Tuesday 25 September 2018

One day one photo - 25: Yoga, hot yoga, core stability

Hot yoga Class at Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre
As well as getting regular massages when I up my running miles, I have also been attending classes that help to prevent injury.

The main stay is yoga, which I do at my local sports centre at Crystal Palace. Sometimes I get to do pilates too. Slightly further away from where I live, at Streatham Ice and Sports Centre I attend Hot Yoga classes.

I would really recommend that too. I remember the first time I attended the Hot Yoga classes (aka Bikram Yoga) and did an hour of Vinyasa flow I really struggled to cycle the 5 miles to get back home. The exercises had really taken it out of me. Sure, it was pretty hot at the time and I had to drink a fair bit, and I struggled to hold one or two of the poses. But I didn't feel the tired that I would get after running. So I still found it surprising to realise that I had actually worked quite hard. Something about specifically working on those small group sets of mucles that you don't normally work on in everyday life, does give you fatigue in parts of your body you hadn't realised existed! But it can really make a difference to your all-round strength and core stability.

Talking of core, I have been doing those too. Again, mastering the Swiss Ball is quite an art. I always thought I had decent core stability from regularly doing plank exercises. But in fact this big ball can really sort you out!

I must say that through doing these classes - yoga, pilates, core stability - on a regular basis has kept my body in check, and I have definitely had fewer sports injuries this year than in previous years. Who knows, maybe it is an placebo effect, as many folks may want to say. But I feel good about doing these classes, so I will just carry on, until my theory proven wrong!

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