Archive for yoga

If I told you Barry Zito did yoga, odds are you wouldn’t be too shocked. You could pick out most interviews with the pitcher and put it together like “Yeah, I can see that.” Not to say the former Cy Young winner isn’t an athlete, but it’d be a stretch to call him a jock. On the other hand, you would most likely be very surprised to hear a slugger such as Giancarlo Stanton utilizes yoga in his workout routines or USMNT midfielder Jermaine Jones regularly incorporates yoga to focus him.

Gaiam, likely the largest yoga focused company in the United States, recently announced both Stanton and Jones as stars of video series aptly named Yoga for Power with Giancarlo Stanton and Yoga for Conditioning with Jermaine Jones. Now available either traditionally via DVD or digitally online (but not through their GaiamTV streaming service just yet) the videos are designed to improve various aspects of one’s game. Where the ties between football and another non-traditional athletic event in ballet are quite established, recent years has seen yoga take off in baseball circles. A number of MLB teams have turned to yoga for various needs including strength, balance, conditioning and focus, and perhaps this latest wave of videos will shed further light on the subject.

Stanton, while speaking on yoga and his videos noted

Yoga has become an integral part of my training regimen. It strengthens my body and mind and pushes me to be more in tune with myself not only physically, but mentally as well. I truly feel that yoga has been a key component in developing a solid foundation on which I can continue to build a healthy athletic career while benefiting my life as a whole.

From casual workouts to more focused goals, yoga has certainly gained traction as a workout option in the United States. Via Statista, the revenue of the Gaiam specifically and yoga and pilates industry in general has been on a sharp rise since 2007 and projects to continue to do so.

As the stigma surrounding alternative workout routines drops, potentially more professional athletes will step forward and embrace what yoga offers on both the physical and mental fronts. The mental side of sports while tough to quantify, shouldn’t be overlooked. As Yogi Berra famously once said: “Baseball is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical.”

(Header image via Gaiam)

From 2002 to 2009 the popularity of yoga stagnated. Then in 2010 yoga began a clear rise in popularity and according to projections by Google Trends and Statista, it will continue to grow. The app market has taken note, as there are dozens of yoga apps to choose from in the App Store, Google Play Store and the Amazon Store. Right now through the Amazon Store and for Android devices, the Pocket Yoga app is free to download.

As someone would be classified as an interested novice in yoga, I wouldn’t bother paying the normal $2.99 just to try an app. Free? That is the right price for me to give it a whirl, and Pocket Yoga has impressed me. It features three different practices, each with 27 different preset routines to pick from. Within each routine you can pick the duration — 30, 45 or 60 minutes — as well as choose between beginner, intermediate and expert. There is also the ability to pick a home, studio or office environment, though the only difference is the background setting in which the app runs.

In addition to the preset routines there is also Sun Salutation A and B where instead of a time limit, it is based on how many repetitions you’d like to do, ranging from two to 108 (both A and B also have the option to choose which difficulty and environment).

Throughout each routine the digital instructor gives cues on pose changes as well as helping you regulate breathing, but I found myself struggling to get into the correct form before the next pose. The app does allow you to pause each routine — and pick it up where you left off — or even preview the routine before you get started.

A built-in index of the different poses in alphabetical order is incredibly helpful, and if you’re a fellow beginner, I strongly recommend looking at the preview and the list of poses before jumping into a routine.

Pocket Yoga tracks your completed practices and routines and once you finish a session you’re given the option to share the accomplishment via Twitter, Facebook and a number of other social networks.

As even the beginner routine was challenging to me, I’d recommend Pocket Yoga to someone who has more of a working knowledge of yoga. For Android users, make sure to download it through the Amazon Store as it is still $2.99 through the Play Store. The same goes for iOS users. Still, it is hard to fault the app for me not being as flexible as I was in my youth, though after a few weeks of using Pocket Yoga, I should be back in form.

The crowd surrounding the SmartMat booth at CES was able to see first hand the connected yoga mat that has gained so much attention on Indiegogo by raising nearly 300% of the desired goal. Now in production, SmartMat had live demonstrations of just what the mat is capable of doing including recognizing 62 different poses, showing proper form, and providing audio and visual feedback from a digital instructor.

Ready to be shipped out in the second quarter of the year, the connected mat is available for pre-order right now for $297.00. With apps available in both iOS and Android, SmartMat has digital classes plus unlockable badges as your progress through various levels of difficulty. Before hitting the ground running you’ll need to calibrate the mat in order to accurately detect alignment and provide the best tips to improve your posture.

There are three modes in which SmartMat can critique your poses: In-home, In-class and Zen. In-home is aimed at the private user, giving real time feedback step-by-step and scores directly on your device. In-class is for session based or group classes as it recognizes poses, but you can tweak the setting for audio or video feedback only in order to not disturb others. The zen mode is designed for when you don’t have your phone or tablet with you. Zen mode saves your information locally in order to sync, review and analyze it later at the expense of no real time help.

SmartMat’s battery lasts up to six hours and connects via bluetooth. No need to be connected to wi-fi,thus allowing freedom to continue practicing yoga in the park, gym or while on a business trip. It measures 26″ x 71″ and is 6mm and can be rolled up just like a traditional yoga mat. For heat yoga enthusiasts the official rating on SmartMat is 110F, though the site also urges caution for your smartphone or tablet at that temperature.

By bringing the yoga class to your apartment or home, or even being able to travel with a virtual instructor, SmartMat is stretching the scope of yoga while it helps users stretch their bodies. Given the prices of classes — let alone private one-on-one sessions — it is clear to see why SmartMat has gained so much traction in the yoga community. The near $300 one-time cost for immediate feedback is a great price when compared to your local instructor’s rates. The video below is from SmartMat’s YouTube channel and is more of a preview trailer than demonstration, however given what was shown at CES, it is an accurate depiction of the finished product.