Men who play sports need to be supple too. How about Yoga to give you a flexible edge?

Are you male? Are you involved in sports? Do you train weekly with the lads? Do you show up in the right gear full of motivation and energy?

Do you perform to the best of your ability? Can you fully depend on your body to give you the physical support to match your mental enthusiasm? Are you as flexible as you should be?

If you think the flexibility of your body is letting you down, you are not alone. Many males involved in team sports, even at quite a serious amateur level, are experiencing limitations due to their flexibility. While stretches and a good warm-up will certainly get the body ready for action, it won’t necessarily improve the overall flexibility a person has. But there is one thing you can do – a Yoga class.

Admittedly it might not be the first thing that pops into your mind and might seem out of place in your male-dominated, testosterone filled work-outs and grueling training sessions. But stop for a minute. Think about what yoga ultimately aims to achieve. A better-working physical being. A body with great movement and flexibility, yet with strength and endurance qualities at the core.

Greater fluidity in overall physical movement will obviously help any sportsman. So if you can develop and constantly improve on your flexibility won’t that ultimately mean more fluid bodily movements? I attended a Yoga class many years ago and my mat was positioned in the room opposite a large and intense-looking rugby player. While it was obvious that he was serious about his sport, it was also blatantly obvious that he had limited flexibility. Despite the fact that he was possibly one of the fitter and more active members of the class, he was by far the least flexible. As each week progressed he developed, slowly at first, as this was so different to the usual rugby training he endured, but he constantly improved over time.

And that is the whole point of Yoga: constant improvement. It doesn’t matter what flexibility level you begin with. Various personal levels co-exist in the one class. Everyone can perform the same movements and postures, each one easing out the tensions in their own body at a pace comfortable to them. Then each student can push their own body forward and make their own improvements. There is no set level to be achieved and no set standard for all students. It is just a matter of making an individual effort to advance and constantly push that little bit more towards better flexibility.

Likewise, working on the body’s core muscles and general posture will mean a more solid base from which to work on when training. Weight training is all about good posture and support while you work on a group of muscles. We all know the damage that can be done when you perform sets of reps without thinking of the correct position the body should be in. Yoga will make you much more aware of your overall posture and will create a stronger base and stance.

Obviously all these qualities are not just beneficial for your training. Clearly greater posture and flexibility will mean you walk better, look stronger, and just maybe it will help your moves when you hit that dance floor on a Saturday night...

HelenElizabeth is an Irish writer available for proofreading, editing, and general writing work.