Ski Pros Turn to Yoga to Improve Performance
Ski Pros Turn to Yoga to Improve Performance
At first look, you can think that Yoga and skiing are two entirely different things that are not related in any way. But amazingly they are. Yoga comes with a whole package of benefits and skiers have discovered that it is one of the best ways to get them improve their skiing performance. Yoga, not only helps strengthen your mind but, also, helps one become stronger, more flexible and have better body balance. A good number of the pro skiers have turned to Yoga just to harness the benefits that come with it.
Are you a skier and aspire to be better at the sport than you currently are? Here are reasons why you should turn to Yoga as highlighted by sports overnight.
Helps you become stronger and more flexible
Any skier can attest to the fact that you need a lot of strength when skiing. Yoga is a workout that services all parts of the body. The perception that Yoga is just about meditation and breathing is flawed and crippled. That is only one aspect. Yoga, also, involves stretching your body parts like your quads and your hamstrings. It gives you more strength. Additionally, the workout consists of stretching and loosening your joints hence making you more flexible. Flexibility is essential in making the turns and bends while skiing.
Yoga helps in opening your hips
Flexible and open hips are very important to skiers. On a normal day, a person may spend their entire time confined to an office and not move their hips for the better part of the day. It makes them less flexible than they ought to be. Yoga is an excellent remedy for this as it helps improve your hip flexibility which, in turn, translates to better turns and better body balance.
Lengthening your hamstrings
Since skiers use their squads quite a lot, it is not strange to see a skier with short, tight hamstrings and overdeveloped quads. Yoga works best when it comes to stretching them out. Having strong hamstrings are essential for a skier to avoid exerting extra strain on their knee joints which might lead to injury.
Yoga will give hard rock abs
Strong abs are particularly important when it comes to maintaining balance on the ski and when redirecting your weight to the position that you want. Proper core engagement leads to loosened hamstring and hip flexors hence less strain on your back. Practicing yoga encourages more use of your core thus better skiing.
Better body balance
One thing that is common to all people who practice Yoga is that their body balance is incredible. As you already know, without proper body balance, you cannot ski.
Better focus
The aspect of meditation and concentration, also, comes in to play. There is a lot of reflection that happens when one practices Yoga, and that too is important to skiers in developing their mental strength.
Yoga helps improve your breath control
Going downhill at very high speed while trying to maintain balance and focus at the same time drains a lot of energy from a person. It can be quite easy to lose your breath if you do not know how to control your breath. Yoga has breath control workout that can help one significantly improve their breathing. Breathing controls will help you, also, control your mind and your body correctly.
Most of the pro skiers who have turned to Yoga because yoga works and you can feel and see the results within a concise time. And the beauty of Yoga is that it does not just develop the body. It strengthens your mind too. Being able to control your body and your mind opens an avenue for a whole range of possibilities that will make you even more effective when going about your skiing businesses. Another great benefit of Yoga is that anyone can do it regardless of their body size, their height, age or gender.
Some necessary Yoga applications for some situations
Well, it is not all the time that you can afford the luxury of going to a Yoga instructor or carrying your Yoga equipment with you. There, however, are some simple Yoga practices that one can do in their day to day activities.
• Use the regular object on you like your equipment. For instance, you can use your belt as your strap and shoes as your block.
• After skiing, develop and flow or do a sun salutation instead of heading out immediately to loosen your muscles up.
• If you are anxious, practice slow breathing to gain control of your breath. Controlling your breath will help you manage your mind and keep you relaxed and composed.
• Do a few dynamic stretches daily to tune your muscles and make them ready for skiing.
Learning from the pros is usually one of the best ways to learn. The pros have turned to Yoga and are drawing many benefits from it. If you want to be a pro too, then you had better start practicing Yoga.
