RELATED: The 10 Best Yoga Poses for Athletes

Recovery can look different to everyone. For some, it is daily stretches and weekly yoga sessions, or fueling and refueling their bodies with essential nutrients. For others, it is getting eight hours of sleep each night. Great athletes incorporate recovery strategies into each and every day. This is what separates them from good athletes—prioritizing recovery.

Stretching helps alleviate muscle soreness, increase blood flow to muscles for repair, and increase range of motion and flexibility. Going to a daily yoga class may not be realistic and that’s OK!

Here are five stretches any athlete can use to recover.

RELATED: How Yoga Keeps Giancarlo Stanton Swinging for the Fences

Runner’s Lunge

• Step forward with your right foot into a lunge position and drop your back knee down toward the ground.
• Ensure your hips are square in front of you and you are driving the weight through your front heel.
• Raise your opposite arm and reach up and back for a deeper stretch.
• Hold for 15 seconds, release, then try to sit a bit deeper for 15-20 seconds longer.
• Repeat on opposite side.
• Extended stretch: Move the front foot out to the side slightly and drop the knee out, coming to the outside edge of your front foot.
• Work your hands or forearms down to the ground and hold for 15-20 seconds.

Pigeon

• Set up in a high plank position and raise your hips up toward the ceiling (Downward Dog).
• Extend your right leg up and swipe through so it lays perpendicular to the opposite leg underneath your core region.
• Try to relax your upper body by extending your arms out in front of you or resting your forehead on your forearms.
• Hold for 30-60 seconds. Repeat on opposite side.

Adductor Extension

• From a kneeling position, sit tall with your hips forward.
• Extend your right leg out to the side and place the sole of your foot on the ground.
• Bring your hands down to the floor in front of you and slowly sit your hips back on your opposite heel while extending your arms in front.
• Press gently back, keeping the sole of your foot on the ground.
• Hold for 15 seconds, release then sit deeper for 15-20 seconds longer.
• Repeat on opposite side.

Frog

• From a kneeling position, spread your knees wide and point your feet out.
• Slowly bring yourself down to the floor, either forearms down or arms all the way extended.
• Breathe deeply through this position and keep your knees spread wide.
• Hold for 60 seconds.

Child’s Pose to Cobra

• Start in a position similar to the Frog stretch but keep your feet directly underneath you (and not outward).
• Extend your arms forward as you press your hips back, then slowly shift the weight forward into your palms.
• Pressing your palms and hips through the ground, bring your chest up tall and roll your shoulders back.
• Breathe through this sequence, pausing for one breath at each position.
• Repeat five times.

One of the most important cues to keep in mind while performing these stretches is to breathe—long deep inhales followed by long deep exhales. Instead of counting the seconds, count your breaths, aiming for 5 to 10 deep breaths in each position.

These stretches can be done on any recovery day and/or at the end of a training session. Not only will they help promote recovery, they will also help bring your body back to a resting state after an intense workout.

RELATED: The New York Knicks Have Fully Embraced Post-Practice Yoga

As such, pre-game preparation is critical. Going in cold is a recipe for disaster, but overdoing it can leave your energy levels depleted in crunch time. A perfect middle ground gets players ready for the gauntlet of athletic activity they’re about to endure while keeping their legs fresh.

One warm-up that fits the bill? Yoga. Performing a simple yoga-based warm-up before a game or practice can help you stay sharp and avoid the injuries that commonly plague soccer players.

Jermaine Jones can attest to that. A midfielder for the New England Revolution and the United States National Team, Jones began including yoga in his training a couple years ago. His teammates and trainers had been suggesting that he try yoga for years before he finally gave it a shot. Like many athletes, he initially believed it was beneath him.

“When people told me I had to try yoga, I was like, ‘nah, man, that’s easy,’” Jones says. But when he finally gave it a fair shake, he was amazed at the benefits. He says, “When you start it, you get the feeling like ‘this movement or that movement is really hard and I don’t like it.’ But if you go through with it and keep going, you see how much you can stretch a muscle—and it’s unbelievable.”

Because they are almost always running, soccer players seem to have trouble with certain areas—the most common being their hips.

“I think soccer, more than anything else, is about the hips,” says Kent Katich, a yoga trainer who has worked with Jones. “With our lifestyles of sitting all day, our hip flexors get contracted and really tight. In soccer, with the running and the acceleration and the ability to thrust your knees and legs forward, the hip flexors are critical.”

Tight hips lead to limited fluidity in your movements, which soccer players can ill afford. Since 50-50 balls are routinely won by the player with the quickest first step, the ability to change directions smoothly and quickly is critical to success.

The second area of concern is the hamstrings. The last thing soccer players should worry about as they gallop around the field is whether one of their hamstrings is on the verge of popping. Loose, well-stretched hamstrings not only improve range of motion, but they also allow athletes to play at their physical limits with confidence that their bodies can withstand the stress.

“Hamstrings matter for everybody. But for soccer, it’s all about acceleration and endurance and stamina, and if your hamstring is fatigued, you’re going to pull it,” Katich says.

Performing yoga before a game or practice also offers a mental benefit, since it requires a high degree of concentration. Working to hold a pose requires your full undivided attention. The mental focus gained can help players avoid performance anxiety and step on the field with clear minds.

The 6-Move Yoga Warm-Up for Soccer Players

Jones and Katich recently documented some of their most powerful yoga routines in a series of online videos. The videos are helpful for anyone who is thinking about beginning to practice yoga. They include sequences geared toward a variety of goals, including improving recovery and building shot power.

This routine is a 6-move warm-up designed to help soccer players open their hips and stretch their lower bodies before they hit the pitch.

Dynamic Hip Opener

Begin with your feet hip-width apart. Bend at the waist to wrap your fingers under your right knee and slowly pull it toward your chest while you straighten your back. Press your left thigh back and keep your belly in. Hold for five breaths.

Next, slowly open your right leg out to the side with your right hand. Remove your left hand from your right knee and place it on your left hip. Keeping your shoulders square, slowly move your right knee in a small clockwise circle three times. Repeat the movements with your opposite leg.

Squatting Crow

After the Dynamic Hip Opener, set your feet about shoulder-width apart. Squat down and place your fingertips on the ground in front of you, keeping your elbows inside your knees. Sink your heels as far as you can, lower your butt toward the matt and take five deep breaths.

Forward Fold

Out of Squatting Crow, raise your butt up while keeping your fingertips on the ground. Your hands should be even with your feet and your head should be relaxed and dropped. Don’t straighten your knees all the way.

“It’s better to have a micro-bend in your knees,” Katich says. “People get obsessed with straightening their knees all the way, but that puts too much stress on the knees. Keep a tiny bend in them and lengthen at the waist, hips over the ankles.”

Lunge Variations

Out of Forward Fold, step your left foot back to move into a Lunge. Your right knee should be over your right ankle. Work to push the back of your left knee toward the ceiling. Align your fingertips with your toes, roll your shoulder blades back and look straight ahead.

“This targets your hip flexors, which are key for running and taking pressure off your lower back,” Katich says. Hold for five deep breaths. Next, grab your yoga blocks (or similar-sized objects).

Place both blocks inside your right foot and place your forearms on top of them. Allow your right foot to roll onto its outside half. “This variation is getting into your piriformis and glutes a little more,” Katich says. Hold for five deep breaths before repeating the poses on the opposite side.

Hamstring Stretch

Out of the Lunge variation, place the yoga blocks on either side of your front foot. Place your hands on top of the blocks and straighten your front leg, moving your weight back onto your heel.

Flex your front foot toward your shin to stretch your hamstring and allow the top half of your body to lengthen. Work to lower the heel of your back foot toward the mat. Hold for five deep breaths before switching to the other side.

Down Dog

Out of the Hamstring Stretch, move both feet behind you and get into the top position of a Push-Up. Keeping your hands and feet planted, pull your hips back and up toward the ceiling. As you move, tuck your head in.

“This is a whole-body pose that works your hands, shoulders, calves, lower back, feet—everything, really,” Katich says.

What does Yoga Do for Athletes?

Yoga isn’t just about becoming super flexible. It’s about so much more. Most children are quite flexible but lose it quickly after years of training. Yoga will help them to maintain that flexibility while increasing their balance and helping them to relax. Yoga also builds up those ever-important core muscles that are at the heart of every athletic movement. The more progressive poses will even develop their muscular endurance. Above all else, however, Yoga will prevent all sorts of sprains, strains, and general wear and tear that athlete’s bodies typically go through. Nothing is worse to an athlete than being sidelined for weeks, or even months, due to an injury. Below are 7 yoga techniques that will keep your athletes healthy and active for years to come. The first 3 yoga poses focus on strength, the second 3 focus on flexibility, and the final one on relaxation.

When performing any yoga poses, one of the key components is breathing—slow, steady breaths in and out as you move through the poses and sink deeper into them. On the stretching poses, breath in deeply, lengthening the spine, then breathe out as you sink an inch or two deeper into the stretch. The right breathing helps your muscles relax and stretch properly, and also allows your mind to relax and become calm.

7 Yoga Poses for Athletes

Chair Pose

This is the first of three muscle-strengthening Yoga poses that we will begin this routine with. To perform this pose, stand up tall with your feet together and engage your core by trying to pull your navel back to touch your spine. Raise your arms directly overhead with your shoulders relaxed, leaving your biceps beside your ears. Begin by pushing your hips back like sitting down into a chair, squatting as low as you can while still keeping your arms by your ears. Hold this position for 30-60 seconds while your breathing is controlled and your weight is mostly felt in the heels of your feet.

This pose is a good one for strengthening your quads and improving your muscular endurance. It also helps you by engaging your upper back and core muscles and forcing you to maintain proper balance.

Half Bridge

You will need to start laying on your back, arm to your sides, and feet flat on the ground and close to your butt. You will begin by tightening your core and then squeezing your glutes to raise your hips up into the air, forming a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Holding this pose helps you to strengthen many muscles that are usually neglected.

This second strengthening pose focuses on the opposing muscle groups to chair pose. Doing a half-bridge will focus on engaging your hamstrings and glutes, with a smaller engagement of your lower back as well. To increase the difficulty of this pose, it can also be done with just one leg on the ground at a time, holding the other leg straight and in the air. You can also place a greater emphasis on working your hamstrings by raising up onto the balls of your feet during this pose.

Plank Pose

This is the final strengthening pose we will discuss today, although there are many others. It looks very similar to the starting position of a push-up. Start with your body flat on the ground, lying on your stomach with your toes on the ground and heels in the air. Tighten your stomach, glutes, and thighs to keep your body in a completely straight line as you push the ground away by straightening your arms. Holding this position for 45 seconds to a minute will focus on building muscular endurance in your shoulders, core, and thighs.=

Cobra Pose

To perform the Cobra Pose, start by lying flat on your stomach and place your hands firmly on the ground just to the outside of your shoulders. Keeping your back and core relaxed and your hips in contact with the ground, press your shoulders and chest away from the ground until you straighten your arms. Keep your head relaxed and looking up slightly. Relax into this pose.

This is a fantastic pose to release tension that is so often held in the lower back. Most people find themselves sitting for almost all of the day, and in doing so, round their lower back quite often in a slouched position. Holding this pose for 30-40 seconds a few times a day will help undo a lot of the tightness and damage done by all that sitting.

Lunge Pose

To get into a lunge pose, start in a kneeling position with both knees and both feet on the ground. Sweep one leg directly in front of you and plant your foot firmly on the ground. The greater the distance your foot is out in front of you, the more of a stretch you will be able to get with your back leg. Keeping your torso as tall as you can, raise your arms directly overhead and bring your hips forward until you feel a stretch in the muscles at the front of your hips. Keep your core tight and focusing on slow, deep breathing as you relax into this stretch. After about 30-40 seconds, bring your front leg back to the kneeling position and switch sides.

Lunge pose is a wonderful stretch for your hip flexor muscles, which are usually very tight for athletes, runners, and cyclists alike. Sitting down in a chair all day keeps these muscles constantly flexed, keeping them tight and easily injured.

Downward Facing Dog

For this first one, you start in a plank position, as described above. Your hands are firmly planted on the ground directly beneath your shoulders. The rest of your body in a generally straight line from the top of your head through the heels of your feet. Take a deep breath in, and then breathe out completely as you keep your legs straight, raising your hips up into the air. With each deep breath, try to reach your heels a little further toward the ground.

This pose lengthens the whole posterior chain, where you can really feel the stretch in your hamstring and calves, two muscle groups that very easily become tight and knotted, leaving them very vulnerable to injury. This a great stretch to do daily and after a tough workout.

Supine Pose

This one is deceptively simple. You lay flat on your back, with your legs spread and your arms out to your sides. Keeping your eyes closed, breathe in and out in a slow and controlled manner. Focus on clearing your mind and relaxing every part of your body, starting with your head and neck muscles and working downward. This is a meditative pose, one where you don’t focus on anything except for relaxation. No worrying about what you’re doing after Yoga, or doing chores, or finishing homework. Relax your mind and enjoy the time you spend recovering from the day.

Read More

• The 10 Best Yoga Poses for Athletes
• Why Athletes Should Practice Yoga

It is easy to get caught up in the moment or through your workday and look down and realize you have spent hours sitting in one position. To realize you have started to slouch throughout the day.

Stretching is not limited to a pre or post-workout activity. It is indeed so vital for you to take the time to try throughout your workday. Especially if your job is sedentary and you spend most of the day glued to your devices.

Stretching is a super-easy way to have a mini-break throughout your workday, stimulate muscle movement, improve circulation and blood flow through your entire body, and oxygen flow to the brain. It requires zero equipment and takes less than 10 mins! No excuses why you can’t do this.

Setting an egg timer or timer on your phone to go off every couple of hours throughout the day is an excellent way to remind yourself to get up and get moving!

Stretching can be done at your own pace, depending on your flexibility. To maintain a solid stretch, you want to be holding the movement for at least 90 seconds.

If you’re feeling any specific tight areas, they are probably causing tension and stress. Stretching can help tame anxiety both physically as well as mentally. Stretching should never be forced if you feel the pain you want to stretch slowly to have that tightness loosened up first.

The Health and Mental Benefits From Stretching

Flexibility: Your muscles are elastic, the more you move them and stretch, the more nimble they will become. Continued and consistent stretches can drastically improve your flexibility. Yoga and pilates are great low-impact workouts that you can do basic stretches at home. Try touching your toes every morning.

Posture: As you perform stretches, you are putting your muscles to work! Muscles get stronger by doing, and as you are strengthening them, you can notice visible differences in your posture. Have you ever seen an athlete or dancer with bad posture? It’s quite rare. As stretching relieves tension from your back muscles and lower lumbar regions, you will have an easier time sitting straighter and standing taller.

Injury Prevention: As discussed above, stretching keeps your body flexible, and being flexible can also reduce the risk of injuries, especially at trigger points like knees and ankles. Stretching after performing activities like running or playing a group sport can also be an integral part of an injury prevention plan.

Calmed Mind: Taking mini stretch breaks can also force your mind to disconnect from running wild and ease your thinking. As your body is physically moving slower, your mind will also follow that pace calming your mind, reducing fatigue, stress, and anxiety while focusing on your breathing and releasing tension in your muscles. Stretching also encourages the release of endorphins (the “feel-good” chemical), providing a sense of euphoria throughout your body.

Increased Energy: As we already know, stretching allows for an increased blood and oxygen flow throughout the body, you will feel refreshed, but also your energy levels will be increased too. Instead of getting up to make that third cup of coffee, try stretching instead and compare how you feel.

Stretching can be done anywhere, even from the comfort of your chair. Our body can move in many ways, and exploring those options through stretch can be crucial. This will help you to be more productive and positive throughout your workday.

Read More:

• A Nighttime Stretch Routine for Athletes
• 6 Everyday Stretches for People Who Sit Too Much

Sitting down for extended periods is bad for your health. In fact, scientists have linked sedentary lifestyles with heart disease and diabetes. Fortunately, there is a way to stay fit at your desk. Simple, easy, and designed for doing at a desk, these short movements are a great way to keep moving for those who cannot get out of the office.

Do Desk Yoga

Stretching helps keep your blood flowing and prevents you from sitting too long. Some stretching moves also help improve your posture.

Desk yoga requires no special materials, nor does it mean embarrassing yourself in front of your colleagues. Just do some simple in-chair postures, like a seated twist, seated backbend, and wrist release.

Perfect for those with open office plans or anyone new to desk exercising, these are the same postures you would perform in a normal yoga class, and they translate well into the work place.

Take Breaks Every Hour

It’s easy to sit at a desk all day and never move. Combat this tendency by setting an alarm to get up and walk around every hour. This will get you up and moving, which is great for posture, circulation, and burning a few extra calories. It will also help improve productivity by giving you opportunities to refocus.

Do an Ab Workout

Sitting provides opportunities to improve your abdominal wall. Use those opportunities to engage your abs in different ways.

Start by performing a low key exercise like the Ab Lift. Place both hands on the seat of your chair. Keep your knees bent and use your arms to life yourself off the seat while trying to lift your knees as high as possible.

Remember, the most important thing about office workouts is time efficiency. That’s why you should think outside the box. For example, one option is to buy a special cushion for your chair. A wobble cushion on your chair helps you work your abs all day by forcing your body to balance and stimulating your core muscles. It is a way to work out without having to work out.

Exercise with Your Chair

Chairs are good for more than sitting. They also make excellent exercise props. Those of you looking for a more intense workout can use your office furniture.

Stand up, shake it out, and use your chair as a prop for some Chair Squats. To raise your heart rate, do 3 sets of 20 reps with a break between sets.

Use the chair for your upper body by performing dips. Place your hands on the front of the seat with your back facing the chair. Stretch your legs out in front, bend your arms to dip and push back up. Do 3 sets of 10 reps.

Ditch Emails

Add movement to the day by hand delivering messages. If a question or comment can be delivered directly to a co-worker, march across the office and do it. This adds the benefit of moving more, and also promotes productivity by cutting down on the send-and-wait game that we call email.

Functional movement throughout the day is the key to both health and productivity. Use at least one of these five tips every day to get through your work day without hurting your health.

READ MORE:

• Get in Shape at the Office With the Co-Worker Drop
• 3 Super Simple Stretches That Alleviate the Pain of Prolonged Desk Sitting
• How to Exercise at Work

The 28-year-old center is a big reason the Blues are within one win of their first Stanley Cup title, as he’s notched a team-leading 20 points this postseason.

Before playing with the Blues, O’Reilly was with the Buffalo Sabres and the Colorado Avalanche, where his unique training methods became better known to his teammates and his fans.

Starting at the age of 5, O’Reilly began training with his father Brian, who’s a sports trainer for professional athletes. His father put him and his brother through rigorous workouts with a different edge.

What’s unique about the way he trains?

Ever since Ryan was a kid, his father has tested his mind by firing questions at him while he exercised. Brian would throw math and logic questions at his sons while they stick-handled and worked on their balance. In an interview with Sportsnet‘s “The Pro Files,” Ryan said those quick questions during training are what helped him develop a better hockey sense by allowing him to think and act simultaneously while on the ice.

O’Reilly is also really big on yoga, another discipline encouraged by his dad. O’Reilly will perch on a balance beam as his father verbally guides him through different poses, which looks insanely tough:

Ryan OReilly, learning to master your breath and physiology, master your self talk and you’re ego mind, it’s all about engaged core, to master a situation! pic.twitter.com/jeYiZfYUHI

— Brian O’Reilly (@coachbri1) September 21, 2018

According to an article published by the Denver Post, who interviewed O’Reilly during his time on the Avalanche, “[yoga] works all the fibers, all the tissue. A lot of times guys get hurt (playing hockey) because they’re extended and don’t have the strength and flexibility. Yoga is the teacher of strength and flexibility, and it activates everything.” His routine includes plenty of running, telling KMOX NewsRadio he logged 4-6 miles a day last summer. Skill-wise, his hand-eye coordination is incredible:

Ryan O’Reilly’s skill level? Off the charts! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/kNo8Qn4WGM

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 28, 2018

He often trains alongside his older brother, Cal, who’s appeared in 145 career NHL games:

O’Reilly seems to have a good head on his shoulders when it comes to his on-ice work, telling ESPN, “If there’s a play last game that I mishandled or I didn’t see what I wanted to see on it, I take some reps on that. So if it happens again, I’m not worried about it.”

The routine has helped O’Reilly stay resilient, as he’s suffered just one significant injury in over 750 career NHL games. He led the NHL in face-off wins this season while also notching 49 assists. He is one of just three finalists for the Selke Trophy, which is awarded to best the defensive forward in the league.

READ MORE:

• Kevin Love’s 5-Move Yoga Workout
• Giancarlo Stanton’s 4-Move Yoga Workout for Baseball Speed
• Is Yoga Safe For Everyone? New Study Offers the Answer

STACK spoke with some of the smartest yoga instructors in the country to understand which poses are especially beneficial to athletes, and how you can get started with them. Here’s what they recommended.

Backbends 

Sitting in class or at a computer can do a number on your body—especially if you are hunched over. The forward-flexed position causes your hip flexor and chest muscles to tighten, limiting hip and shoulder mobility. “Poses such as Half Locust, Camel, Bridge, Wheel, Floor Bow and Standing Backbends, counterbalance this by bringing the body into extension, stretching the chest and shoulder muscles, and strengthening the back,” declares Kiersten Mooney, a Baptise Yoga instructor and owner of Bala Vinyasa Yoga (Naples, Fla.).

How to do it: Lie face down with your hands at your sides and palms facing up. On an exhale, lift your lower legs and bring your heels as close to your buttocks as you can, then reach back with your hands and clasp your ankles. Keep your knees hip-width apart; don’t let them stray wider. On an inhale, lift your ankles away from your buttocks and your thighs off the floor. Keep your tailbone pressed into the floor and your back muscles relaxed. Gaze upward and breathe as you hold for 20 to 30 seconds.

Bridge 

Another pose that fixes poor posture. “This pose strengthens the back and develops the muscles that surround the spine,” explains Shaun Sterling, a yoga instructor and co-owner of Bodywize Athletic Development (Warrensville Heights, Ohio). “It can help realign the spine and eliminate forward rounded shoulders.”

How to do it: Lie on your back and bend your knees to set your feet flat on the floor in front of you. Place your heels as close to your “sit bones” (the bottom of your buttocks) as possible. Exhale and press your arms and feet into the floor to raise your pelvis off the ground. Clasp your hands on the ground underneath your lower back and keep your thighs and feet parallel. Hold for 30 seconds to a minute.

Pigeon Pose Variations

The Pigeon is a traditional yoga hip-opener pose that may be difficult for some to master but is extremely effective at improving mobility. You will definitely feel this one in your hips and butt. Mooney recommends that athletes try the Half Pigeon, while Kimberly Fowler, founder of YAS Fitness Centers, recommends the Reclining Pigeon “because it’s easier on the knees.”

How to do Half Pigeon: Start on all fours with your hands slightly in front of your shoulders. Slide your right knee to your right wrist, so your right shin is on the floor perpendicular to your torso. Slowly slide your left leg behind you until the front of your left thigh is on the floor. Keep the toes of your right foot dorsiflexed (pointing toward your shin) as you lower into what will be an intense stretch through your right hip and buttocks. Hold for a few breaths, then exhale and lower your torso over your right inner thigh, stretching your arms forward. Hold the position for a minute, lift up and out of the pose, and repeat with your left leg forward.

Cobra

After back squatting with heavy weight, you’ve probably felt like your spine needs a good stretching. Cobra addresses this issue. “I use this with all my athletes to release any compression in the spine,” Sterling says. “It allows athletes who lift heavy weight to maintain a healthy spine and prevent injuries.”

How to do it: Lie with your legs straight behind you and the tops of your feet pressed against the floor. Place your hands on the floor beneath your shoulders and spread your fingers wide. Keep your elbows tight against your sides. Inhale, then push through your hands to straighten your arms and lift your chest off the ground, keeping your thighs and feet pressed against the ground. Keep your shoulders down and in (don’t let them creep up toward your ears), and focus on opening your chest and lifting through the sternum. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds, then release and lie flat on the floor. 

Dolphin Pose

One tight spot can throw your entire body out of whack, causing mobility issues that can limit your range of motion. That’s why Natalie Sabin, a certified yoga instructor and co-found of SoulStretch Mobile Yoga (Cleveland, Ohio), has her athletes perform the Dolphin Pose. “It stretches the upper back and shoulders, hamstrings, calves and foot arches at the same time,” she explains.

How to do it: Start on your hands and knees, then place your forearms against the ground so your shoulders are directly above your wrists. Press your palms together, curl your toes underneath you, then lift your knees away from the floor. It’s OK to keep your heels lifted and knees slightly bent—in fact, if your lower back rounds, it’s best to keep the knees bent rather than trying to straighten them. Try to lengthen your tailbone and lift your hips toward the ceiling, drawing energy from your inner ankles through your inner legs into your groin. Actively press your forearms against the ground as you do. Hold for 30 seconds to a minute, then return to the floor on an exhale.

Hindu Squats

“This movement performed slowly improves ankle, knee and foot health, mobility and strength,” Sterling asserts. “It also improves the strength of the connective tissue around the ankles and knees, which makes it a great warm-up movement prior to lower-body exercises.” If you don’t have access to weights, you can also perform this Squat variation to build lower-body strength in a full range of motion.

How to do it: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, positioned at a 45-degree angle. Clasp your hands together in front. Bend your hips and knees to lower into a squat. Continue lowering until your butt touches your ankles and your elbows are in front of your knees. Repeat five to 10 times.

Low-Lunge Crescent Pose

Short on time? Try the Low-Lunge Crescent pose, which according to Sabin, hits many of the large muscle groups in the upper body, lower body and core. “Best of all, it’s a safe pose that anyone can do, so long as they don’t have problems putting weight on the knee that is making contact with the floor,” she says.

How to do it: Perform a lunge, stepping your right foot forward between your hands, making sure your knee is directly above your heel and your left leg is straight behind you. Then drop your left knee to the ground and slide it backward until you feel a stretch through your left thigh and groin. Keep the topside of your left foot pressed firmly against the floor. Inhale and sweep your arms up and to the side, lifting your torso so it’s perpendicular to the floor. Keep your shoulders down and in, and set your gaze slightly upward so your neck is straight. Hold for a minute, then switch sides.

Supported Backbends

“Resting poses like Supported Backbends are always my favorites,” says Sage Rountree, author of The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga and Racing Wisely. “They very lightly stretch tight spots, while giving athletes a chance for deep relaxation, which speeds up recovery.”

How to do it: Using blocks to support your head and thoracic spine (upper back), lie on your back with your arms out to your sides. You can remove the block from underneath your head if you want to deepen the release and can do so without discomfort.

Reclined Easy Twist

Sabin recommends performing the Reclined Easy Twist before and/or after a workout. “This restorative pose helps ease back and neck tension, calms the mind and stretches the torso muscles,” she says.

How to do it: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet resting on the floor. Draw your knees toward your chest, then on an exhale, lower them to one side. Try to keep your opposite shoulder pressed against the ground as you lower your legs. Hold for 30 seconds to a minute, then draw your knees back to center and lower them to the other side.

Reclining Big Toe Pose

“The Reclining Big Toe Pose targets the hips, thighs, hamstrings, groin and calves at the same time,” Sabin explains. “It strengthens the knees and can target the IT band—a common tight spot in runners—and can relieve backaches and sciatic pain.” And since it can be easily modified with a strap, anyone can do it.

How to do it: Lie with your back on the floor and legs pressed on the ground in front of you. Exhale, bend your left knee, and use your arms to pull your thigh to your chest. From here, either hold your big toe (shown above) or loop a strap around your mid-foot and slowly straighten your knee to extend your leg upward. Keep your opposite heel and both shoulders pressed firmly into the ground and press upward through your right heel. Lower your leg and repeat on the other side.

Read More:

• Patrick Peterson’s Yoga Workout 
• 10 Athletes and Teams You Might Not Think Would Practice Yoga
• Why Athletes Should Practice Yoga

Once thought of as a training routine reserved for soccer moms and granola-crunching free spirits, yoga offers mental and physical benefits can no longer be ignored. Elite athletes are embracing yoga in a big way, and the total number of yoga practitioners in the U.S. is expected to exceed 55 million by 2020. 

But just how good of a workout is it? We often associate the effectiveness of a type of activity with the number of calories it burns, and for good reason. To lose weight, we must burn more calories than we consume on a regular basis. But consistently consume more calories than you burn, and you’re guaranteed to put on pounds. In this article, we’ll examine how many calories yoga burns, but also explain why the practice’s effectiveness cannot be judged off this figure alone.

Estimating the number of calories a specific type of training burns is tricky business. The gigantic number of variables involved include height, weight, age, gender, body fat percentage, metabolism, intensity of the workout, duration of the workout, etc. The number of calories burned by yoga also depends on the type of yoga being practiced. Styles like Vinyasa (frequently referred to as “Power Yoga) and Ashtanga are more physically rigorous, while others, like Yin and Restorative, are more relaxed. 

The Harvard Medical School estimates that a 125-pound, 155-pound and 185-pound person burns roughly 120, 149 and 178 calories in a half hour of Hatha Yoga, respectively. Hatha yoga is a general category which includes most yoga styles—the vast majority of classes you encounter in the United States will fall under the umbrella of Hatha yoga. Compared to other activities included in the same article, such as moderate rowing, general circuit training, vigorous weight lifting and the stair step machine, yoga falls on the low-end of the scale.

Performing yoga in a heated room, as is the case with Bikram yoga, where the studio is heated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit with 40-percent humidity, can slightly increase the calorie burn, but it’s by no means a quantum leap. A Colorado State study on Bikram yoga found men averaged about 460 calories burned per 90-minute session while women averaged 330. The researchers said that caloric burn was “roughly equivalent to walking briskly (about 3.5 miles an hour) for a full 90 minutes.”

But, like any research, you’ve got to take it with a grain of salt. Your approach to yoga and your personal fitness DNA may help you burn more or fewer calories than indicated.

I’ve practiced yoga on and off for the past few years, but it’s largely been of the at-home variety. I’d head to YouTube, find a yoga workout that sounds enticing (I’m partial to Sean Vigue’s videos), and follow along on my mat. Many of Vigue’s videos feature Power Yoga, and I’ve found them to burn significant amounts of calories. Ever since I got my hands on the Apple Watch Series 4, I’ve been closely monitoring how many calories I burn during yoga sessions.

I burned 301 calories while following this 35-minute video, and 117 calories following this 15-minute video. It is important to note that I run about 6-foot-6, 210 pounds, and thus burn quite a few more calories than your average person. Based on my Apple Watch Series 4 data, I’d estimate I burn between 2,100-2,300 calories per day before accounting for any “active” calories.

I recently began practicing in an actual yoga studio, which I think helps me reap greater benefits from yoga. The constant form cues from the instructor help me get into better, stronger poses, which I believe helps me burn more calories (I recently burned 536 calories in one 70-minute Hatha yoga class and 624 in a 75-minute class). But I also believe practicing in a studio helps me reap more of the mental benefits of yoga which can be harder to quantify. 

This leads me to my next point—while a yoga class isn’t going to burn calories like a CrossFit class, yoga seems to have some special benefits that may aid in weight loss.

Yoga offers a whole host of benefits beyond just burning calories. Research has found that regular yoga practice can help combat things like stress, anxiety, inflammation, depression, chronic pain and migraines while helping to increase strength, promote healthy eating habits, promote better breathing, improve balance, enhance flexibility, increase sleep quality, and improve heart health.

When practiced regularly, yoga builds mindfulness. Mindfulness is defined as “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.” A growing amount of research is finding increased mindfulness can have a potent impact on many unseen factors which attribute to obesity and poor physical health. 

A 2016 study published in the journal Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine sought out to expand our understanding of the “experience of losing weight through yoga.” The researchers  concluded that “yoga may offer diverse psychological, physical and social effects that may make it a useful tool for healthy, sustained weight loss. The yoga practitioners reported less stress eating, reduced appetite, fewer cravings and a shift toward healthier, more mindful eating. Yoga provided them with social support and healthy role models. The subjects believed that yoga led to physical and psychological changes that supported weight loss including increased muscle tone, improved metabolism, reduced stress, as well as increased awareness, improved mood and greater self-acceptance and self-esteem. This weight loss experience was markedly different than past attempts, in that the weight loss was easier, and subjects felt more confident in their ability to maintain lasting weight loss.”

An article from the Harvard Medical School detailed that “people who practiced yoga for at least 30 minutes once a week for at least four years, gained less weight during middle adulthood. People who were overweight actually lost weight. Overall, those who practiced yoga had lower body mass indexes (BMIs) compared with those who did not practice yoga. Researchers attributed this to mindfulness. Mindful eating can lead to a more positive relationship with food and eating.”

A study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity found that regular yoga practice was associated with “more servings of fruits and vegetables, fewer servings of sugar-sweetened beverages and snack foods, less frequent fast food consumption, and more hours of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity,” though more research must be conducted to see if regular yoga practice was a cause of such differences.

“Many of these individuals felt that yoga increased their motivation to pick healthy foods, helped them to be more mindful while eating, reduced food cravings, and they received social support from their yoga community to eat healthfully,” lead author Allison Watts told the Minnesota School of Public Health.

A preliminary study published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine found that a 12-week yoga program helped adult women with binge eating disorder improve their relationship with food. “Self-reported reductions in binge eating and increases in physical activity were statistically significant (and) small yet statistically significant reductions for BMI, hips and waist measurement were obtained,” the authors wrote in their abstract.

Even if you aren’t interested in losing weight or eating better, I believe integrating yoga into your routine still has benefit. The focus, flexibility, body control and full-body strength you build via yoga is unrivaled.I consider myself to be a fit individual. I generally work out six days a week, and my routine includes a mixture of CrossFit, biking, running, bouldering and rowing. But yoga is consistently one of my toughest workouts. Don’t just take it from me—a number of pro athletes have been amazed at how difficult yoga really is.

Eddie George was one of the most freakishly fit men in the NFL at the time he discovered yoga, yet it immediately humbled him. “When I first got into a Down Dog, I couldn’t hold myself there for more than 10 seconds,” George told STACK. “Here I was benching 400 pounds and squatting 500 pounds, but I couldn’t even support my own body weight for more than 10 seconds … It made me think, ‘This is something I want to get good at.'”

Yoga might not torch an absurd number of calories, but it certainly beats sitting on the couch. However, judging yoga’s effectiveness solely off this figure is unwise. Regular yoga practice seems to lead to a cascade of powerful effects that can help build a better body and achieve a healthier life. 

Photo Credit: GibsonPictures/iStock

READ MORE:

• Why Mindfulness is the Athlete’s Secret Weapon
• Yoga Fails, Fixed: How You’re Unknowingly Botching Some of Yoga’s Most Essential Poses
• Are You Eating Enough? If You’re a Teen Athlete, The Answer’s Probably No

Sport yoga can help athletes in snow sports address weaknesses that will make it difficult to maintain a strong position during the unpredictable runs down a mountain. Do this yoga for snow sports during the preseason to condition and build strength, during your season to maintain mobility and in the offseason to stay in ski shape.

Here are the poses followed by instructions for the sequence.

Warrior I

Stretches the chest and lungs, shoulders and neck, belly, groin and psoas. Strengthens the shoulders and arms, and the muscles of the back. Strengthens and stretches the thighs, calves and ankles.

Warrior II

Stretches the hips, opens the groin and chest, and builds strength in the arches of the feet, ankles and knees. Warrior II also increases lung capacity

Warrior III

Warrior III strengthens the feet and ankles, back, abdominals, adductors and quadriceps. It stretches the glutes, hamstrings and abductors. It also teaches balance. Entering this pose accentuates the muscle action used in skiing.

Weight Shift

Weight-shifting exercises help to identify center of gravity, improve coordination, strengthen the muscles in the lower extremities, and teach slower and more precise movements. This enhances your ability to absorb changes of direction quickly.

Chair

In downhill turns, you need a low center of gravity with your weight distributed slightly forward over the arches of your feet at the start of a turn and slowly shift to the back of your arches as you finish a turn. Replicate that movement by doing Chair. The slightly crouched posture, braced core and strong legs of are what allow you to make these subtle weight shifts.

Warrior II to Warrior I to Warrior III to Weight Shift to Chair Flow

1. Step back with your left leg into Warrior II. Align your right knee over your ankle with your thigh parallel to the floor. Open your back foot to a 90-degree angle. Engage your toes to balance on all four corners of your foot. Keep even pressure on the entire foot, observing how the slightest shift to one side of your foot can throw you off balance.

2. Open your hips and extend your right arm toward the front of the mat and your left arm toward the back of the mat with your palms facing down. Keep both arms parallel to the floor. Release your shoulders away from your ears. Reach through the fingertips of both hands, squeezing back and down. Turn your head to face the front of your mat and gaze forward over your right hand. Look down at your front foot. You should be able to see the toes of your foot on the inside of the knee.

3. Hold for 2 seconds and rotate your torso and hips to face the front and come into Warrior I. Bring your left hand down and toward the front to align with your right hand with palms facing each other at shoulder level. Now bring your arms up by your ears as you lift and lengthen to the ceiling. Look up and breathe out.

4. Lean your torso forward and lift your rear leg up as you swing your arms back to come into Warrior III. Shift your weight forward, bringing your torso and back leg parallel to the floor. Balance and hold, adding swinging arms to challenge even further.

5. Carefully return your left leg to the floor so your feet are hip-width apart. Now bend your hips and knees to lower into Chair Pose, keeping your shoulders, knees and heels in line vertically with each other.

6. Hold each pose for 2 seconds and repeat on each side up to 5 times. You can work up to 10 second holds for each pose as you progress.

READ MORE:

• The 10 Best Yoga Poses for Athletes
• Kevin Love’s 5-Move Yoga Workout
• Yoga for Strength and Conditioning: Is It Worth It?

ZargonDesign/iStockPhoto, fizkes/iStockPhoto

When we think about balance, we often envision standing on a single leg or holding a yoga pose without wavering. But falls don’t usually happen when you’re standing still. They happen when you’re moving, making a transition or adjusting your body.

RELATED: The 10 Best Yoga Poses for Athletes

The key to building balance, coordination and preventing injury is being able to control your body in awkward and unplanned positions, which ofter occur between movement in sports, during workouts or in yoga.

This active stretch asana helps build balance in motion, reducing your risk of a fall and injury and promoting quick reaction time. Increase your capacity for speed; build the motor fitness components of balance, agility, coordination and power; and optimize your athletic performance with this active stretch.

RELATED: Kevin Love’s 5-Move Yoga Workout

Active Stretch Benefits

• Balance in motion
• Quick change of direction
• Strength and conditioning
• Improve reaction time and coordination
• Establish breathing patterns

Active Stretch How-To

Watch the video above to see the movement in action.

1. Start in Mountain Pose, feet hip-width apart, head in line with heels.
2. Bring your right knee to high knee, fully extending your left leg and maintaining postural alignment.
3. Fully extend your right leg, maintaining full extension in both legs.
4. Grab your right big toe or ankle with your right hand while maintaining length in your spine.
5. Equally distribute your weight on all four corners of your standing left foot. Lift your toes to engage your standing foot.
6. Come back to high knee and open your right leg to the side.
7. Reach on the inside, grab the big toe of your right foot and fully extend your right leg out to side. If you can’t extend while holding your toe, grab your ankle or shin.
8. Return your right leg to center and come into Tree Pose by bringing your right foot to your left leg above or below the knee, opening your right leg to come in line with your hip.
9. Bring your hands to heart center. Rotate your leg to front, return to Mountain Pose and repeat on your left side.

RELATED: Yoga for Strength and Conditioning: Is It Worth It?

Photo Credit: fizkes/iStock/Thinkstock