Impact of Yoga on Athletes

For athletes, there are over 10 types of yoga that could be practiced to help improve your muscles. There are many athletes that have mentioned over interviews that yoga did help their body, and muscles throughout their career, such as Shaquille O'Neal, former NBA player.

My yoga teacher is an athlete, she runs track and she told me that there are many poses that help improve your body. The one she practices is called theSeated head-to-knee pose (janu sirsasana).

According to womenshealthmag.com: "This is basically tree pose on the floor. And since by sitting you take any worry of toppling over out of the equation, you can focus on relaxing your leg muscles and extending your spine to open your hips outward. That counters the inward leg rotation required by most sports." 

When I tried this position, it really stretched my hamstrings, and during volley ball practice at school, we also stretch this way. It really helps loosening my muscles, especially after a long break not doing much exercise.

The way you practice this pose is sitting on the floor, one leg laid in front of you and the other leg bent letting your foot sit under your thigh. While reaching out for your foot that is laid in front of you, you have to take a deep breath in and once you've reached for your foot you have to breathe out. After doing a couple reps, you could switch legs, that way you can stretch both hamstrings.

Impact of Yoga on Athletes
I'v came up with many ways yoga can benefit different types of athletes, such as football players, gymnast, and volley ball players like me.  

Athletes can majorly benefit  from yoga. The strengthening of the core is one of the greatest ways that yoga can  impact on an athletes body, positively. Once yoga is practiced frequently, you will be surprised of the improvements yoga can benefit your body. Your core strength will drastically increase, just like it had happened to me. The muscles in my back, as well as my abs gained strength, and the more I keep up with my yoga classes, the more transformation I see. 

There is plenty of poses of yoga that require you to stand on one foot, balancing yourself while you keep calm. These poses are ways to improve your balance. Many of my gymnast friends practices these poses to help their coordination and keep balance while they're performing. Plenty of yoga poses also improve the flexibility of the body, which is also a great talent to have as a gymnast. As athletes, the more you practice a sport the better you achieve. Yoga works the same way, the more you emphasize on a pose the more it improves your body and muscles, including your mind.

At last, I believe the relaxation and ease of the mind is a huge impact on an athlete. Personally when I play volley ball, if so many things are running through my mind, I notice myself not playing as well. Once my mind is at ease, and I am relaxed, the mind allows my body to relax and concentrate better on the game. Being an athlete is very difficult. You must learn to keep your body and mind focused and eliminate all the tension.

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/yoga/yoga-for-athletes?page=2