Monday, September 30, 2013

Yoga and Strength Training: the ultimate complement!

Long time no see! Wanted to let you know that I have not been slacking off and that LIFE IS GOOD!

Business is great, love is in the air and I could not be happier than I am right now :D  I am turning 30 in just one week so look for some exciting stuff to be coming your way! Website and newsletter updates, Progress not perfection baseball tees and more! I have been A LOT more active on social media these days so come follow me here if you want to know what I have been up to!

Wanted to share with you a few articles I have written over the past few months for Girls Gone Strong and Juggernaut Training Systems if you have not yet hopped on to the YOGA and STRENGTH TRAINING band wagon!

Here's an excerpt from my 3 Types of Yoga for the GIRL GONE STRONG



One of my favorite things to say is, “everything you do, you must undo.”
I like to think of my strength training as doing and my yoga as undoing.  I seek balance when comes to strength and flexibility.  When our strength overpowers our flexibility, tension is the result, and when our flexibility surpasses our strength, instability remains. Both tension and instability are weak links, which limit your ultimate potential.
When I was first introduced to yoga almost 10 years ago, it was a Power Vinyasa flow, full of intensity.  I loved every second of it.  As a kettlebell girl, I instantly saw the way the two schools of thought could complement one another; moving through my full range of motion, developing flexibility, mobility and isometric strength.
I saw how my yoga practice could actually cut down on my warm up time at the gym. This newly found ankle and thoracic mobility, shoulder stability, as well as hip flexibility was definitely a win-win.  I dove into practicing this vigorous yoga 3 days a week and strength trained 3-4 days a week.  Unfortunately this combination wreaked havoc on my adrenals.  Not exactly what you want when your goal is to get stronger!
What I really needed was something to BALANCE me out, a practice that would complement my lifting and make me stronger than ever, something to further connect my breath and body and allow me to relax instead of always going, going, going!
Remember, yoga should complement, not compete with, your existing training.
Read the rest here!


Yoga for Athletes Part 1 was another  attempt to get more MEN and strong ladies to give yoga a try!  

Again here's a little piece of the article

Repeat after me:  “EVERYTHING YOU DO, YOU MUST UNDO.”

Yoga is a tool used by the self to identify deficiencies. The more you are aware of your asymmetries from left to right within your body, the more aware you will be underneath the bar. Next time you go to squat you’ll be spreading your feet beneath you, using your breath to back your lifts and hitting PR’s you never thought possible!
Oh and there are FEW things that feels better the day after an intense training session than active recovery with YOGA. It just feels so DAMN good.
 2.     MOBILITY + FLEXIBILITY + STABILITY
Mobility and flexibility are often lumped together but in reality are two very different things.  And then stability comes in and really complicates things.
Mobility pertains to the motion we are able to CONTROL around a joint.
Flexibility is the movement that is POSSIBLE around a joint.
Stability is established with both active and passive influences.
As an athlete you need something to balance out your strength and explosive power. Yoga does just that.
It boosts flexibility while challenging stability at the same time. Take your hamstrings for example.  They may feel tight, simply because your body is attempting to create stability where it’s missing. Doing just a static stretch will not engage the core and will actually cause more instability and possibly injure you.
Are you seeing a common trend here?
TRUST ME GIVE this combo a try!

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