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5 THE HARTFORD GOLF CLUB FITNESS NEWS Yoga for Athletic Performance Why this ancient discipline has become the latest cross-training tool to enhance athletic performance and reduce the risk of injury. Yoga can be used to improve: § Athletic performance § Benefiting mental concentration § Improving flexibility & balance § Preventing common injuries § Improving performance in a particular sport Finding Focus Yoga is designed to bring body, mind and spirit into balance. Athletes in all sports are finding that yoga conditioning not only elongates tight, shortened, fatigued muscles but also brings calmness and clarity to the mind. Some athletes begin the practice to rehabilitate an injury and to gain more flexibility, stability and strength. Others take it up to increase their powers of concentration and quiet the mind. And some do it because they don’t want to miss out on what everybody else is raving about! The reasons are many, but the results are consistent. Injury Prevention Yoga is powerful bio-feedback tool that can help athletes develop better body awareness. Listening to the body and responding to its messages is a way to honor the body and not push it over the edge. Like runners, tennis players experience a tremendous amount of pounding, shortening and tightening of their muscles. When players do not restore, elongate and stretch these muscles, imbalances and injuries frequently occur. Competitive athletes who perform repetitive motions—swinging a tennis racket or golf club over and over, for example—end up with tight overused muscles that just keep getting tighter and weak underused muscles that just keep getting weaker. Tight muscles are hard, inflexible and brittle; their lack of elasticity contributes to joint instability and decreases resiliency. The tension in tight muscles hinders blood supply and creates scar tissue, which renders the muscles less elastic. Therefore, an athlete with tight muscles has to work harder, which in turn creates even more stress. This classic overuse syndrome is experienced by many athletes. The Importance of Postural Alignment The Posturial focus of yoga enables athletes tremendously because isometric muscle strength increases even as the muscles elongate. Since athletes gain flexibility without losing strength, their speed, power and force improve. Before attempting any yoga pose, it is important to learn how to achieve and maintain proper postural alignment. 1. First, become aware of your breath, and focus on being in the moment. Next, isometrically engage all of your muscles, starting with the feet and moving slowly up your body, isometrically engaging the muscles, or “hugging” them onto your bones. 2. While maintaining muscle engagement, open the pelvic floor by taking the tops of the thighs back toward the hamstrings. Draw the tailbone down so that the low belly lifts away from the fronts of the thighs; as you do this, focus on the muscles of the pelvic floor and the transversus abdominis and lower rectus abdominis muscles. This creates core stability, which allows you to safely elongate to your furthest point of the stretch. Keep in mind that athletes who are tight in the hamstrings, hips and/or low back tend to have an excessive posterior pelvic tilt. Curbing the Chatter- Great for Golfers! One of the most important abilities athletes can master is to remain focused on their sport. Remaining impervious to distractions, or mental chatter, is how athletes withstand hours of training and stay competitive. This kind of inner focus and concentration is something that can be honed through yoga. By exercising pratyahara (withdrawing of the senses) and dharana(focus or inner concentration), athletes can learn to quiet a busy mind and be in the “now.” Sport-Specific Yoga Poses For each sport, the poses shown below are an excellent choice;. Keep in mind that you can’t go wrong mixing and matching these poses for different athletes, as many sports recruit the same muscles. Poses can be held anywhere from 45 seconds (for beginners) up to five minutes (for advanced