Rugby is one of the healthiest sports in the world. Along with providing wellness benefits, it offers numerous challenges. You have to use your full body strength and mental capability to give an excellent performance.
Players of this sport constantly look forward to ways to enhance their skills on the ground. This is where yoga proves beneficial. This ancient practice is remarkable in providing ease of movement, longevity in the game, and required strength.
As a rugby athlete, you might be seeking methods to upgrade your performance. Keep reading the article to know more. It will shed light on why rugby players should practice yoga regularly.
Top 6 Reasons Yoga is Good for Rugby Enthusiasts
Playing rugby means your endurance and strength are at a constant test. This game is a full aerobic exercise that requires agility, focus, and stamina. Yoga can help you appreciate these characteristics. It can benefit you in terms of breathing control, injury prevention, and boosted performance. Let’s focus on the top six reasons yoga is good for rugby enthusiasts:
1. Ease of Movement
Rugby is one of the most dynamic sports. Players have to change their positions quickly, showing exceptional agility. Otherwise, manoeuvring around the opponents and outperforming them can become challenging.
Did you know that different poses of yoga are considered excellent in providing such ease of movement? It is a combination of flexibility, balance, and coordination training. You perform various stretches to loosen and strengthen your tight muscles.
For freedom of movement, you can try poses like downward-facing dog, cat-cow pose, and child’s pose. However, these poses are difficult for beginners, and you might end up injuring yourself. People join hot yoga classes in Dubai to execute these poses effectively under the supervision of professionals.
2. Longevity in Game
The demanding nature of the game requires longevity. You need sustained physical and mental performance to deliver well. Longevity in the game is one of the top six reasons yoga is good for rugby enthusiasts.
Yoga encompasses a number of excellent poses that provide you with the required stability. These practices are instrumental in improving flexibility and reducing strength. You can also gain exceptional stamina by doing these yoga poses regularly.
The warrior II pose, tree pose, pigeon pose, and bridge pose are regarded as the best exercises in this regard. The combined effect of these workouts stretches your muscles, elongates your spine, and reduces anxiety.
3. Increased Strength
Exceptional bodily strength is the cornerstone of performing excellently in any game. When it comes to rugby, you need to be even stronger to thrive on the ground. Yoga can help rugby players obtain this level of strength.
It is a type of exercise that engages your entire body. You can work your core, shoulder, back, and legs simultaneously. Such a holistic approach assists you in building overall body strength. Holding your position for an extended period while performing a pose can enhance the functionality of your muscles.
You can leverage poses like plank pose, chair pose, boat pose, and four-limbed staff pose for this purpose. Regularly doing these poses can be very helpful in achieving the required stamina. You will feel an obvious difference after a few days of practice.
4. Breathing Control
While playing rugby, you need an ample amount of oxygen for sustainable performance. You can increase your oxygen supply through breathing control techniques, and yoga is the best way to do so. Various yoga practices can increase your respiratory efficiency.
This ancient practice focuses on breath awareness. While doing various poses, you need to concentrate on the quality and rhythm of your breathing. This will help you achieve conscious breathing that can improve energy levels.
Research shows that yoga workouts like three-part breath, alternate nostril breathing, and crocodile pose are the best for this purpose. Performing these poses effectively on a regular basis can be helpful.
5. Injury Prevention
Taking every measure to prevent injury is essential for athletes. Physical strains not only damage your health but also restrict you from playing rugby for an extended period. You can leverage the power of yoga to avoid harm.
Injury prevention is one of the top six reasons yoga is good for rugby enthusiasts. You can try the following poses for this purpose:
· Eye-of-the-Needle
· Tree pose
· Chair pose
· Warrior I pose
· Raised arms pose
These practices offer you better body alignment and balanced muscle development to steer clear of injury. However, you should not perform these poses independently to avoid any issues. You can join yoga classes to learn and execute these exercises more effectively.
6. Increased Performance
Last but not least, your ultimate goal is to increase your performance while playing rugby. The combined effect of all the yoga poses you might try is optimal efficiency on the ground. That is why many rugby players are habitual in doing yoga daily.
All the aforementioned yoga practices have the following benefits in terms of boosting your performance:
· Augmented physical conditioning
· Increased muscle coordination
· Enhanced respiratory activity
· Better mind-body connection
· Stress reduction
You can appreciate the above performance-promoting benefits by making various yoga poses a part of your lifestyle.
Conclusion
Rugby is a physically and mentally demanding game. Players can improve their bodily endurance and mental concentration by practicing yoga. If you want to appreciate all of the aforementioned benefits, contacting a certified yoga trainer can help.
