So you play a sport, you're good at it, you enjoy it and you enjoy the team spirit.

So there's no point in doing Yoga or Pilates, right!?

Well let's see...can you agree with all of these statements?

• As a result of your sport you're fit, agile and strong

• You never get injured

• You're good in the position that you play and you're happy with you're level of achievement and progress

• You have no desire to be any better than you currently are

• You are content that you are the best that you can be

If you can agree with all the statements above great! Keep doing what you're doing no Yoga or Pilates necessary.

• But what if you want to be stronger, fitter, more mobile?

• Or what if you do get injured occasionally?

• Or what if you love your sport and you know that you are good at it but you also know that there is always room for improvement.

Well then maybe some Yoga or Pilates might just be the thing to give the edge and to help you with those bothersome injuries.

The difference between Yoga and Pilates and Sports in general is that Sports by their nature are task oriented, for example in football the task is to move the ball with your feet with the aim of getting it into the net. So in Football we use the body in a particular way to complete a task and as a result we use the same muscles in the same or similar way over and over and over and over (no that wasn't a typo) in order to complete a task. Whereas Yoga & Pilates are both body movement oriented - they both have emphasis on working the whole body, every muscle gets worked in all planes of motion.

The benefit of the Sports task orientation method is that it gets the job done. but it can lead to muscle imbalances - where some muscles get stronger than others and it is thought that this is a potential cause of injury. Whereas the benefit of the Yoga/Pilates body movement orientation is that we get to work the whole body, helping to solve any muscle imbalances thus reducing the risk of injury - think if it like PREhabilitation!

And there's more... in Pilates there is emphasis on moving some parts of the body in isolation to others - this is a really great way to gain and fine tune motor control (our ability to control muscles with more precision) which is exactly what we need for those task oriented sports goals.

Also, the mindfulness component of Yoga gives us scope to work on Positive Self Talk, an extremely important aspect of Sports performance. But don't take my word for it, for more on this amazing benefit check out this podcast from the Prehab Guys for some really great information on How Positive Self Talk can Improve Sports Performance, all backed up by current research.

Over the next few weeks I have the pleasure of putting all of the amazing benefits of Yoga & Pilates into action with the U13 squad from Knocklyon United's Football Club. We had our first class last week and I'm told they're already looking forward to next week. I have a sneaky suspicion they're favourite part was lying down😉 See you soon guys 😊

KNOCKLYON UNITED U13 IN FIRHOUSE EDUCATE TOGETHER N.S.

Embedding https://videoapi-muybridge.vimeocdn.com/animated-thumbnails/image/e4a1cd29-30f6-424a-8b64-7797c8bf008c.gif?ClientID=vimeo-core-prod&Date=1653050240&Signature=eefd3eca11f7b8be7306105b3142efeaa6bc948b