Ssttretcchingg

I know, clever stretching of the title stretching, huh?

For the tight-legged, wound-up tennis players out there, I know how you feel, I've been there before. I actually only stopped being stiff (especially my hamstrings) after I started doing yoga, which is amazing and I recommend it to all tennis players.

Yoga strengthens the muscle at the same time as you stretch it; it encourages the muscle to lengthen, creating mean lean machine-like muscle (I have awesome rhyming skills, don't you agree?). It also encourages proper breathing and relaxation, depending on the type of class you take. Certain classes, like yin yoga, focus on the lengthening and stretching of the muscles; a good class for tennis players with stiff legs and backs to help them loosen up without much focus on strengthening. However, the best yoga classes stretch and strengthen, and opposite from common belief, are quite a workout. There are several varieties of strengthening/stretching yoga, including but not limited to "turbo," "Ashtanga," and "Flow." Hot yoga is another great class you can go to, where the room is heated to a toasty 110 degrees. You'd want to be careful if you've never been in a sauna or steam room before because it does get a bit uncomfortable, but it also relaxes your muscles for a deeper stretch.

Now that you know the classes I recommend, let's go through some poses that you can do on your own. Keep in mind these are the starter yoga poses, and you could always adjust to your preferences.

The Child's Pose: The basic yoga pose requires you to lay down on your mat with the objective of getting your butt to your heels, which takes some time and practice.

The next pose is called the cobra position, and this stretches out your abs. Make sure you keep your palms flat and stretch your neck upwards, with your nose tracing a line up to the ceiling slowly. For these poses, you want to be able to keep them for at least one minute each, preferably at least three minutes for a deep ligament stretch.

To the right you will see a very common pose called the downward facing dog, or downward dog. This stretches both the lower back as well as calves. The goal is to get your heels all the way to the floor. Make sure your back is straight, your palms spread out at the outer corners of the mat, and that you aren't adding unnecessary pressure on your wrists. Keep your feet about a foot apart (Feet a foot! Lol! :)), and if you want to add more stretch, pulse your knees forward and back and walk it out to get a deeper stretch in your calves.

Fire log is a deeper, more advanced pose. While it looks simple, it's hard to get your foot on top of your opposite bent knee. There are several factors of this pose that you need to know. First of all, while the picture is "picture perfect," you may not be able to get your knee all the way down on the first try. It also is nice to have something to prompt you up underneath the knee that is closest to the ground. You can use a blanket, a pillow, or a yoga block. This stretch is fantastic for the hip flexor, a muscle notoriously stiff for tennis players, particularly boys. For a deeper stretch, lean forward into the foot that is above your opposite knee.
 
A simpler stretch that helps both the hamstring and the hip flexor is the stretch to the right. Your goal is to work your chin towards your knee; eventually you'll be able to reach your forehead to your knee like the lady below. You want to be careful not to over stretch your hamstring by pushing yourself too hard the first times you start yoga stretches. Your first goal should be to touch your shoelaces with your fingers (or your toes if you're barefoot)!

Another good hip flexor stretch is to the right. You are reaching your chest towards you bent knee, trying to keep your back straight as you do so. You can also reach up with your hands, clasping them together, creating a straight diagonal line that starts with your clasped hands and ends with your outstretched foot. This a similar type of stretch that also strengthens at the same time, and is one of the few varieties of warrior stretches.

The pigeon pose, seen below, is a great quad stretch. A variation of this pose that is more advanced is to lay your front leg down, leaning your right front leg towards your left wrist. That made no sense. :)

I'll try again. Laying down completely with your left leg straight behind you and your right leg bent at an angle with your heel facing towards the left wall, use one of your hands to pull your left leg up into pigeon pose with your right leg still on the floor. This allows for a deep hip stretch while still working on your quad.

The man on the right is in a deep quad stretch that I only recommend for more advanced and flexible players. Start with your knees at either end of your yoga mat, slowly sink backwards, using your hands to guide you gently to the ground. Everyone can try this, but most likely you won't get all the way down to the ground on your first try. Your goal would be to get down to your elbow prompting you up at first.
 

The Warrior pose is a great strengthening pose which enables all leg muscles in both a stretch and a strengthening position where they are holding the rest of your body up. Keep this pose for at least forty five seconds, but start with thirty if you can't handle 45 right away. Doing this in front of the mirror is important so that you can keep your arms level and keep one foot pointed forward while the straight leg is pointing sideways.

Finally, another hip flexor stretch that is very relaxing is below. This opens up your hip flexors and allows you to breathe deeply in and out, relaxing your body as your hips open up. Start with your heels touching a bit further out, but as you get more flexible and want a deeper stretch, move your heels closer and closer to your body

On that note, keep in mind that yoga is a practice that allows you to relax, stretch, and help out your tennis quite a bit. If you have any questions at all or want to know more, write a comment and suggest a new blog topic, or ask me a question about yoga (or anything!). 

Namaste!