Using Yoga as a Cross Training Tool

As a lifelong athlete, someone who has competed in sports that range from middle school soccer to triathlons on Montauk, I have worked endlessly to find ways to keep a true variety in my training. Being specialized in one given sport, without offering yourself any mental or physical supplements in the form of realistic cross training, can actually serve as a deterrent to your individual success. This ideal, one that may seem slightly off the mark in this age of sport-specific workouts-ones designed to pinpoint every facet of a skill or movement, actually makes a great deal of sense.

Historically, the world's best athletes are those who have succeeded on multiple levels, and then, as they aged, focused on one. Without detailing any particular path, each of these types of athletes found the success in variety, as their bodies adapted to different challenges and did not get pigeonholed in a series of repetitive, cyclical movements. As multi-sport athletes, they regularly changed seasons and sports, engaging different muscle groups used in various ways, which over time culminated in cross-trained bodies that existed as well-rounded machines.

While the same changes exist in the modern day, the world of sport has altered significantly, with athletes working to excel in only one sport. Rather than switching sports entirely, the current athlete must find ways to cross-train within the framework of their area of competition. One of the greatest ways to integrate a new approach is to infuse yoga into your daily routines, either as a supplement to an existing session, a replacement for a worn-out practice, or as a rest day stretching opportunity.

As a person who has started to use the discipline weekly, with normally four separate sessions of yoga-AM Yoga, PM Restorative Yoga, Yoga for the Core, and Extreme Yoga-interspersed throughout the week, I have come to see the real benefits of using it as my primary form of cross-training. While preparing for the upcoming triathlon season, whether I am building a base or working toward a peak, yoga provides my body with both the needed challenge and the required active rest. I have found that yoga works for me on five levels, all of which can supplement any training I do to get ready for a long swim, a grueling bike ride, or a seemingly endless run.

Establishing Core Strength

Having a tight "cage" represents a near prerequisite for true success, especially in any endurance sport. With the amount of turning and twisting athletic movements require, using yoga for the core will provide you with not only fit abdominals, but also a firm lower back and taunt obliques. Without core strength your body simply cannot perform at the level its talent dictates; thus, you sell your ability short. One way to alter this is to intertwine yoga in your weight training, use it as a post-activity to your workout, or replace an element of your current plan entirely.

Enhancing Flexibility

As any good athlete will tell you, flexibility is the key to being fit and competitive. Tight muscles limit movement, reduce quickness, and obstruct natural speed, all of which have become essentials in virtually all of modern sport. Yet, with the numbers of hours spent training by current athletes, simply stretching before and after will not work well enough. Rather than complete the same old static stretches coaches have implemented for years, try yoga as a flowing, fluid way to keep your body limber. If you are creative enough, you can blend the stretches you like with a number of key yoga positions to enhance your cross-training experience.

Building Strength

Most athletes associated the building of strength with time in the weight room. While it is certainly true, it is not the only way to gain and refine muscle. Yoga will never, as it is not designed to do so, win you a body building competition; however, with more advanced poses you will begin working not only the major muscles groups, but also, and more importantly, the minor groups that support their larger counterparts. Yoga, in the end, creates a true muscular symmetry for the athlete, and it gives him the chance to maximize his body's efficiency.

Increasing Recovery

Hard workouts require rest to have the muscles adequately recover to be trained again. Rather than using rest periods as times of complete inactivity, I like to perform an easy yoga session to get the muscles moving. I do not work hard here, nor do I place unneeded stress on my already-tired muscles; instead, I stop them from becoming rigid and stagnant. Thus, yoga can make your recovery smoother and faster so that you can return to training with a freshly rested body.

Improving Mentally

The peace yoga brings on a mental and psychological level undeniably refreshes your mind. Hard workouts not only fatigue the body, but they also stress the mind, and far too many athletes neglect this side of training. Having your mind clear and prepared is equally as important to having a fit body, as mental weakness will deter the body's every chance to perform. Because yoga, as a discipline, encourages deep, melodic breathing coupled with slow, precise movements, it gives you the opportunity to relax your mind and find an inner peace. This may very well be the greatest benefit of all for selling yoga as a serious cross-training tool.

In all my experience as an athlete and coach, I have never once encountered someone who said they did not enjoy yoga being placed into their routine. In fact, most adopt it entirely and use it as often as possible. While it will not make your pure skill better for a given sport, it will enhance almost every other piece of your athletic performance.