Kenneth Rippetoe & Shana Meyerson For Cross-Training Yoga & Swimming
At One with the Water, we focus on full-body development and strengthening motor skills. The best way to do that is through cross training. Cross training is a great way to condition different muscle groups, develop a new set of skills, and reduce boredom that might creep into your exercise routine. Cross training also allows you the ability to vary the workout of specific muscles or even your cardiovascular system. After months of the same movements, your body becomes extremely efficient at performing those movements. This limits the amount of overall fitness you possess and reduces the actual conditioning you get while training; rather than continuing to improve, you simply maintain a certain level of fitness. Cross training is also necessary to reduce the risk of injury from repetitive strain or overuse.
By doing yoga as a cross-training exercise, you increase your flexibility, a very important factor in increasing your swimming speed, and strengthen your entire body. The body works as a system, and we are firm believers in developing the system as a whole vs. working on specific muscles as most gym exercise machines require. Both swimming and yoga provide the desired results for your fitness in a nicely low-impact and safe exercise regimen.
Shana Meyerson, of YOGAthletica and mini yogis yoga for kids, a world-renown yoga instructor, makes it her mission to always vary the yoga workout. You could take her class as a single exercise and never encounter the same routine.
“Many triathletes and other endurance athletes summarily dismiss yoga, thinking it is too easy, too feminine, to help them out in any way. Nothing could be further from the truth. While the basic stretching involved in yoga is incredibly therapeutic and beneficial in preventing injuries, there are also physically rigorous aspects of the practice that will help any athlete to achieve his or her personal goals. A well-rounded yoga practice will lengthen and strengthen all the major muscle groups you need for your triathlons… and it will also hit all sorts of muscles you never even knew you had. With a purported 8,000,000 yoga poses (asana), including all sorts of arm balances, twists, inversions, and poses you never even imagined, a well-trained teacher can tailor a practice to specifically complement your training goals and schedule. And, of course, all yoga starts with a foundation of deep, fluid breathing, or pranayama. These controlled breathing exercises help to strengthen the cardiovascular system and bolster lung capacity which, in turn, greatly improves any athlete’s performance,” says Shana Meyerson.
In the same way Shana varies yoga routines, we vary each swim workout. We teach all swimming strokes: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle. So whether you are preparing for a race a few months away, or just maintaining during the off-season, we recommend combining yoga and swimming!
Did you know that you can become a member-donor and receive access to hundreds of workouts or request a workout created just for you, for only $30 a month? All donations made to One with the Water are used to provide instruction, insurance, and pool rental to teach kids with Special Needs. Help us to keep teaching, saving kids’ lives, and donate today.
Kenneth Rippetoe with Shana Meyerson
Kenny is a baby Bottlenose dolphin, of the genus Tursiops, one of the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphin. He is very playful and friendly and loves to frequently leap above the water surface. Kenny plays with water toys, enjoys making bubble rings, and plays well with other dolphins or other animals.