Keeping Your Muscles Supple? Why Not Give Yoga a Try?

Professional footballers must look after the one commodity they possess – their own bodies. Increasing demands from training and also the need to recover from injury is paramount as the demands begin to compound on everything. Ex-England captain John Terry has using yoga for quite some time to improve his flexibility and help prevent injuries.  Another England player Fabian Delph has also followed suit. He picks it up from Arsenal’s Geal Glichy, when he transferred to Man City. “Two lifestyle choices were integral to his form, is the decision to start meditating and stop eating red meat helped him kick-start his career. It’s worked. I only had a couple of niggles (physical problems) all season which is fantastic.

In terms of meditation, for me it is just breathing techniques, learning to be still, to control your thought processes, it calms you down. Gael Clichy, who was at the club (City), does a lot of meditation. He recommended it to me because I was such an all-action guy. It has calmed me down [https://yogamoha.com/famous-footballers-do-yoga-and-meditation/#2_Cristiano_Ronaldo].”

Yoga? People were surprised. Some doubted how much of an impact this could have on his game. Yoga had too much of a soft image. Stereotypically seen as an activity for housewives with no real connection to sportsmen who play a game with the type of physicality that is not recognizable in a dance studio that plays gentle acoustics. Even if those same ‘housewives’ possess the flexibility, core strength, and agility to make jealous with envy – you're going to publicly admit that; it could ruin your macho image for good. It would take a lot more for yoga to be accepted as part of a footballer's training regime. The only thing that makes a difference is results. Results that can be measured and tangible to the task.  

The flexibility and agility needed by a winger, attacking forward or quick fullback is essential to their make-up.  Footballers are notoriously bad when compared to swimmers and sprinters in athletics for having a poor range of motion. When examining the spine of a team; it's just not valued in the same way. Strength and power when tackling are always seen as a prerequisite for a footballer. Power in the legs, whether it is taking a shot for a striker, or being able to leap for a header is what coaches look for. Having upper body strength to hold off a player when shielding the ball is a quality that scouts rave about.  

No one sees the core strength when shooting or in hold-up play, and everyone overlooks a range of motion when springing to jump for a header. Yoga and Pilates offer the individual a chance to develop core stability and give individuals the range of motion necessary to play the game at a highly competitive level. As the muscles are kept supple and loose which will drastically reduce the chances of players pulling a hamstring or tearing a ligament whenever they go in for a tackle or 50/50 challenge. In addition, when going for that ball to try and win possession – your ability to reach that leg out and retrieve the ball is going to be so much easier because of that extra degree of flexibility you now possess. You will also have that added spring in your jump to get headers and clear your lines.

One final thought. Laurie Cunningham – one of Britain’s greatest ever footballers and the first English-qualified player to sign for Real Madrid, used to be part of a dance and choreography company and attended weekly ballet classes, as a youngster, before Leyton Orient signed him (He considered signing with the dance company full time as a professional dancer and traveling to America before Orient offered him his first contract).  It was one of football's worst kept secrets and in many interviews, he would attribute his agility and dribbling skills to the drills and practices and routines he developed from those dance classes. Definitely, something to consider when planning your training.