Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

The art of doing yoga provides many benefits for the human body, from improving our flexibility and strength to how we relax and breathe. While yoga may not always be easy, it is a good idea to implement yoga into your exercise routine every week. Doing so is especially important if you are an athlete because you will learn the skills necessary to be stronger and perform better so you can master your craft. Let’s talk about the importance of yoga for various types of athletes and how it can improve your performance. Yoga For Equestrians

Whether you’re working to improve that backswing on the fairway or perfect an inverted hand plant with a snowboard, incorporating a yoga practice into your routine can really help step up your sports game. In fact, doing yoga can make you better at just about every other sport you’re passionate about. And all you need is your body to make the magic happen! Just ask professional athletes like Lebron James, golfer Lexi Thompson, snowboarder Emilien Badoux and the entire New York Yankees lineup. They — and their trainers and coaches — know that yoga offers both physical and mental benefits that translate both on and off the field. But here’s the good news: you don’t need to be a pro to reap the rewards of a regular practice. While incorporating yoga on a rest day can be beneficial, timing your session so that you’re engaging in stretches right before or after your activity can multiply those benefits.

Yoga is a key practice not just on it’s own, but to compliment other activities and sports. Many professional sporting teams and athletes use yoga practice to compliment their training, or include it as a key part of it. If you play sports regularly, trying yoga can boost your performance in a wide range of ways. Yoga will improve your physical and mental state, letting you push yourself to your limit in your training. Yoga can also balance out strength and development that can become imbalanced if you just practice one type of sport. This can also help reduce injury. Push away any thoughts of yoga just being about flexibility and contorting your body - yoga helps your muscles grow and works parts of your body that are underused in most people’s daily life. It also helps you stretch out any areas of tightness or pain. Here’s some of the benefits practicing yoga can have for athletes.

Even though yoga is not considered an Olympic sport, at least not yet, the reality is that it already is a big part of the Olympics. Yoga is a fundamental component of the workout routine of many athletes who are striving for gold during these summer games, and it might very well be one of the key factors for them to finish on top of the podium. It’s no secret that yoga is a great complement for other physical activities. Some even think every athlete should do yoga (Link: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4806/Why-Every-Athlete-Should-Do-Yoga.html) to increase strength, balance, flexibility and mental control. That’s why it comes as no surprise that more and more competitors are taking advantage of the benefits it brings to their discipline. From elastic gymnasts, to big rugby players, they are all bringing the lessons learned on the mat to their respective sports.

In order to be in peak condition for their chosen sport or sports, athletes maintain strenuous workouts and conditioning programs. Many athletes claim they don’t have time for yoga, but we’re here to share how yoga can provide you a competitive edge, whether you’re a weekend warrior or a professional athlete. This week, we’re thrilled to bring you more yoga for athlete’s classes, with a new program from YogaDownload Instructor of the Month, Robert Sidoti. Get ready to enhance your performance and prevent injury. A well-rounded yoga practice includes dynamic flexibility training, core stabilization, strengthening and balance work. Often, when athletes stretch pre- or post-workout, they are usually just stretching the muscles in the same direction and plane of motion in which they will be exercising. Yoga

High Intensity Interval Training—often just called HIIT for short—is working its way into fitness enthusiast’s workout schedules everywhere, and not without good reason. In fact, Dr. Axe shares many different benefits of HIIT in addition to better physical fitness, a couple of which include its anti-aging effects and support of healthier levels of hormones like ghrelin (which affects your eating patterns) and leptin (the hormone responsible for making you feel full).

Whether you’re a hard-core athlete, weekend warrior, or avid spectator, we here at YogaDownload.com have the classes to help you enhance your athletic performance and prevent injuries. Yoga goes beyond simple stretching by working the muscles and joints through all ranges of motion—activating the little-used muscles that support the primary movers. The body must be worked through all three planes of motion in order to remain balanced and healthy. Even if you stretch pre- or post-workout, you’re probably just stretching the muscles in the same direction and plane of motion in which you are exercising.

We don’t know about you, but we find watching the Olympics to be an incredibly inspiring experience. Seeing the athletes who have dedicated their lives, sacrificed so much for the opportunity to compete at the highest level on the globe have the opportunity to shine is powerful. Are the Olympics just about being the best? Winning the gold at all costs? Is it about the outcome? Or, is it more than that? Is it truly about the journey?

In golf, every detail matters. Having a slight advantage can make the difference between an enjoyable day on the course or a disappointing one. Golfers want to eliminate strokes as well as pain so they can continue playing the game they love for many years. Yoga can offer this advantage by increasing flexibility, range of motion in the joints and honing mental concentration.

Many of my yoga students are cyclists who practice yoga to alleviate muscle tightness from logging long hours in the saddle. A yoga practice focused on flexibility, core strength and balance can be a perfect cross-training workout for the avid cyclist. Competitive triathlete Molly McCorkle used to suffer pain in her lower back and hips when she took long rides training for half-Ironman triathlons.

Many triathletes have told me they would love to try yoga but can't squeeze it into their intense training regimens. The swimming, biking and running leaves little time in a triathlete's schedule, but those who find time for yoga agree the benefits can be considerable.

In my role as a yoga instructor, I've been able to help numerous runners who are seeking to cross-train, improve flexibility and alleviate pain they experience during and after running.

As a private trainer and yoga instructor, I meet a lot of athletes and workout fanatics. When asked if yoga is part of their workouts, many athletes will tell me they don't have the time to add yoga to their already intense training schedules. Some say they don't see how "stretching and breathing" would be of any benefit to them. Others say they've discovered yoga while recuperating from an injury.