Yoga can increase relaxation, deepen your flexibility, lubricate your joints, and also improve your football game.
Football teams like New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles have proven that yoga isn’t just for stay-at-home moms and college sorority girls. The diaphragmatic breathing that happens during yoga lowers oxidation stress and can reduce an athlete’s free radicals and thus increase their performance capabilities.
Yoga can also improve the levels of antioxidants in an athlete’s body and is very effective when athletes are under harsh and intense training programs. Besides altering the chemical makeup of your body and increasing relaxation. ?
yoga is also a beneficial stretching technique before playing football…
…and can reduce injury
In 2011, the Department of Experimental Medicine and Public Health and the University of Camerino conducted a research project to study how diaphragmatic breathing (the basis of most yoga practices) reduces exercise-induced oxidation stress.
After studying two groups of athletes, one who spent one hour each day doing diaphragmatic breathing and the other who simply sat in a quiet place, researchers found that “oxidation stress levels in people who meditate indicated that meditation correlates with lower oxidative stress levels, lower cortisol levels, and higher melatonin levels.”
” [1] Further results of the experiment showed that, “diaphragmatic breathing could protect athletes from long-term adverse effects of free radicals.” [1]
Not only can practicing yoga decrease oxidation stress…
…but it can also improve the number of antioxidants and glutathione in your body which proves especially beneficial for athletes under a great deal of pressure from training.
The Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences formulated an experiment with volunteers from the Navy in India. They divided the men into two groups, one of which practiced yoga for 6 months with consistent prayer, asana, pranayama, and meditation. The other group remained on a consistent physical fitness exercise.
The results after blood work…
…found that the group who practiced yoga had reduced glutathione levels and an increase in total antioxidant status. Ultimately, researchers found that,
“Regular practice of yoga can maintain or improve antioxidant level of the body” ✅
The clinical relevance is that yoga practice can be used to maintain the antioxidant defense system under stressful conditions of training as observed in the case of soldiers and athletes.” [2]
There are many different types of yoga…
…to choose from that range from meditation-based yoga to Bikram yoga where you practice in a heated room of 110 degrees. For football players and most athletes, Hatha yoga is a great place to start because it is essentially yoga in its purest form incorporating simple poses and basic breathing exercises into one.
Power yoga is also becoming increasingly popular and introduces more of a physical fitness practice along with the yoga poses.
Power Yoga sometimes referred to as Ashtanga Vinyasa, is the perfect choice for a more experienced yogi athlete because you link your breath to each moment as you flow through the poses, giving you cardio, stretch, and breathing class all in one.
Sample Pre-Game Yoga Practice
Downward Facing Dog:
Start kneeling on your hands and knees and then push your knees straight until you are making an upside-down V with your body.
Push your tailbone back against your pelvic floor and stretch your arms straight. This Astana stretches the shoulders, calves, and hamstrings while strengthening the arms and legs and energizing your body.
Extended Triangle Pose:
Face the left side of your mat and take a big step forward, about 3 feet. Turn your right toes towards the front of your mat and turn your left foot out about 90 degrees.
Bring your arms to a “T” and hinge forward towards your right calf and foot. Extended Triangle Pose stretches your hips, groins, chest, and hamstrings while reducing stress and improving digestion.
Bound Angle Pose:
Sitting with your legs straight out in front of you, bend both knees and bring your heels together to touch.
Bound angle pose stretches your inner thighs, groins, and knees while relieving anxiety and fatigue.
One-Legged King Pigeon Pose:
Start in a downward-facing dog and bring one leg forward, turning your knee out and your toes towards your heart and place your leg on the ground.
This asana opens the hip and GLUTS while stretching and strengthening your back as well
Whether you are a professional football player or an amateur club player, adding a yoga practice to your weekly workouts or warm-up routine may be a key factor in increasing agility and flexibility while reducing stress and preventing injury.
Yoga truly is beneficial for everyone. ?
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