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Geregistreerd op: 03 Jun 2018
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NEW YORK (AP) — Without stretching Joel Edmundson Jersey , New York Giants offensive lineman Chad Wheeler folds his 6-foot-7, 317-pound frame over far enough to place his palms flat on the ground. His knees are straight but not fully locked, because that’s poor form, and he can comfortably hold himself there — he’s that flexible.
That’s nothing for Wheeler. Like many NFL players, he does yoga.
“It’s funny doing it as a team because a lot of guys haven’t done it,” Wheeler said. “It makes me feel proud in a way. Like guys that are way more athletic than me, I can bend better than them in certain positions.”
Football players don’t fit the mold of a yogi , someone who regularly practices yoga. They’re large athletes with sculpted muscles from countless hours of lifting and conditioning. Most do not look capable of the contortions required of the ancient discipline, such as standing on one foot with the other propped up on their knee in a tree pose for an extended period without falling over.
Yet in recent years, the presence of yoga has grown in the NFL. The fast-paced, hard-hitting sport has accepted the more calming practice that emphasizes conscious breathing and body flow. Much like yin and yang, the two complement each other both mentally and physically.
“Obviously (yoga) helps with flexibility, what we call join integrity, discipline, focus and balance,” said Los Angeles Chargers Director of Football/Medical Services James Collins, an NFL athletic trainer for 31 years. “It has a lot of different entities to it. And one thing about professional football players is that if you explain something to them and give them the science and reasoning behind it, you can get them to buy into it.”
Many teams haven’t adopted yoga, but their players practice it individually, including Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, Buffalo Bills placekicker Steven Hauschka and New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold.
The Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars Jake Allen Jersey , New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears offer it to their players on recovery days. Others make it a team activity: the Chargers, Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys.
“I was going into it expecting to tell them all the reasons why they should be practicing yoga and why it’s so beneficial,” said Kaleen Lugo, the Chargers’ yoga instructor. “They’re just like, ‘You’re preaching to the choir, girl. We know.'”
PHYSICAL BENEFITS
Getting ready in his pass-rush stance, New York Jets defensive lineman Leonard Williams has his legs spread, knees bent and feet staggered. He leans forward with a hand on the ground.
That’s how he stays until the ball is snapped, holding his 6-5, 302-pound body in the three-point stance.
“For my position, you can get knocked off,” Williams said. “When we’re playing double teams, we got to stunt and do stuff, so it’s like sometimes we have to be on one foot, plant and go somewhere. I feel like yoga helps with that, when we’re doing one-legged poses and stuff like that. It helps with my balance .”
Yoga helps with so much more than balance, and flexibility.
Collins, who’s also the Professional Football Athletic Trainers’ Society president, said yoga is great for multidirectional joints such as the elbows, wrists, ankles, hips and shoulders. Regular stretching is linear and doesn’t help strengthen those areas .
Yoga also keeps muscles pliable and allows them to recover faster.
“At minimum Authentic Kareem Hunt Jersey , doing it helps maintain what you have,” Collins said. “Especially as an athlete and a football player, as he’s going through a season and his bodies getting beat up, everything starts to shut down — ‘Boy, I feel stiff. I’m sore. I can’t do this.’ But if you’re doing things throughout the season, like yoga, to help maintain what you’ve established with your body, that helps you get through the season, helps reduce your chance of injury and things of that nature.”
Each player — position, really — is different, too.
Gwen Lawrence, founder of Power Yoga for Sport, has been teaching athlete-focused yoga for 25 years and taught the Giants for more than a decade under former head coach Tom Coughlin. While she would work on arm and spine strength — spinal rotation — for a quarterback, she would focus more on the neck, hips and wrists for a lineman.
It comes down to releasing tension and building strength in overworked parts of the body.
“I didn’t realize once I got the hold of it how much stronger I felt,” Giants linebacker Jordan Williams said. “I wasn’t doing anything but using my body weight, and I felt so much stronger.”
MENTAL BENEFITS
Bending to the side, Detroit Lions running back Ameer Abdullah reaches for a block on the floor . He then lifts his other legs straight out so he is parallel to the ground and extends his free arm upward.
Each limb is stretched out straight, as he breathes through the difficulty of holding yoga’s half-moon pose.
That’s where the mind-over-matter mentality comes in.
“They need to be trained when they’re in a tough situation, they can’t just bail,” Lawrence said. “A lot of times they’ll be like, ‘Ah Womens Derek Dorsett Jersey , this is too hard. This hurts,’ and they’ll jump out of that. You can’t do that in a game, and you can’t do that in yoga.”
Mental toughness is one of the six facets Lawrence teaches in her yoga class, along with strength, flexibility, balance, focus and breath. But she also has a six-week mindfu Browns star left tackle Joe Thomas retired after 11 seasons in the NFL, ending a career in which he exemplified durability, dependability and dominance.
A 10-time Pro Bowler with Cleveland, Thomas announced his decision after spending several months contemplating whether to come back following a season-ending injury.
Thomas never missed a snap before tearing his left triceps during an Oct. 22 game against Tennessee. His streak of 10,363 consecutive plays is believed to be the longest run in pro football history.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) – The Chicago Bears agreed to a contract with former Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Allen Robinson, hoping he can form a dynamic tandem with quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and help energize a stagnant passing game.
The Bears announced the move a day after Robinson told ESPN he was planning to sign a $42 million, three-year deal.
Chicago also announced agreements with Philadelphia Eagles tight end Trey Burton ($32 million, four years), Atlanta Falcons receiver Taylor Gabriel, Miami Dolphins kicker Cody Parkey and New Orleans Saints backup quarterback Chase Daniel.
The Bears are coming off their fourth straight last-place finish in the NFC North and fourth straight season with 10 or more losses. They are banking on Robinson to recover from a torn ACL in his left knee and regain the form that made him a Pro Bowl pick in 2015.
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – The Arizona Cardinals released safety Tyrann Mathieu after the two sides couldn’t rework his contract.
Mathieu was due for $18.75 million of his contract to be guaranteed when the league year officially began. By cutting him, Arizona saved close to $5 million in cap space.
Mathieu became a star in the Arizona secondary after being selected in the third round of the 2013 draft following a troubled college career at LSU. He was an All-Pro in 2015, when he had five interceptions and 17 passes defensed. But he also has been plagued by injuries and only last season did Mathieu appear in all 16 games.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) – The Buffalo Bills took the first step in restocking their quarterback position by agreeing to a two-year contract with A.J. McCarron. The 27-year-old spent the past four seasons backing up Andy Dalton in Cincinnati after being selected by the Bengals in the fifth round of the 2014 draft.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Tubby Smith was fired as Memphis basketball coach after two seasons amid dropping attendance and donations to the athletic department.
Smith told reporters he was no longer coach as he left a meeting with Memphis President M. David Rudd and athletic director Tom Bowen.
Smith went 40-26 at Memphis Authentic Justin Bailey Jersey , including 21-13 this season. The Tigers won seven of their final nine games before losing Saturday to No. 8 Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals, their third loss to the AAC champs this season.
Smith came to Memphis in April 2016 as one of only two coaches to lead five different schools to the NCAA Tournament. Now 66, he leaves without taking Memphis to any postseason tournament in his two seasons. Smith is 597-302 with a national title at Kentucky in 1998.
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – Former Ohio State coach Thad Matta withdrew from the Georgia coaching search after becoming the first known candidate to interview for the job.
Georgia fired Mark Fox on Saturday, and Matta was in Athens only two days later.
Lingering back problems were an issue in Matta’s 13 years at Ohio State. His $9 million buyout includes a stipulation that he must make ”reasonable and diligent efforts” to find another coaching job. He also reportedly interviewed at Mississippi.
BASEBALL
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Extra innings throughout the minor leagues will start with a runner at second base.
In addition, the pitch clock that began at Triple-A and Double-A in 2015 will be lowered from 20 seconds to 15 when there are no runners on base, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues said. The timer will remain at 20 seconds with runners on.
Looking to speed up the pace of play, Major League Baseball had hoped to have a similar rule for spring training and starting in the 11th inning of the All-Star Game but was stymied by the Major League Baseball Players Association, which refused to agree.
New limits on mound visits without pitching changes also will be added, the minor league governing body said.
TENNIS
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) – Roger Federer defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 6-4 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open, and at 15-0 the world’s top-ranked men’s player is off to his best start since 2006.
The 36-year-old Swiss superstar can equal his season-best start of 16-0 with a win in the quarterfinals, where he will meet Chung Hyeon of South Korea in a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal.
Federer advanced to the final in Melbourne when Chung retired in the second set trailing 6-1, 5-2 because of blisters on his left foot. Federer went on to win a five-set final against Marin Cilic for his 20th Grand Slam title.
Chung, seeded 23rd at Indian Wells, beat 30th-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-1, 6-3.
GOLF
FAR HILLS, N.J. (AP) – Ernie Els and Jim Furyk received a special exemption to play in the U.S. Open this year at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, New York.
Els is a two-time U.S. Open champion who would have faced qualifying because his five-year exemption from winning the 2012 British Open ran out last year. Els won the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 1994 and at Congressional in 1997. This will be his 29th consecutive U.S. Open.
Furyk won the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields. |
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