During training one night, we instructed our athletes into cow face pose, or gomukhasana. Cow face pose serves as a solid test to see the amount of availability in the hips. It’s common to find difficulty in this posture, especially for athletes.
Cow face pose is a seated, hip opener that stretches the ankles, thighs and hips. While practicing this pose, I noticed the majority suffered from extremely tight hips. Relieving stress in the hips will be a huge game changer on the court and in the mind, for our athletes.
Letting go of stress can really clear your mind for bigger and better things! You can expand and become whoever you want to, without fear holding you back. You will also be able to touch the floor while you are shuffling, or going from base to the defense position.
Tight hips = less mobility. Less mobility = slow reaction time. Slow reaction time = missing the ball.
Tight hips translate to more balls dropping! No one wants that, especially if the consequence is suicides. So, this is an easy fix, that with time and persistence you can change.
Yoga for Tight Hips
Here are some hip opener stretches you can do, before and after practice, or on your off days.
- Child’s Pose
- Pigeon
- Fire Log (Double Pigeon)
- Lizard
- Cow Face Pose
- Warrior Poses
- Forward Folds
- Wide Leg Forward Fold (Seated & Standing)
- Bound Angle Pose (Seating & Reclining)
On-Demand Yoga
Want more yoga? Sign up for a 7-day free trial of YAX Online to get access to all our on-demand yoga classes.
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Here's a 4-minute video clip from the 19-minute section about the Science of Stretching from the Yoga Coaching Course!
Here's an 8-minute video about athletes from the Yoga Coaching Course!
Here's a 7-minute introduction video for the Yoga Coaching Course.
This course will give you a better understanding of the importance of yoga and how to apply it to the athletes you currently work with.
