Yoga For Everyday Athletes

Whether you're a new runner, total gym rat, or summer-only tennis fanatic, a yoga instructor can tell. That's because workouts that emphasize running, lifting, and swinging movements leave the telltale signs of tight hamstrings, quads, and shoulders—the trifecta of treacherous spots in fit females.

Left alone, they can lead to muscular imbalances, injuries, and stalled results. Here's what can help: yoga for athletes, a practice specifically designed for active people. "Yoga gives you the power to better understand your body," says Emilie Smith, a yoga-for-athletes instructor in New York City. "You learn where you're strong or weak, tight or flexible." By correcting those problems, you can raise your game. That's why so many pro athletes and Olympians are devotees. Plus, it strengthens your core and builds a lean, sculpted physique. (Not a bad bonus.)

This sequence, created by Smith, has three phases: dynamic poses that warm up your muscles and loosen your joints; passive holds, which relax the body as you stretch your muscles deeper; and a restorative pose, a critical element that Smith says helps you recover and prepare for your next workout.

Add this to your regular weekly routine—keeping in mind that it should complement, not compete with, your workouts. "If you're recovering from a killer workout or injury, move through each pose extra gently," says Smith. "But if you're in a down period or an off-season, you can take a more energetic approach to build strength."


Watch yoga instructor Emilie Smith demonstrate the sequence:

Article by Jen Ator from Women's Health

Good or Bad Stretch?

Article By: Lissa Rankin

A Crossroads

Not long ago, I was at a crossroads in my life, and as often happens at crossroads, I felt a bit of pain. Down one of four potential roads lay strange but exciting newness. Down another, loss, but with possibility. A third would have required potentially painful growth. A fourth, complete uncertainty. None would be easy. All would require a stretch, and with stretching, we tend to hurt.

Avoiding Pain

When something starts to hurt, we have a tendency to pull back. After all, hurt is something to avoid, right? But what about taking a yoga class? Don’t you find yourself in poses that are, at once, completely liberating but hurt like the dickens? I know I do. It’s tempting to stretch too far- to let your ego get caught up in “success,” while you push yourself beyond safe limits and wind up with a torn hamstring. So how do you know where that limit lies? What’s the difference between good stretch and bad stretch?

Wisdom of the Body

I’ve found that my body tends to know. There’s a stretch that feels invigorating. It’s a challenge, and stepping up to the plate feels fantastic when you achieve it. By stretching gently, you slowly surrender more deeply into the pose, freeing your mind and unleashing your spirit. But there’s another type of stretch that just feels wrong. You tweak something, feel pain biting into you, and get a sense of dread about what’s happening. One is to be celebrated. The other is best avoided.

How can you tell the difference? You have to listen to your body, mind, and spirit. When you’re stretching, you know the difference between a good stretch and a bad one. It’s when we ignore the messages that suffering happens.

Resting in Child’s Pose

In my life, three of the possible roads felt like good stretches. One felt  like a bad one. But I kept standing at the crossroads for a while, resting, rejuvenating, growing, and getting clarity about what lies ahead. I came out of that stretching yoga pose and rested into child’s pose until I felt strong enough, limber enough, to keep stretching. And that’s okay.

Stretching Out Of Our Comfort Zones

Maybe you’re finding that being vulnerable on the forum is stretching you. Maybe another person says something to you that stings and stretches you. Maybe you don’t feel met in just the way you might wish. Maybe you feel overstretched, like you’ve put too much of yourself out there. You might wonder if this is a bad stretch. And it could be- for you. Or it could be that liberating stretch that comes just before you are set free. Only you can know the difference, and you must honor where you are in your process.

It all comes back to being true to where you are. There is no right and wrong. Just like there is no right or wrong road at my intersection. My body just needs to feel which stretch feels like growth and which one feels like a pulled muscle.

What about you? What stretches you?

More articles by Lissa Rankin here