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Yoga For Baseball: 7 Helpful Poses To Ace This Season

By Ned Taylor

July 2, 2019

Athleticism is one of the most important physical factors that contribute to the success and longevity of baseball players.

Now, there are various components that impact the athleticism of a player including; flexibility, speed, strength, body control, vertical leap and many more.

Baseball inherently is a highly explosive sport where players are always pushing their bodies and minds to extreme edges.

And while this can be exhausting, yoga can certainly help baseball players gain the control of their bodies and minds at times when they need it most.

Focus is what gives you’re the courage to stand in front of a hard ball coming at you at blistering pace.

And yoga provides players with that strength and concentration of mind that enable them to take decisions at fraction of a second.

Yoga poses can help enhance body flexibility, giving players the crucial mobility in the hips required to make the best impact.

Apart from strengthening the body physically, yoga also helps at a mental level by strengthening the endurance level of players, thus enabling them to handle the high-stress situation calmly with a logical mindset.

 Yoga Keep Baseball Players safe from injuries

In high endurance sports like baseball where players are always pushed to extreme edges, there’s always a chance of physical industry.

Regular practice of yoga can help players build up their endurance level and reducing the chances of injury.

And while preventing injury might be crucial for baseball players, fast recovery from injuries is equally important.

Yoga does help in this aspect as well by building up the mental and physical body state, it help players to recover from physical and mental breakdowns due to the high intensity of games.

Yoga helps elevate the mental state

While physical strength plays an important part in enhancing the players’ performance, it’s the mental strength that gives them the ultimate edge over competitors.

In team sports, the ultimate test lies in the mental endurance of teams; it’s all about achieving the winning mindset that takes you home.

By regularly taking yoga sessions, baseball teams can build up a highly focused mindset that’s free of fears and distractions; thus helping them to outperform the competitors with their mental strength and ability to maneuver at high-stress situations.

At the end of the day, yoga is all about unlocking the full body and mind potential.

Remember, winning or losing is a mindset more than anything and by synchronizing the body and mind, yoga helps players achieve the winning mindset.

Here are some yoga poses for baseball players that can help them gain the body-mind synchronization:


And if you are looking for some more yoga poses and further guidance do check out our ultimate yoga assessment guide. As it comes with every thing, a yoga practitioner needs when practicing solo.

  • check
    50+ Yoga Poses
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    The detailed set of steps to get into every pose.
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    Tips and modifications for beginners to provide extra help.
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    Assessment scale for every posture which enables the user to do a perfect workout every time.
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    10+ sequences to gains the benefits in every aspect of a daily routine.

You can check out our YOGA ASSESSMENT GUIDE™ by clicking here!

Best Yoga Poses For Baseball players

01. Triangle Pose.

Benefits: A great stretching pose which relieves stress strengthens legs and core muscles. Simulate the function of abdominal organs results in better digestion. Reduce the risk of hamstring injuries, increase the range of motion of your legs to improve kicking power and increased speed.

Directions:

  • Take a step from the edge of the mat with almost 3 feet distance between both feet.
  • Rotate your back foot about 60 deg away from the front foot.
  • Extend your arms in the alignment of your feet.
  • Keep your legs straight and Lean your upper body forward sideways.
  • Keep your spine long with no rounding. And reach for your front foot with your front hand.
  • Push your right hip back. Once you feel the stretch, relax your hand down to your shin or the floor.
  • Reach your other arm up to the ceiling right above your shoulder.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths, and repeat on the other side.

Tips: Squeeze your legs toward one another to prevent your leg muscles from relaxing. Do not lock out your front knee. For modification, place a block on either side of the front leg, and place your hand on top of the block.

02. Pigeon Pose.

Benefits: This pose provides numerous benefits to practitioners from all backgrounds. Not only relieves stress from legs due to the excessive labor of legs during sports, physical training or daily routines but also stretches your lower back muscles. Not only relaxes your mind and body but also prevents you from sports-related injuries.

pigeon pose

Directions:

  • Start from high plank or downward dog and bring your knee to your chest.
  • Place your knee on the mat right under your chest.
  • Move your foot toward your other hand and extend your leg back behind you.
  • Lower your shoulder by placing your elbows on the mat.
  • Lower your hips and make sure that extended foot is in line with the same hip.
  • Extend both arms forward, palms to the floor, and relax your forehead toward or onto the mat.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths (50 seconds).
  • Repeat the pose on the other side.

Tips: Press the hips down and in the direction of the bent leg, to rest the thigh as close as possible to the ground. Avoid pressure in your knee. Stay away from knee pain in the pose. If the pain does occur, come out of this pose immediately.

03. Side Angle Pose.

Benefits: Stretches and relieves stiffness in neck, shoulders and back muscles. Provides a deep stretch to the groins and hamstrings for better hip flexibility and strength. Strengthen core muscles for better upper body control tone your abs and side muscles.

Side_Angle yoga pose

Directions:

  • Start by standing with legs about 4 - 5 feet apart.
  • Rotate upper body toward one of the legs.
  • Rotate the front foot to face forward.
  • Bend forward and bend your front knee.
  • Bring your front hand closer to your front foot and twist your upper body.
  • Raise your backhand and bring it straight above your front hand.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breath and repeat from another side.

Tips: Keep your upper body lifted. Use the leading arm to further open the hips and pressing the knee further outside. For an easier version rest your front elbow over front knee.

04. Standing Forward Bend Pose.

Benefits: Stretches spine and hamstring muscles which reduces the chances of injuries and maintain flexibility. Improvised body posture. Calms your mind and helps to relieve you from a stress headache and mild depression. Stimulate abdominal organs for better digestion.

Standing forward Fold

Directions:

  • Start standing straight with feet shoulder distance apart and toes facing straight forward.
  • Bend forward at the hips, lengthening the front of your torso.
  • Bend your knees and push your chest towards your thighs.
  • Grab your toes or your ankles and pull yourself further towards your thighs.
  • Straighten your knees to deepen the stretch.
  • Engage quad muscles to maximize the stretch.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths (50 seconds).

Tips: Don't round your back by bringing your shoulders forward. If flexibility is an issue let your knees slightly bend and deepen the stretch with every exhale. For modification place a yoga block in front your feet and grab it while bending.

05. Spine Twist Pose.

Benefits: Lengthen and encourages the mobility of the spine for twisting motions in various sports. Stretches shoulder, chest, back and hips muscles to relax and re-energize the body. Helps you relieve from stress and anxiety. Increase the blood flow to abdominal organs which results in detoxification of the body and toned waistline.

Reclined-Twist yoga pose

Directions:

  • Start by lying on your back with knees bent and feet planted few inches below your hips.
  • Raise your knees over your hips and extend your arms sideways in alignment with your shoulders.
  • Lower the knees to the side, keeping both shoulders on the ground.
  • Turn your head and gaze your hand in the opposite direction of the knees.
  • Twist you're lower back to create space in the spine.
  • Pull the knees closer to the ground for an assisted stretch.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths (50 seconds).
  • Repeat on the other side.

Tips: If your knees don’t touch the ground, don’t worry about it. Just focus on getting the gentle twisting stretch throughout your spine. The focus of this pose should be on stretch.

06. High Plank Pose.

Benefits: Strengthen your wrist shoulders and core muscles. Tone your abdomen. Improve your posture and reduce back pains. Improve your balance which results in better movement and coordination. Along with other enormous benefits, this is a foundational pose for beginners to train them for advance hand balancing poses.

Yoga pose High Plank

Directions:

  • Start with lying on your chest with hands beneath your shoulders. Leg straight with toes tucked in.
  • Push your hands down and lift your upper body above the floor.
  • Push your toes down and lift your hips and knees up in the air.
  • Balance yourself on hands and toes with shoulders over hands, forming a straight line with your body from heels to head.
  • Engage your arm muscles with a slight bend to the elbows to prevent locking out.
  • Engage your core and avoid your hips to lean forward.
  • Keep your Shoulders away from the head, neck straight and long, and gaze straight down.
  • Hold for 5 deep breaths

Tips: If you start to feel your core failing and your lower back begins to arch, take your knees down. You risk injury to your lower back by continuing plank with an arched back. If holding a plank for a longer period is difficult, rest your both knees and alternate knees time to time.

07. Down Dog Pose.

Benefits: Provide a great stretch to the entire backside, open the shoulders to get the better range of motion. Enhance shoulder and forearm strength while lengthening calf and hamstring muscles. Moreover, increase blood ow towards brain which decreases stress and enhances productivity.

Yoga Pose Down ward dog

Directions:

  • Lie on your chest with your hands underneath your shoulders.
  • Exhale as you lift your hips and back, and roll over your toes.
  • Place your hands slightly wider than shoulders and feet six inches apart.
  • Press into your hands to lengthen your arms.
  • Roll your shoulders out away from your ears and relax your neck.
  • Lengthen your spine as you lift your hips and push your chest toward the thighs.
  • Flatten the lower back and bend your knees if necessary.
  • Press down through your heels.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths (50 Secs). 

Tips: Watch out for any hyper-extension of elbows and knees. If you feel too much pressure on your shoulders, shorten the distance between your hands and feet and allow your knees to bend.

Thanks for staying till here!

for more exercises (other than yoga) that can boost you sex life life please check out this awesome article

By the way number of researches have confirmed that that yoga is one of the best and most sustainable form of activity to loose weight and here is why

Take good care of yourself,

and C.Ya

Ned Taylor

About the author

Hey there, my name is Ned and I am on a mission to provide you health and fitness advice that are rational (i.e. back by scientific evidence) and sustainable ( means practical enough to be incorporated in normal people's routines with busy lives).

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