Hey now, we got all excited yesterday about yogis in the Superbowl and today comes news of yoga in baseball!
Russell Martin is catcher for the LA Dodgers and new yoga convert:
“I’ve never felt better,” he said.
Fear not baseball fans, the soon-to-be 26-year-old isn’t planning to trade in the tools of ignorance behind the plate to pursue the ultimate goal of unifying the body, mind and spirit into oneness.
Rather, the two-time all-star is searching for new ways to keep his body healthy and strong throughout the 2009 season, eager to avoid the late-month swoons he’s experienced in each of his first three big-league seasons.
“Last year, I remember all the way through spring training and the beginning of the season even, my body was tight,” Martin recalled last weekend at Baseball Canada’s annual awards banquet. “When you’re a baseball player, you have to feel loose and that’s kind of like prehabilitation, that’s what my dad calls it.
“That was my main goal, to do some yoga, still do my explosive movement type stuff, because that’s all it is in baseball, reaction-type stuff, and flexibility. All those things, with a consistent work plan during the season, instead of seeing my numbers drop towards the end, hopefully I’ll see more of a stability and a consistency. That’s what I’m looking for.”
“Prehabilitation” is an awesome way to describe it. Three cheers for Russell and yogi baseballers. We look forward to hearing more about yoga in spring training.
