Yoga for CrossFitters: Why You Should Add Yoga to Your WOD

Yoga for CrossFitters: Why You Should Add Yoga to Your WOD

As any successful athlete will tell you, getting in shape and constantly progressing as an athlete requires you to do a lot more than simply work out. For one, you need to eat properly, and you need to choose the right supplements, give your body time to recover, and ensure your workout regimen keeps you on the right track.

You need to make sure your mental health remains strong, too, and one of the ways you can do that is to practice yoga.

Embraced by more than 20 million people in the United States alone, yoga can have a lot of benefits for CrossFitters. If you are looking for an extra edge, here are three reasons why you should add yoga to your WOD.

1. It Increases Flexibility

   Practicing yoga will certainly make you more flexible. By stretching your muscles on a regular basis, and by doing so in challenging yet effective ways, you can improve your range of motion, helping you reach, bend, and stoop with more ease. This, in turn, will make you more effective as you push yourself during high-intensity interval training.

   Improving your flexibility can also do wonders for back pain and general muscle recovery. Studies have confirmed that stretching is a great way to offset soreness and prevent injuries. Indeed, by pushing you to stretch more, yoga is a great way for CrossFitters to keep their bodies right.

2. It Lowers Stress and Anxiety

   Given how intense CrossFit training can be, it is important to always be cognizant of your mental health. If you are dealing with an unusual amount of stress and anxiety, it will be difficult for you to perform most functions in your life to the best of your ability—CrossFit included.

   A recent study conducted by Swedish psychologists, which studied the effects of eight- and 16-week yoga regimens on the subjects’ stress and psychological health, reached a convincing conclusion.

   “Significant reductions in stress and all psychological health measures were found within the Yoga group over 16 weeks,” the study found. “When compared to the control group, yoga practitioners showed significant decreases in stress, anxiety, and general psychological health [issues], and significant increases in well-being. The group who did not practice yoga showed significant decreases in stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia after they crossed over and practiced yoga for 8 weeks.

   ”

3. It Helps Support Mindfulness

   At Paradiso, we encourage all of our members to live by our “Everything is Everything” philosophy. This means that athletes understand every action they take—in and out of the box—has an effect on their health and wellness.

   We believe that real success is measured over time by dealing with a wide variety of lifestyle issues, including flexibility and mental health.

   Practicing yoga is a great way for our CrossFitters to make sure that fitness continues to be a guiding force in their lives, rather than something to fit into their schedules.

   To learn more about our approach, take advantage of our free, 14-day trial today.