Are your volleyball athletes doing the wrong kind of yoga?

All athletes, no matter the sport, have a training program that changes throughout the year. There is a base period (pre-season), a build period (in-season), a peak/competitive period (post-season), and an off period (off-season).

Strength, agility, and plyometrics should all be included in sport-performance training. As a complement, yoga should be included as a recovery tool to improve flexibility, decrease chance of injury, reduce fatigue, and help keep the mind sharp. However, just like an athlete’s training regimen changes throughout the year, so should their yoga practice.

In other words, if your athletes are not practicing season specific yoga, their training program could be undermined.

Pre-Season

During the pre-season, athletes are in preparation mode. Practice times increase and training intensifies. The focus during this period should be on building a solid foundation of strength and stability.

With yoga, athletes should work on maintaining a consistent, dynamic flexibility practice in order to build strength around the joints, prevent injury, and improve stabilization. Yes, yoga is about increasing flexibility, but it also is very effective at helping build strength safely.

Dynamic yoga, or Vinyasa, should not be “power flow” for elite, competitive athletes. It should be a mindful flow that teaches how to maintain control of the breath, build determination, and intensify the yoga practice. Standing postures, warrior sequences, and sun salutations may be included to keep the body moving, build heat, and increase strength.

It only takes 20-30 minutes each week of athlete-appropriate dynamic yoga to start seeing the benefits.

In-Season

During the season, an athlete’s focus is on getting more specific with training (both in the weight room and with technical skills) as well as participating in the intense work on the court/field. This leads to incurring ample repetitive movement, which is necessary for elite play but doesn’t come without issues like imbalances and overuse injuries.

In order to prevent the damage of repetition and likelihood of physical asymmetries, keeping up with an appropriate yoga practice is necessary. Maintaining recovery and stretching protocols will help keep muscles and tissues healthy and performing their best.

Yoga that is appropriate for the season should be consistent and mellow, with the goal of maintaining all the flexibility gained during the pre-season. It should not be too dynamic, encouraging fatigue, nor too…