It’s the post season and your team has made it to the height of competition. Everything your athletes have worked for all season is finally here. It’s an exciting time but it can also be exhausting.
As athletes prep for nationals, their strength and conditioning and training will start to wind down. Their bodies have likely had enough and they need to reserve what energy they have left for competition. Fortunately, there are things they can do to help speed up recovery and restore the energy levels that were depleted throughout the season.
During the post-season, we recommend incorporating restorative yoga into their routine. Since practices and training should be winding down, this should be fairly easy to add in.
There are several types of yoga, so which one is truly restorative?
Here are 3 types of yoga that are appropriate for athletes: vinyasa, hatha, and restorative.
Vinyasa Yoga
Appropriate for off-season and pre-season. It is a mindful flow that links movement to unhurried breath, intensified by holding postures to awaken the body and clear the mind. This type of practice will increase flexibility, develop joint stability, and build determination.
Hatha Yoga
Appropriate for off-season and in-season. It is an active recovery practice designed to build body awareness, release tension, and ease the mind. This type of practice will increase range of motion, improve balance and help to maintain flexibility.
Restorative Yoga
Appropriate for post-season. It will allow you to dive into a state of deep relaxation by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest system) with long-held, prop-supported poses that gently stretch the muscles. The goal is to decrease stress, reduce fatigue, and restore the mind and body so you can perform at your best.
Because passive stretching in restorative yoga is heavily prop supported, it allows muscles to relax and not surpass their edge. Unlike yin yoga, restorative yoga has been found to stimulate collagen and encourage healing over time. Rather than stretching in restorative yoga, we put the joints in a position to influence the tissues first, then passively over time, the body’s nervous system physiologically responds.
The SAID principle is “specific adaptation to imposed demands” of most frequently performed or loads most frequently applied. This is an important concept regarding Restorative Yoga, since the postures are prop supported, passive poses. The aim becomes neurological, to affect change on a cellular level with poses for specific purposes.
You can have your athletes affecting change and creating deep relaxation by providing them with restorative yoga.
On-Demand Yoga for Athletes
Yoga Athletex has on-demand platform, YAX Online, that features 200+ videos of recovery methods such as yoga, breathwork, mediation, SMR, and more – all designed to improve performance, decrease injury, and increase playing time.
Here is a great Restorative Yoga video for your team to start with, after they are signed up for YAX Online.
Want to learn more? Sign up to receive a free webinar recording about the Benefits of Yoga for Volleyball Athletes!
In this recorded webinar, you will learn:
- What the benefits of yoga for athletes are
- Why you need to incorporate yoga modalities into your training
- How to increase performance and prevent injury potential
- When to incorporate recovery to best fit your athlete’s schedule
Discounts for Teams!
Want to provide on-demand yoga (as well as breathwork, meditation, and SMR) to your athletes? Fill out this form to learn more.
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About the Author
Kalynn Evans (B.S., NASM-CPT, E-RYT 200, FMSC, XPT Coach) is the Owner of Yoga Athletex, LLC alongside her sister Patricia Bomar. She grew up playing volleyball; her mom and coach was a former college volleyball player at University of Houston and then a member of the US national team, so volleyball was instilled in her from a young age. Kalynn played club volleyball for 7 years at Club Texas in Houston. She played D1 college volleyball at SE Louisiana where she graduated with an accounting degree. Having some back and hip injuries throughout her volleyball career led Kalynn to practice yoga, and want to offer yoga to youth and adult athletes to prevent and rehabilitate injury. She completed her 200 RYT in 2013, completed Yin and Restorative Trainings in 2015 and 2016, FMS Cert 2016, and NASM-CPT in 2017 and XPT coaching certificate in 2018.
Kalynn’s Instagram: @kalynnevans
YAX Online Instagram: @yaxonline
Yoga Athletex: @yogaathletex
