The Sports Yoga Hawaii Blog

When’s the best time to stretch?

Posted on November 10, 2011 under general yoga, sports and yoga and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Think about your last practice…

Most of the time you do a little warm-up that consist of some running and stretching. Then you dive into the actual practice where you’re working on what ever the coach has planned, and once that’s done, your finished.

As a former high school coach, I can tell you that our practices ran exactly like that. We started off each practice with two laps around the field, the team would make a circle while the captains lead the stretching then begin practice.

Had I known then what I know now, our practices would have run a little differently.

You see there are two types of stretching: dynamic and static. Dynamic stretching would be like “brazilians” (as we called them) where you focus on movement patterns requiring a combination of muscles, joints and planes of motion.

It is best used as a warm-up, which is an important period before any athletic event or performance. An effective warm-up will increase muscle temperature and the body’s core temperature, and improve blood flow through the entire system.

Here’s a great video of some dynamic warm-ups for soccer players:

Static stretching on the other hand, typically focuses on a single muscle group, joint and plane of motion.

Contrary to what many people and coaches believe, static stretching immediately before exercise may impair a person’s strength and power and has no effect on injury prevention. There have been several studies that all support this claim.

So when is the best time to do static stretching?

After practice as part of a cool down period. I know for you coaches that means cutting your practice 15 minutes short, but it’s essential to keeping your team injury free. Studies have shown an increase in strength, jump height, running speed, and range-of-motion/flexibility when done after practice for 15-30 minutes.

If your coach doesn’t have a cool down period, stay after practice for a little bit and stretch. Or on an off-day do some Sports Yoga.

Stretching may not be cool, it can be a little boring and painful at times but it’s absolutely essential to keeping your body healthy and fit.

Here are some stretches you should do during your cool down:

Forward Fold

Downward-facing Dog

Quad Stretch

Bound Angle

Pigeon

Head-t0-Knee

Cooling down after each practice or game is essential if you want to stay injury-free and perform at your best. If you’d like to learn more about how yoga can help improve your flexibility and game, please contact us today!

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June Playlist of the Month

Posted on June 2, 2011 under Music and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Are You Gonna Be My Girl – Jet
Up Around the Bend – Creedence Clearwater Revival
All 4 Love – Color Me Badd
Black & White – Royal Tailor
Drive – Incubus
Midnight Hour – SDIB
No Place to Run – Gym Class Heroes
It’s Tricky – Run-DMC
Love, Selfish Love – Patrick Stump
If I Had No Loot – Tony! Toni! Toné!
Keep Your Head Up – Andy Grammer
Work It Out – Jurassic 5 & Dave Matthews Band
Smooth – Santana
Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen
Go Your Own Way (Glee Cast Version) – Glee Cast
Water Under the Bridge – Tony Lucca
I Wanna Love You Tonight – Pati
F**kin’ Perfect – P!nk
What I Know – Parachute
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2
The Scientist – Coldplay

If you have any music suggestions, please feel free to leave us a comment! We are always looking for new songs to add to out music library.

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Is Sitting Really Killing You?

Posted on May 11, 2011 under general yoga and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

As a yoga instructor I see a lot of people struggle with some of the hip poses (pigeon, runner’s lunge, lizard, etc.) we do.  A lot of this attributes to the fact that most of us sit down at a desk for nearly 6-8 hours a day, which can lead to the tightening of the hips.

To make things worse, not only will sitting at your desk all day make your hips tight, there’s new research out by “inactivity researches” that show sitting all day is bad for you.

Sitting not only makes us fat lazy, and weak (all bummers) — it’s shaving precious years off of our desk-bound lifespans: men who sit six hours a day are 20 percent more likely to die than men who sit three hours a day and women who sit six hours a day are 40 percent more likely to die.

Here’s a chart by Medical Coding and Billing that show’s you why:

Sitting is Killing You
Via: Medical Billing And Coding

As this chart states, “it’s the extra sitting outside of work that turns a serious problem deadly.”  So what can you do?

How about doing some Sports Yoga after work?  It’s a great low impact activity that will first of all get you off your butt, but it’s also a great way to relieve some stress after a long day.

Or how about doing some “office yoga” when your at work.  All you need to do is get out of your chair and do some stretching that you learn from yoga class.

Whatever you do, I hope this post opens your eyes to the health dangers of sitting down all day.  I really hope you make it a habit of getting out of your chair every so often, doing a little stretching, then coming to yoga a few times a week to get your health back into shape.

Please share this article!

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11 Traits of the Best of the Best

Posted on May 2, 2011 under Uncategorized and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

A few months ago I finished a great book, Training Camp: What the Best do Better than Everyone Else, by Jon Gordon which takes you through a journey of an un-drafted free agent football player, Martin Jones’ who is trying to making the team.

To make a long story short, Martin started off his first pre-season game with a bang but got injured during one of his touchdowns. It was during his time in the training room that he connected with one of his coaches, Coach Ken, who introduced Martin to The Playbook.

What The Playbook does so well is explain to us why the Best are better than everyone else and offers us 11 Traits of the Best of the Best that we can learn to master:

  1. The Best know what they truly want.
  2. The Best want it more.
  3. The Best are always striving to get better.
  4. The Best do ordinary things better than everyone else.
  5. The Best Zoom-Focus.
  6. The Best are mentally stronger.
  7. The Best overcome their fear.
  8. The Best seize the moment.
  9. The Best tap into a power greater than themselves.
  10. The Best leave a legacy.
  11. The Best make everyone around them better.

What I love about these 11 traits is that it gets you to focus on your mental side of the game that is more often than not, neglected. Not to mention that these 11 traits can easily be translated to the business world as well.

But as athletes majority of us will focus on the body 95% of the time and only devote 5% (if any) to training our mentality. Yet Yogi Berra said it best, “90% of the game is half mental.”

Two of the more profound quotes I found in this book talk about leaving a legacy:

“In your striving to be the best, then, you must ask not what your greatness means to you, but what impact does it make on others? The success you create now is temporary, but the legacy you leave is eternal. Thinking about this legacy fuels you with a bigger purpose.”

“Average players are motivated by the paycheck. The great ones are inspired to leave a legacy. And this doesn’t apply to just football. It applies to every job in the world.”

If you only had enough money to buy one book an entire year I was strongly suggest and recommend that you buy this book. It’s a short quick read but packed with insights that’ll guide you in the direction to be the BEST.

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8 Tips For Starting The Day Ready To Light Up The World

Posted on April 5, 2011 under Uncategorized and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

For those of you who know me you know my story. I was college graduate who found an awesome full-time job during the recession doing something I was very passionate about (social media/community management) only to get laid off, with a two hour notice to pack up.

It was during this time I remember being so stressed out because I needed to find a job but no one was hiring and I really didn’t know what to do.

I pondered a lot of different options and one day out of nowhere I came across a post that gave me a new perspective on life and changed my thinking forever.

Bob Levinson was a former Fortune 500 executive who believed that when we get out of bed, we are faced with two choices: to be grumpy and miserable, or to be excited and fired up.

He offered 8 Tips For Starting The Day Ready To Light Up The World:

  1. Read the death notices and think about how lucky you are to not be there!
  2. Think of all the things you want to do and realize that the clock is ticking and you have a short time to accomplish them.
  3. Look at those dear to you and think about how you are going to share in their future life.
  4. Listen to good music when you get up in the morning to get your motor going.
  5. Exercise every morning when you get up to get your juices flowing.
  6. Always plan more than you can finish in a given day so that you cannot wait to start the next one.
  7. Laugh a lot and try to be an exciting person.
  8. Forget “too old” – “too young” – and go for it!

After I got done reading this, I typed it up, printed it out and taped it on my bedroom wall right by my door, so that every time I left my room, I would always read those eight tips. And believe it or not, had I not stumbled upon these eight tips, I honestly don’t think I would have started Sports Yoga Hawaii.

I was 23 years old at the time, with no business experience and had just gotten into yoga because I was tired and fed up with all the injuries that was I incurring from playing soccer on the weekends.

The odds were stacked against me (and to tell you the truth, I think they still are) but I started every morning full of hope, confidence, and optimism about the future of this company.

I encourage you to do as I did. Type out those eight tips and place it somewhere you’re going to look every single day, and start your day off on the right foot.

Remember when we get out of bed, we are faced with two choices: to be grumpy and miserable and stay home, or to be excited and fired up to go to Sports Yoga Hawaii.

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