NFL football pros get a leg up on yoga workouts

NFL running back and Miami Dolphins' Ricky Williams is a yoga advocate and
a certified yoga instructor, serving under his guru Swami Sita. (Source)

Ready. Set. Break out the yoga mat.

As football season gears up, conditioning comes into key sights for many of the nation’s finest, biggest and best players on the field. Celebrities Jennifer Aniston, Madonna and Ricky Martin have long been toting yoga mats as a part of their workout arsenal, but football players?

“At any point in the season, any player can get hurt,” writes Alisha Ricardi for ESPN.com. “ And because injuries are generally unavoidable in the NFL, staying on the field for the postseason -- when nearly every player could use some Mighty Putty to hold himself together -- isn't always easy.”

So how does the Gridiron gang stay on-point? With Tree Pose and asanas, of course.

Just last week, the University of New Mexico (UNM) Daily Lobo published their team’s secret workout weapon in the school paper. Titled “Lobos limber up in yoga class”, the article zoned in the Lobos’ football team's optional yoga workouts, led by Coach Mike Locksley’s wife, Kia Locksley.

"You put in the work, you get the results," said UNM linebacker Jaymar Latchison.

A yoga instructor for five years, Kia has mastered a way to make the workouts fun and less intimidating.

“You have to [adapt],” she told the paper, “Because it’s sort of viewed as…something that’s a little bit less masculine. So, I told them in the beginning – So many pro athletes really live and die by yoga.”
And she’s right.

While she keeps the class mission of “improving dexterity” and “strengthening the core,” Kia said the biggest incentive to players is helping keep them healthy throughout the season. Which is why pro football stars like Amani Toomer, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Ricky Williams and more.

Yoga is even becoming a team sport. Teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants have been taking team practices for years.In an article to the New York Times in 2001, cornerback Will Allen, the then Giants’ first-round draft pick said he was “impressed” by yoga.

''It seemed so simple,'' Allen said. ''But you really have to focus on most of those positions. Otherwise, you find yourself not breathing right and not focusing on your body. Or focusing on your body when you should be focusing on your breathing.''

Baron Baptiste has been with the Eagles. The Bengals made yoga a part of their off-season training and last season, the Titans reportedly wrapped up two-a-day workouts with a special teams session – 90 minutes of yoga.

While it’s not mandatory in all teams or even most, it seems to some coaches the best offense may be a great yoga class.

YouTube Video: Amani Toomer Uses Yoga to Up Performance with Gwen Lawrence
 

YouTube Video: Why are Football Players Using Yoga?