Yoga for Athletes

1. Yoga for Athletes IST Day

2. The Transformation of Yoga • No longer seen as a strange Eastern Practice where you ties yourself in knots • No longer seen as an activity only for middle class, middle aged women

3. The spread of yoga to sports people & athletes • Greater (balanced) strength • Flexibility • Superior balance and body control (awareness) • More energy • Mental focus • De-stress, deal with pressure, switch off • Feeling of well-being • Being in The Zone

4. Controlled Studies • 2001 California University tested the strength of volunteers before and after a 8 weeks of twice-weekly yoga classes. “Isokinetic muscular strength in the elbow joint went up 31% (extension) and 19% (flexion). Knee strength went up 28% (extension) and 57% (flexion)

5. Controlled Studies • 2000 Ball State University measured lung capacity of 287 college students before and after two 50 min yoga classes for 15 weeks. Average increase in lung capacity was 10%. “Yoga poses help increase lung capacity by improving flexibility in the rib area, shoulders and back, allowing the lungs to expand more fully”

6. Real Men Do Yoga • Flexibility is yoga’s main course, the dish that brings everyone to the table. You’ll find out, though, that there’s a lot more to the meal. Probably the biggest surprise for guys who try yoga is that the flexibility entrée comes with an extra helping – a side order of serious strength training (on the house). And that goes for both ordinary Joes and zillionaire athletes. John Capouya

7. Ryan Giggs • Aged 35, PFA Footballer of the Year 2009, 10 league titles, 4 FA Cup winners medals & Two Champions League medals and over 700 appearances for Manchester United • He says yoga has helped prolong his career for the past 5 years: “It tests parts of your body that you just don’t use in football. The first time I did it, about five years ago, I was completely knackered. I went home from the training ground and slept for three hours in the afternoon”

8. Andy Murray • Britain’s number one tennis player regularly practices Bikram (hot) yoga. • “Being tennis players, we get very stiff, especially changing surfaces a lot. In the off-season, when you’re doing a lot of training, it’s a great way of getting used to the heat and also improving your flexibility. When you are just stretching after matches, you are just maintaining your flexibility, but this improves it a lot.

9. David Duval • “Yoga gives me greater range of motion in the hip and shoulder joints, which generate extra power and distance”

10. Why might an athlete seek yoga? • Repeated injuries • Feelings of stiffness • Drop in performance or aspiration for higher performance • Because they have read that it can help! • Group experiences

11. General and Specific Yoga Vinyasas

12. Yoga for Sports PeopleSession Structure • Centering, breath, awareness from distal to proximal • Core strength • Preparation of major joints for ROM • Dynamic movements to raise blood flow, elasticity and heat in the body • Asanas + isometric stretches to increase ROM • Passive stretches • Mental work – concentration/meditation • Relaxation

13. Core Strength Work • After taking up yoga, Diamond Dallas Page, WWE wrestler, says: “My core strength in my stomach and my sides and obliques is unbelievable…Now I don’t do crunches or sit-ups or any of that crap”.

14. Preparing the body for yoga • Doing static stretches does not sufficiently raise muscle temperature, it does not increase blood flow through muscles, it does not warm up joints, or prepare you for further effort • How does this challenge us?

15. Controlled Study • The Australian Army monitored 2,500 recruits, giving some of them static stretches to do before training. The stretching had no effect on the incidence of injuries. The physiology professor in charge of the research said recruits should still warm-up but static stretching is “a waste of time”.

16. Stretching in Class • For increasing range of motion the most effective duration of relaxed stretches is 30 seconds, and the most effective frequency is once per day (Bandy et al 1997)

17. Defining Flexibility • Flexibility = ROM – Range of Motion • It is joint specific (eg open hips, stiff spine) • And specific to each movement within each joint (eg internal and external rotation)

19. Myths about Flexibility & Strength • Strong contractions to build strength in muscles inevitably leads to them shortening • Wrong: Isometric stretches – eg biceps in 3 positions. And chaturanga

20. Running makes you less flexible • Not necessarily. It depends on what kind of running

21. Flexibility Tests • Dandasana – for the hamstrings • Bhujangasana – for the spine • Gomukasana – for the shoulders • Baddha Konasana – for the hips • Hip flexor test on table

22. Limitations to Flexibility • Age – 7-11 • Sex – female pelvis • Lifestyle – eg choices: running, cycling, sedentary • The mind • Genetics – eg ligament structure • Connective Tissue – 30% of the muscle – models. Endomysium, perimysium (fascicle), epimysium. Collagen-elastin-age • The nervous system – stretch band & role play – 70% & 130%. Myostatic stretch reflex (spinal cord reflex arc) and Golgi tendon organ (GTO)

23. LUNCH • Visualisation

24. The A&P of Stretching recap

29. Safe Practice

30. “The flexibility of an athlete is sufficiently developed when the maximal range of motion somewhat exceeds the range required in competition. This difference between an athlete’s flexibility and the needs of the sport is called “the flexibility reserve”. Thomas Kurz

31. Injuries • Muscles do not have to be stretched to their maximum to tear. Tears occur when stretch and contraction happen at the same time. This can be a muscle spasm when the muscle is weak or tired

32. The 4 causes of injury • A difference in strength between two opposing muscle groups • A strength and flexibility imbalance between the same muscle groups on opposite sides of the body • The onset of fatigue • An imbalance in activity of muscles

33. Injuries need rest! • Stretching of sore muscles may further damage them. After all, soreness is a sign of tissue damage.

34. Injury Prevention “Balancing the flexibility of all the muscles in a joint and improving the strength and endurance of the weaker muscles are the easiest measures for prevention of injuries” “For safety’s sake, do some stretches in directions that are not typical for your sport”. Thomas Kurtz “The result of inadequate compensatory stretching for the upper back and shoulders…can lead to a round shouldered posture”. Bob Smith

35. Benefits of Yoga Stretches “At the end of a workout….stretching facilitates recovery. It regulates muscular tension and relieves muscle spasms. After stretching, blood flow in muscles is improved” Thomas Kurz

36. Finding Space Three types of stretching - practical

37. Three main categories of Flexibility Training • Dynamic Active Flexibility – the ability to perform dynamic movements within a full range of motion. Combining relaxation of extended muscles with contraction of moving muscles. • Best done in the morning

38. The Dynamic Element • Do static stretches after dynamic exercise Flexibility improves with an increased blood flow in the muscles (Wazny 1981) The goals of the warm-up are: an increased awareness, improved coordination, improved elasticity and contractibility of muscles, and a greater efficiency of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

39. 2: Static Active Flexibility • The ability to assume and maintain extended positions using only the tension of the agonists and synergists while the antagonists are being stretched

40. Isometric Stretching/PNF/GTO Adding to relaxed stretches by tensing the stretched muscles for a short time (5 seconds) and then releasing causes a post-contractive relaxation effect and consequent increase in flexibility. Creates new sarcomers. Also reciprocal inhibition. CR & CRAC.

41. Stretching Scientifically – Thomas Kurz “Tense your muscles prior to relaxing and stretching them, and tense them every time when you want to increase your range of motion during a stretch. To simultaneously develop strength and flexibility, tense your muscles while they are fully stretched. As your strength in stretched positions increases, so does your range of motion.”

42. When? • “The best time for isometric stretching is the end of a workout – this is the time when isometric stretches are most effective” (Moller et al 1985) • Do not do isometric stretches in the morning if you plan to work on strength or flexibility later in the day. Isometric stretches may be too exhausting for your muscles if you do them twice a day

43. 3: Static Passive Flexibility • This is the ability to assume and maintain extended positions using your weight or using strength not coming from the stretched limb. Passive flexibility usually exceeds active (static & dynamic)

44. The flexibility downside for athletes Relaxed static stretches decrease strength by impairing activation of the stretched muscles for up to five minutes after the stretch and contractile force for up to one hour. Running economy has been associated with decreased flexibility. To take advantage of a rebound, the stiffer the muscles and tendons the better, provided you have the require range of motion (Kubo et al, 1999)

45. An effective blend for sports people “In a complete “workout” you would do one dynamic, one isometric, and one relaxed stretch for the hamstring” Thomas Kurz

46. Hamstrings, hamstrings, hamstrings

47. Sports Clinic Test!

48. Rowing • What will be the problem? • Short hamstrings limit move forward to the “catch” phase at the start of the next stroke. They compensate with spinal flexion, leading to lower back pain

49. Swimming • What might the problem be? • Short hamstings bring the feet out of the water in crawl. • Tight chest muscles create bobbing up and down in breastroke and drag the face under-water in back stroke

50. Running • What will be the problem? • Short hamstrings due to limited ROM in joggers and long distance runners. High impact on joints – knees, hips and spine (raises risk of osteoarthritis). Middle distance and sprinters are different.