, the Spinal Twist, the Lateral Stretches and Warrior Pose flow would prove very helpful and beneficial.

In poses such as Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog) and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog), the Yoga instructor might well tell you to drop your shoulder blades down your back. Many tennis injuries are caused by frayed and aggravated tendons in the arm. Yoga practices, especially those mentioned above, help reverse the process.

Likewise, in poses such as Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose) see that the soles of your feet touch each other and the outsides of you knees are kept flat on the floor. This results in a healthy external hip rotation. A lot of athletes tend to keep their hips stiff and locked. This jam can manifest in faulty results on the field. You will find it tough to perform effectively and efficiently on the track and field without free and loose hip joints.

Finally, in all standing yoga poses, it's mandatory that you place your grounded foot on the mat, if you wish to develop flexible ankles and get full extension. For this, you will have to let the foot rest solidly on the ground. The top of your foot should be able to hit the track just as in Virasana (Hero Pose) – at 180 degrees. Standing Yoga poses often work for athletes with severe ankle stiffness.

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