5 Yoga Postures For Athletes

YOGA POSTURES ATHLETES SHOULD DO DAILY

Frog pose (“Malasana”)

Benefits:

Hip mobility is extremely important for any athlete. Malasana stretches the hips, thighs, groin muscles, knees, calves, and ankles. In addition to improving mobility and flexibility, Malasana can help improve balance, concentration, and focus.

How to do it:

• Start standing, with feet spread slightly wider than the hips.

• Come into a forward fold, touching the ground.

• From the forward fold, drop the hips down as low as possible, without sitting on the ground.

• Bring hands to heart center in prayer position.

Tips:

When taking this posture, keep the torso lifted and straightened in order to help strengthen the abdominal and back muscles. Use the elbows to help press the knees apart for a deeper groin stretch.

Plow Pose (“Halasana”)

Benefits:

The beautiful thing about plow pose, is that it stretches almost the entire posterior side of the body in one swoop! This back-body posture stretches muscles from the base of the skull all the way down the Achilles tendon. Plow pose is great for easing back aches and neck tension, and provides a great stretch in the gluts, hamstrings, and calves.

How to do it:

• Lie down on the floor, back to the mat.

• Extend both legs all the way out on the mat and palms facing down.

• Lift both legs straight up, then bring the toes behind the head.

• Place hands on lower back.

Tips:

Remember to keep the sit-bones rotated up towards the ceiling in order to maintain proper spine alignment. (You should feel a natural arch in your lower back). Keep in mind, your feet may not touch the ground behind you! Hands can be placed on the lower back or extended towards the ground with fingers interlaced for a shoulder stretch.

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