Yoga for Football (Soccer) Players

Nowadays, many soccer players have begun to integrate yoga into their training programs. Yoga for football players can be extremely beneficial when it comes to building strength and flexibility while promoting a healthy balance between the body and mind.

In this article, we’ll do a deep dive into the importance of yoga for football players and share some useful poses that can boost your athletic performance both on and off the field.

Is Yoga Good for Football Players? The Quick Answer

Absolutely! It improves concentration and helps you stay relaxed. After doing a lot of running and sprinting in the field, yoga offers a great way to help open and clear your mind and stay in the present moment. Football players are also advised to perform yoga to help improve their flexibility in the legs, hips, and joints. Below are just some of the benefits that yoga offers football players:

1. Improves flexibility

Football is a sport that requires players to move in any direction at any given time. Hips play a significant role in many soccer movements. Despite spending hours training daily in the gym, soccer players can’t always get away with weak rigid bones. The rate of injuries on the hip’s soft tissues is exceptionally high. Flexibility won’t stop these injuries from happening but helps you move more efficiently and makes you harder to tackle.

2. Improves strength

When it comes to strength training, yoga is the last thing that comes to mind. While most fitness coaches use external loads such as barbells and dumbbells to help build resistance, yoga uses your own bodyweight. It not only builds strength but also enables you to maintain the right posture and positioning during regular training. Proper core bracing helps you handle loads better while doing major compound lifts like squats or deadlifts. Yoga doesn’t make you strong overnight but can add value to your strength training program.

3. Improves your speed and power

Power is measured by the speed and force applied to an object. It is what sets apart great soccer players from good ones. Yoga uses body resistance to train for force and velocity. It also helps you control your breath, coordinate breathing with movements, and manage painful side stitches. Your speed improves with your breathing.

4. Enhances your cardiovascular endurance

Soccer involves a whole 90 minutes of physical activities such as sprinting, jumping, and changing directions. This puts your cardiovascular system under a lot of stress. The least your body would need after a game is an intense aerobic session. Instead, a foundational yoga session would do. A gentle practice won’t put too much stress on your joints and soft tissues. When in season or after your heavy training, you can still do foundational yoga as a form of aerobic exercise.

5. Aids in recovery

When there is less time in between your games, you can easily get fatigued due to limited recovery time. Yoga can help relax your joints, tendons, and muscles on your recovery day. You can also do yoga immediately after your training session to help you relax.

6. Boosts emotional and mental well-being

Psychological health is the most neglected aspect in almost all sports. After having had a stressful day or in the lead up to a big game, soccer players can benefit from many of the meditation techniques found in yoga. Practicing yoga also helps you stay in the present moment, something that is highly underestimated in sports. Mindset can either make or break a great player, which is why it is vital to keep the mind as healthy as your body. Yoga can help you focus well, have mental clarity, detach from negative emotions, and stay motivated.

7 Yoga Poses for Football Players

Seated spinal twist

This is a modification of the Half Lord of the Fishes pose. It is a great yoga asana for football players. To perform this pose:

• Begin seated on a yoga mat, stretch your legs out straight, inhale, and bring your knees up to your chest with feet on the floor

• Drop your left leg down and rest the foot against your right buttock

• Lift your right leg over the left one with your knee facing the ceiling and your right ankle against your left knee

• Bring your right leg towards your body to whatever degree you are comfortable with and exhale while bringing your left elbow outside the right knee, twisting towards the right.

• Pose for 30 seconds, breathing deeply and slowly, and then repeat it on the other side.

This pose is quite beneficial as it relieves backaches and stretches your upper body, increasing your range of motion.

Cow Face Pose

This pose helps stretch your hips, shoulders, arms, chest, and ankles (areas football players can be quite tight in). It also corrects your posture and makes you more flexible. Below is a step by step guide to help you perform it;

• Sit on a mat with your legs crossed and your right knee over the left one

• Lift your left arm towards the ceiling and bend its elbow such that the arm touches the back of your neck

• Bring your right arm to the right side, bend the elbow, bring it to the center of the back, and clasp your hands behind the back. Both your elbows should be towards the center of the back, and your head should not tilt forward

• Breathe in heavily and hold the pose for a while, then try again, this time with your left leg on top of the right one

Wide-legged forward fold

This pose focus on stretching your calves, hamstrings, and hips. It also builds strength on your shoulders and upper back. Here are steps that will help you perform this pose:

• Stand with your feet apart and arms on your hips, then slowly fold your torso over your legs to touch the floor with both hands shoulder-width apart

• Stretch your torso forward, folding deeper to move your head towards the floor

• Bend your elbows over your wrists. You can add a chest twist by touching your left ankle with your right hand with your head and left arm facing up the sky.

Lizard Pose

If you suffer from tight hips occasionally, then this is the right yoga pose for you. Below is a step by step guide on how to perform it:

• Assume a downward-facing dog position and step your right foot towards your right hand

• Lower your left knee down to stretch out your left leg without it touching the floor, and distribute your weight evenly across the hips

• Drop your weight down as far as you can get and maintain the pose for a while, taking deep breaths

Tree pose

The tree pose improves balance and helps build your core strength. It is also perfect for clearing and calming your mind. Follow the following steps to perform it;

• Stand with your feet firmly rooted in the floor, and your weight equally distributed on the four corners of each foot

• Shift your weight slowly into the right foot while lifting your left foot from the floor, then bend your left knee and bring your left leg towards your right inner thigh

• Hold the position for a while, taking five to ten breaths

Downward facing dog

• Assume a dog position with your wrists underneath your shoulders and knees underneath your hips, and then lift your hips to straighten your legs

• Move your shoulders towards your hips away from the ears and let your head sit in between your hands

• Use your quadriceps to unburden your body’s weight from your hands, and keep your buttocks high

• Exhale, then bend your knees and come back again to the same position

Half Front Split pose

This pose opens your hamstrings and eases the tightness that comes from running around on a soccer field. To perform this pose:

• Come to your hands and knees and then step one leg up between your hands, assuming a lunge position

• Straighten the front leg, touching the ground with the heel

• Move your chest forward towards the straightened leg to lengthen the spine with your hands on the ground.

• Take five to ten deep breaths while in this position

The Wrap

Yoga is yet another great tool that all Football players can add to their training program to help improve performance on the field. Not only can a regular yoga practice help players build strength and flexibility, but it can also reduce stress, improve sleep and recovery, and improve overall wellbeing.

Try adding yoga to your training plan today and see what it can do for you and your game!