YOGA EDGE

#1 The Strength of Injury-Prevention

Every athlete’s biggest opponent is injury. If you’ve been injured, you know how much it sucks. Watching other people train while you sit out is NOT fun. Not to mention, being injured means you can’t train, can’t practice, and definitely can’t complete. For this reason alone, injury-prevention should be a priority for athletes.

But did you know that injury-prevention is actually another form of STRENGTH?

Most athletes think of of injury-prevention as insurance. Yeah, it’d be good to have it, but you don’t really need it. This is totally wrong! The reason why it’s called injury-prevention is because it’s strengthening your muscles in ways that prevent common injuries, such as ACL tears, muscle pulls, ligament strains, and lower-back pain.

You’d be hardpressed to find a form of fitness that combines so many aspects of injury-prevention into a single workout as yoga. Underrated aspects of strength overlooked by traditional workouts mentioned above – mobility, balance, flexibility, body control, and recovery – are all covered under the Yoga Edge umbrella.

#2 Mobility: The Strength Booster

Did you know that mobility helps you improve quickness, speed, strength, and power?

As athletes, we don’t often rank mobility very high in importance. We’d much rather focus on weight training, agility drills, or skill development. But increased mobility actually enables us to get better at all of those things, both directly and indirectly:

Want more power, deeper squats, a longer stride, and sharper cuts? Increase your range of motion.

Want to decrease your risk of injury? Improve your flexibility to make your muscles longer and more supple, more able to lengthen to unexpected situations, and prevent common soft-tissue injuries such as knee ligament tears and strains, ankle sprains, hamstring pulls, and rotator cuff tears.

Want to get back to 100% in less time? Work on mobility. Grow muscle more quickly, and get stronger in less time. Get back to the field, trail, or the court feeling fresh and ready to go!

#3 Balance: A Skill AND A Strength

Did you know that in addition to having good balance, balance training is actually an incredibly effective form of exercise?

Balance as a skill is so important because it helps you respond to unexpected situations and not get injured – whether you’re on the field, the court, or on a rocky trail. But even more than improving your balance, just DOING balance work also:

• Improve overall strength and coordination, and move with greater efficiency through increased muscle activation
• Improve knee stability, strengthen commonly-injured hip muscles, and address the root causes of back pain by correcting muscle imbalances
• Increase your control over your body by improving mental focus and awareness, allowing you to notice and make necessary changes in your movements.

Balance may or may not come natural to you, but just like every aspect of your fitness, it can be improved with time and effort – and you’ll get plenty of chances to do that while following along to Yoga Edge!

#4 Get Stronger More Quickly Through Improved Recovery

What if I told you that professional athletes are spending just as much time on restorative work as they are on their other workouts – would you be able to say the same for yourself?

Restorative work is JUST as important as your main workouts. Restorative work not only helps you feel fresh and ready for your next workout, but it also helps you:

• Recover more quickly – Release muscle tension and get back to the field with less soreness, more fluid movements, and more energy.
• Grow muscle more quickly – Your muscles regenerate more quickly when you do restorative stretches, which allow the muscle to relax and to release, and speed up the recovery process.
• Prevent soreness and overtraining – Reduce symptoms and address the direct causes that lead to injury. It’s like the routine maintenance that keeps your car functioning – except your body’s WAY more important than that hunk of metal, since it’s the only one you’ve got!
• Sleep better – You’re only getting stronger during recovery, and doing restorative work on a regular basis, focusing on your breathing, and allowing tense muscles to disengage means that your body can relax and you can get the sleep you need to get stronger, improve your energy levels, increase your focus, and be better at everything you do.

#5 Breathing – The Overlooked Necessity

Improving your breathing means improving your fitness, and if you take the time to focus on your breathing, your body and your fitness will reward you.

• Go harder for longer. Breathing is the key to this. If you can control your breath, you can control your body – but you have to practice your breathing in order for that to happen!
• Improve your focus. Practicing your breathing allows you to improve your breathing awareness, so that when you’re huffing and puffing, out of breath, you’ll be able to slow down your breathing, bring your body back under control, and get refocused so you can continue to play at your best.
• Build more endurance. Ask any distance athlete – breathing is the key to endurance. Think about going for a run or swimming. Your body doesn’t hold you back – your breath does! Improve your breathing and you’ll get more endurance.