Sports Yoga® BREATHING FOR ATHLETES
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SPORTS YOGA® CERTIFICATION FOR FITNESS PROFESSIONALS
Program Accredited Worldwide.
Sports Yoga® Instructors is a fast growing community with million of dollars turnover each year!
What is Sports Yoga®?
Sports Yoga® is specially designed to be incorporated into any fitness routines, personal training sessions, sport specific training or as class format. The Program blends various yoga components (including asanas and pranayama) and traditional sport stretches to seamlessly create a novel approach to fitness. Essentially Sports Yoga® is a user-friendly Yoga for the fitness industry. Yoga for everyone!
The discipline of Sports Yoga® offers fitness professionals a chance to add to their repertoire in a profitable way. The techniques and methods of Sports Yoga® can be applied to practically every Sport and training routine and this opens up a wide field to all trainers and fitness instructors, even those who may not be particularly interested in yoga.
How do you become Sports Yoga® Certified Instructor?
Certification is available here: Sports Yoga® in Correspondence Format (12 weeks home study) delivered worldwide. Accredited by Yoga Alliance International, Yoga World Council, Fitness Australia, Kinect Australia and the REPs-Register Exercise Professionals (UK) for the purpose of CECs (continuing education credits) upon course completion Sports Yoga® Instructors can teach anywhere in the world.
You can enrol at any time, sit the theory test online using a web cam, and submit the practical exam via Youtube.
What makes Sports Yoga® 'unique' from other training programs is the ONE TIME ONLY Certification, there are no progressive qualification levels to complete. Certified Instructors can start teaching Sports Yoga® straight away.
You don't have to be a qualified Yoga Teacher or have previous Yoga experience to enrol on this program, Fitness Professionals, Strength Trainers, Dancers and PE Teachers have already qualifications in their own field of expertise, these are sufficient prerequisites to access the course. Sports Yoga® is ideal for Aspiring Yoga Teachers as foundation course before they embark on a more demanding Yoga Teacher Training.
To read more, click > Sports Yoga® Course Syllabus
YOGA and SPORT-SPORTS YOGA® WAS BORN!!
Sports Yoga® approaches the practice of yoga from a physical standpoint, with little or no emphasis on meditation or spirituality. Sports Yoga is a method designed as cross-training to help athletes and Sport people improve their performance before or after any training routine, increase body flexibility, reduce the chance of Sport-related injury and heal quickly from injuries. What makes Sports Yoga different from other disciplines, is the focus on a specific sport.
Sports Yoga® is a unique blend of ancient, modern and experimental exercise ranging from traditional sport stretches to Hatha yoga style asanas. Sports Yoga® can be incorporated in any fitness training and sporting activities i.e.: jogging, cycling, golf, swimming, tennis, dancing, soccer, body building and martial arts, to name a few.
Sports Yoga® is a workout that enhances balance, strengthens key muscles and develops lower body endurance for improved performance. The stretching sequence of poses is a great way to unwind after any exercise workout or as an everyday routine to loosen up tight muscles and gain flexibility. By simply integrating a few yoga poses into fitness routines, fitness professionals at all levels can use yoga as an effective cross-training tool for every Sport person, from the amateur to the professional.
SPORTS YOGA® FOR SPORTS PEOPLE
Swimmers:
Swimmers say that the body tends to slip into a state of misalignment because of overuse of the upper part of body in three of the four strokes: freestyle, breast and butterfly. Sports Yoga stretches can be a perfect way to engage in ‘dry land training’. It can provide flexibility to the body while increasing its strength. Examples are: Hero Pose (Virasana): Swimmers need solid ankles and feet in order to push the water with all their strength; Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana): best for dropping the shoulder blades down the back—if not done then chances of suffering from shoulder tendonitis and rotator cuff are increased; Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana): swimmers need to bring their hips in proper alignment so that they do not suffer from any type of hip injury. It would also help them unlock their hip joints (which are most used in a butterfly stroke).
Runners: often have tight hamstrings due to the nature of the activity and from not stretching sufficiently. With the inclusion of forward folding or hip flexion and spinal forward flexion (examples in English nomenclature include Forward Fold, Seated Forward Fold and Downward Facing Dog), yoga practice can improve hip extensor (hamstrings and glutes) and low-back (erector spinae) flexibility, along with hip flexor (quadriceps, iliopsoas) and calf (gastrocnemius and soleus) flexibility.
Tennis Players: often lose their suppleness in the back and torso and deplete the strength in their shoulders, elbows and wrists because of the demands of tennis. Prasarita Padottanasana (legs spread wide, forward bend while standing) is excellent for opening the shoulders; it also deeply stretches the hamstrings and adductors. Other good choices for tennis players are Utkatasana (Chair pose), which strengthens the abdominal muscles and stretches the achilles tendons, calves and spinal column and Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior 2 pose), which builds strength and balance, especially in the lower body. Another excellent pose for strengthening and lengthening muscles of concern for tennis players is Setubandha Sarvangasana (Bridge pose). The Spinal Twist and the Lateral Stretches would be beneficial for great flexibility in the spine and shoulders and lunging ability.
Body-builders and Weight Lifters: train with weights to maximise muscle size, decrease body fat and to improve body symmetry and aesthetics. A typical body-building regimen includes several hours of intense weight lifting each day, not to mention the constant attention to food intake (phytonutrients and protein rich foods), dietary supplements (liquid vitamins and others), muscle size with an appropriate body balance and body fat percentage.
Training for muscular flexibility and strengthening muscles that stabilise joints are largely ignored. Aerobic training is usually only performed in an effort to reduce body fat percentage in the month or two before a body-building competition. It is a common misconception that yoga is only for women or the elderly. A regular yoga routine can complement a bodybuilding regimen by offering health benefits and a potential competitive advantage.
Regular yoga can improve the strength of the stabilizer muscles which help to maintain balance and posture and are rarely a focus in a typical body-building routine. Stabilizer muscles stabilise a joint so that other muscles can help to move the joint. Examples of these muscles are: the abdominal obliques, gluteus medius and the peroneals. Most weight stack machines require very little stabilizer muscle activity because the weights move in a linear motion and require no balance. Training with free weights utilises the stabilizer muscles to a greater degree than weight stack machines, but still does not directly target them.
By practising yoga and holding different postures where muscle contractions are maintained in off-balance positions, the stabilising muscles are directly targeted, unlike any weights offered in a health club. Because these contractions are intense and target different muscles than normal body-building workouts, muscular growth in these muscles will occur, which could ultimately make the difference between winning and losing a body-building competition.
Yoga can also improve body symmetry by improving posture and eliminating muscular imbalances. Pectorals, biceps, abdominals and quadriceps (the mirror muscles) often receive the most emphasis in a bodybuilding training routine. However, muscles on the back of the body, lats, trapezius, hamstrings and calves are often neglected. This can lead to muscular imbalances that can affect body symmetry and posture.
Golfers: need to repeatedly twist their body in one direction to swing a golf club. Mastering the sport of golf requires tremendous strength in the entire torso. To strengthen and flex the spine, try Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana) and Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana). Golfers can also gain strength, flexibility and stability by doing twisting poses such as Half Spinal Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana).
Skiers: often incur injuries in their low back and knees. Skiers also tend to have overdeveloped quadriceps and weak/tight hamstrings. These conditions can be improved by doing poses that strengthen the joints and muscles of the low back, knees and posterior legs. Examples to try with skiers include Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana) modified Warrior Pose (Modified Virabhadrasana 3),Seated Forward Fold Pose (Paschimottanasana),Supine Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose (Supta Padangusthasana) and Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana).
Cyclists: tend to have very tight hips and hamstrings. Due to kyphosis of the low back, these athletes also need to stretch in ways that flex the spine. Poses that address this spinal curvature help increase circulation around the lower vertebrae. Like swimmers, cyclists benefit most from poses that stretch the back and open the chest. Examples are Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana) Bow Pose (Dhanurasana) and Camel Pose (Ustrasana) with hands on the sacrum rather than reaching to the heels. An optimal pose to stretch tight hips and hamstrings is Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasan).
Dancers have some of the most enviable bodies, with their long and lithe limbs, their sculpted muscles and amazing strength. In fact, ballet and other dance forms have been the inspiration for many workouts including the ‘Tracy Anderson Method’, ‘Pure Barre’ and ‘Kettlenetics’. Just like any well-trained athlete, dancers’ bodies are challenged by working the same muscle groups with the same set of moves over and over again. Whether it’s cramming ten toes in pointe shoes or sore knees from gliding across the stage in a series of split jumps, dancers’ wear the marks and signs of their beautiful craft on their bodies and sometimes those reflections are painful. The ancient practice of yoga can offer the dancer a way to correct any imbalances or misalignments while also improving their performance.
Can Sports Yoga® Methods and Techniques really make a difference to a Training routine?
Yoga (Sports Yoga®) when done consistently can increase strength. Strength through yogic stretching is related to the Golgi tendon reflex threshold, which limits a contraction well short of the point at which the tendons would be injured.
Regular stretching gives the muscles the ability to fire more efficiently without shutting down in response to stretched tendons. The golgi tendon organs (GTOs) are located in the tendons near the ends of the muscle fibres. Essentially these GTOs are stretch receptors and they respond to changes in muscle or tendon length as a muscle or tendon is stretched, or when a muscle contracts powerfully.
They act as a safety mechanism for the muscle and tendons. If the intensity of a muscular contraction, or a stretch, exceeds a certain critical point, an immediate reflex occurs to inhibit the contraction or stretch. As a result, the muscle instantly relaxes and the excessive tension is removed and with it the possibility of injury.
Article written by :
Cris C. - Managing Director
©Myholisticfitnessperth 2011 All rights Reserved.
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