You Try It!
The Boxing Club
8650 Genesee Avenue, UTC
First class free
Yoga is very different from the training I do for my job, where I’m mostly lifting, building muscle, and bulking up.
I’ve done hot yoga before, but otherwise it’s fairly new to me. The Boxing Club’s Yoga for Jocks is a vinyasa-style class designed to complement an athlete’s workout routine, help prevent injuries, increase flexibility, boost body awareness and control, and maintain strength, in addition to delivering yoga’s psychological benefits.
It took me a while to figure out what I was doing—how to let my body relax and get into tempo with my breathing. The sounds of the gym didn’t bother me as I focused on our instructor’s smooth voice; I could block out the music.
The class made me realize that my balance isn’t as good as I’d thought, and this is really important to me as a professional athlete. I also noticed that I didn’t feel as flexible as I once had. The hardest pose was reverse warrior, with my legs apart and arms reaching back overhead. It was difficult to find my balance.
Besides downward dog and child’s pose, I really enjoyed savasana, when you lie still. That’s the best part of yoga—the meditation time where you can relax your body and soul. I love it.
As a whole, the class focuses on joint flexibility and stretching out muscles by putting them into unfamiliar positions. It also released a lot of stress, tightness, and soreness. Yoga can really help my game by elongating my muscles: I wasn’t sore the next day, and I definitely felt looser at practice.
The Boxing Club has a nice family atmosphere and the staff had open arms about me coming back to work out with them. Would I do it again? Absolutely.
(As told to Ann Wycoff)
I Tried It: Yoga for Jocks
Photo by Jay Reilly
