Why is yoga good for athletes?
You probably never quite move your body in all directions, all parts equally, or explore the full range of motion that your joints can experience, regardless of what you play—strength training, endurance sports, cycling, or a little bit of everything.
Even if your preferred sport doesn’t need flexibility, you definitely stretch since you are aware of how limited your movements are.
Yoga can actually help you train better, get better results, recover faster, have better posture and movement patterns, and it can even help you avoid injuries.
And those are just the health advantages! But yoga offers much more than that, including increased body and mind awareness, stress reduction, motivation boosts, and mental health benefits. Regular yoga practice can even improve your breathing, which has amazing physical and psychological benefits.
Does it seem too good to be true? As you’ll see below, there is plenty of science to support it, so you’d better believe it.
Yoga balances out athletic training
Even a brief yoga session can help to loosen up tight muscles, strengthen the ones that are weak and don’t get enough attention, and alert you to any imbalances in your body. More than just stretching is involved.
Working out can limit your range of motion
The way you move when you exercise stimulates your body in a particular way. Running, cycling, or weightlifting force you to repeatedly perform specific movements, which trains your body to be excellent at that specific movement pattern.
However, repetitive motions cause certain of your muscles and tendons to grow stronger while also becoming tighter, while others may become a little less used, weaker, and even shorter.
You have an issue if the tightness gets so bad that it starts limiting your range of motion. Your movement technique may be affected, which raises your risk of injury.
Yoga increases your mobility, reducing the risk of injuries
Yoga offers both static and dynamic stretching as well as strengthening, which helps to loosen up tight muscles, tendons, and fascia, get your muscles back to their ideal length, and extends your range of motion.
Even if you might be unable to do so, yoga is not about being able to place your leg behind your back. Who wouldn’t want that? It can simply remove some of your body’s restrictions.
Yoga poses help you move in a way that lubricates your joints, increasing their mobility and minimizing any asymmetries. Before you start practicing yoga, you might not be aware that one of your hips is tighter than the other or that one of your wrists is more agile.
When you become aware of these factors, you may begin to work on them, which can enhance both your athletic performance and recovery.
A recent study found that practicing yoga twice a week for just 10 weeks dramatically improved flexibility, stability, and training outcomes.
All of the aforementioned things make you move better, which lowers your risk of suffering injuries brought on by overuse, mobility restrictions, or unbalanced muscles and joints.
