martin
martin, I want to know what you think of yoga for training. I have a friend that now goes 4 times a week and is swearing by it. Do you think that this will hurt my strength? John R
Pictured is multiple time world champion, Vinicius "Draculino" Magalhaes working on his yoga after a training session in the facility. We like to use our brand of yoga following training to "reset" the body and "review" what we have just done in training. Draculino is showing off what is called the "prayer twist" asana.
John.
Great to hear from you and thanks for writing in. You are showing the courage that some people lack when it comes to thinking about adding new material to their training. Especially when it comes to yoga, people get mixed up ideas about what this style of training is all about.
When I first got involved in it, I thought to myself, “Yoga? I don’t do yoga”! Instantly I had thoughts of women stretching themselves into horrific positions, men performing crazy breathing activities and a room full of weirdoes chanting “Om”! At first, I rejected the thought that I was doing yoga. After challenging myself to find out more about it before I jumped to any other conclusions, I found not only would this research change how I thought, it would help me to grow my training.
Yoga is a practice that is said to have existed anywhere from 2500 to 5000 years. Today, with the popularization of yoga, there are many different styles, but on deeper study, I found that they are founded in the same poses and concepts. Yoga, to the practitioner is not just stretching out for a workout or after exercise, it is the connection of the mind and body through exercise, meditation and breathing techniques. I thought that yoga was only for the flexible or the weak, but I have found neither to be true. So I would answer you that if done correctly, not only will it not hurt your strength, it can even help it!
The key to how we use yoga at our facility is to perform the drills with the following 5 rules:
- Monitor your breathing to reoxygenate your system. Inhale with deep breathing to a full pause, and then exhale smoothly to a full pause. Learning to control your breathing is a key concept in yoga called Pranayama.
- Each posture or asana below should be performed for 3-5 full breaths.
- Follow the poses in order below and perform each to the best of your ability, but never into a range of pain. Perform equally on each side. The key is to relax and slowly build up your flexibility.
- Focus your mind on the position and how it is helping your body to realign the tightened tissues that have been affected by the previous training session.
- Use this time to mentally review the previous training session and what new movements you have learned and what progress or lack thereof you have made.
There are tons of different forms from hot yoga to power yoga and more. The key is now to do your research and find which style and teacher you like best and make your own conclusions.
Best of luck,
Martin Rooney
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