Pilates and Yoga offer a unique opportunity to develop your core stability muscles which helps improve performance and resistance to injury whilst playing sports.
If you are an athlete, either professional or recreational, you are probably always striving to improve core stability and your personal best at the sport. You may be wondering, can Pilates and Yoga exercise help me to improve my athletic performance and Core Stability? The answer is, most definitely, yes!
The answer lies in the inherent nature of Pilates and Yoga exercise. First and foremost, Pilates and Yoga works on developing your body awareness so that you are always working out in optimal postural alignment. Standing in good alignment is challenging, but maintaining good alignment while you move is even more difficult. However, no matter what kind of athlete you are, you can simultaneously increase your power and minimize your risk of injury with pilates and yoga training.
Everton FC Youth Squad 2012
Pilates also works to balance the body, improve core stability and develop muscular symmetry. If you play a racquet sport such as tennis or golf, or even if you are a recreational bowler, you probably have developed muscle imbalances due to the one-sided nature of your sport. Since such a key part of Pilates is focused on postural alignment, these imbalances will become more obvious to you, and you can work to release the overworked tight muscles, and strengthen the weaker ones with asymmetrical exercise. Again, balancing the body will help to prevent injuries that might otherwise occur when stress is placed on an unstable structure.
Many professional sporting teams use Pilates and Yoga as a method of preventing injury and improving Core Stability. Use the links to find out how Pilates or Yoga could help you with your chosen sport(s).
Football
Football is a rigorous sport that demands rapid speed changes, pivoting, sideways and backwards displacement and jumping motions that combine all these movements. Thus it is inevitable that footballers are predisposed to injury.
Find out more about how pilates and yoga can help footballers.
Rugby
Rugby is an extremely high contact sport. Injuries tend to occur during scrums, where players on either side compete for his ball by locking heads, arms and shoulders with each of their team members and the opposing team. This poses considerable risk.
Find out more about how pilates and yoga can help rugby players.
Running
Running is a great aerobic exercise giving the heart and lungs a good workout. It improves the entire body, strengthening the legs and firming the buttocks, stomach and upper body. An exercise that almost anyone can do, anywhere, any time.
Cycling
Body positioning on the bike can speak a lot about your current fitness level. Injuries caused during cycling can occur in one or two ways; either because of the fit of the bike itself or how the cyclist fits on the bike.
Tennis
Tennis requires agile movements, durance and strength, along with hand-eye and ball co-ordination skills. Each game involves controlled twisting in the upper body, so that the player can make successful strokes. Playing tennis regularly increases suppleness and tones the muscles.
Find out more about how pilates and yoga can help tennis players.
Basketball
In basketball and netball, rapid changes in direction, miss timed shots (causing contact with another player) and awkward landing can lead to sprained ankles and damaged knee ligaments.
Find out more about how pilates and yoga can help basketball players.
Cricket
Cricket may be a relatively slow-paced game, but still injuries can occur.
Find out more about how pilates and yoga can help cricketers.
Golf
Playing golf may look like a relatively slow-moving activity, but it actually places a lot of strain on the body.
Hockey
Hockey can be a high impact game, resulting in mild to serious injuries.
Find out more about how pilates and yoga can help hockey players.
Horseriding
Horse riding is a great form of exercise as it promotes good posture, tones the legs and strengthens the abdominals.
Find out more about how pilates and yoga can help horseriders.
Sailing
Sailing and windsurfing are strenuous sports involving the entire body. You need to be extremely fit, with muscular strength.
Skiing
Skiing is fast growing as the most popular family sport. While relatively safe, injuries do occur.
Find out more about how pilates and yoga can help those who ski.
Swimming
Swimming has a low incidence of serious injuries due to the lack of force or strain on the muscles.