BTL Welcome Mat
Cross Training + Preventing Injury
This session is all about developing a variety of movement activities, to prevent injury, and help support your yoga practice.
I think so often in our culture, we try to come at any movement modality practice as if it’s everything we need.
Yoga is such a well rounded practice.
In one yoga class, you will experience breathwork, meditation, self-awareness, and inquiry practices *in addition to* movement, flexibility, and the physical practice.
But we also know that only doing one thing, even if that practice is as multi-dimensional as yoga, has the potential to lead to injury.
Any movement, done in repetition, has the potential to condition the body to be stronger, or more pliable. Any movement, done in repetition, also has the potential to lead to injury.
In this session, we explore movement, and cross-training, and speak and learn from with one of the most energetic, encouraging, and motivating people I’ve ever met!
Why we should cross-train
To begin with, What is cross training? It’s any workout that complements the workout routine that you are already doing. So yogi, you want to balance out your yoga practice with exercises such as strength training, walking, swimming, or body weight exercises.
Yoga and activities like strength training work different muscles, and we need both the low switch and fast switch muscles worked for optimum physical health and to prevent repetitive stress injuries. While yoga has great holistic health benefits, it doesn’t give us everything our body needs from exercise. Cardiovascular health, metabolism boosting, and retaining muscle mass and bone density are elements that are not really addressed with yoga, but are with cardio exercises.
What we say about cross-training
Here are some of the cross training activities that our members participate in:
- Boxing
- Treadmill/other gym equipment
- Strength/Weight Training
- Pilates/Barre
- Running
- Swimming
We can be both safer and go further on the mat if we are doing other exercises that build muscle around the joints.
It is also so important to remember that even in yoga class there are adaptations that can be made to address your individual body’s needs. There is not one alignment for every body, because we all have different bodies.
Challenge:
Try Laura’s HIIT Fitness class or Jenn’s Vinyasa 2 Class. Check out our schedule here.
OR
Start out your day with these sets:
10 body weight squats, 10 modified push-ups, 30 second plank (3x)
And don’t forget what Laura said, “Be gentle with yourself, especially if you are trying something new.”
