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Men: How to crush any workout and win more with yoga

By WTOP Staff

If you’re a guy who grew up in America, you most likely competed in sports. It’s part of our upbringing and a large part of who we are as a culture. Sports prepare you for life. They teach work ethic, how to win respectfully and how to lose with dignity and seek redemption. We like to work hard, physically compete and earn our victories. As the yoga trainer for Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union and other professional athletes, I’m inspired to hear them rave about the benefits of yoga on their athletic performance.

If athletes at the highest level of competition are killing it with yoga, so could athletes at every level. Whether you’re competing in sports, or if you’re a recreational runner, rock climber, cyclist, weightlifter or CrossFitter, perform at your best with yoga. Here’s how to do it:

[Read: 9 Qualities of Great Yoga Teachers .]

Injury Prevention Through Yoga

I will never forget the moments in my wrestling career when I was unable to compete because I was injured. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to sit out because you’re hurt. Athletes are especially prone to injury because they tend to be more strong than flexible, and so create more torque and strain on their joints. Some injuries are unavoidable. However, many can be prevented with a steady yoga routine. Yoga students develop flexibility and an acute attention to alignment, breath and pain sensation. The basic poses are powerful and therapeutic. If done intelligently, they strengthen and stretch the body in a way that promotes a keen awareness of pain and dangerous misalignment.

[Read: 10 Tips for Practicing Yoga at Home .]

Be Fierce Without Losing Your Composure

A strong yoga practice demands that you challenge yourself and work harder than you ever thought you possibly could without running for the door screaming. Much like working out or athletics, you have to contain that raw emotion and ferocity and use it as a tool to up your game. Yoga is a powerful technique of bumping against your physical and mental edges repeatedly and in that moment, be at your best. Zac MacMath, the goalkeeper for the Philadelphia Union, told me yoga helps him remain relaxed and centered when the game is on the line.

Yoga Complements Cardio

Yoga is great for cardiovascular workouts and sports. It trains you to breathe more efficiently, and you’re asked to be aware of your breath at all times. Breathing technique demands that you consciously deepen your breath, especially when you are struggling. So even when you feel like you are winded and ready to break down, you’re able to finish your run or bike race strongly. Most cardio is running intensive. For sports like soccer, where players are running for 90 minutes straight with bursts of explosive sprints, a yoga routine that stretches the hamstrings, quads, IT bands (the ilotibial band ligaments along the thigh) and hips is a great way to facilitate mobility in the lower body.

[Read: 9 Qualities of Great Yoga Teachers .]

Yoga for Anaerobic, Technical Sports

For the technicians like weightlifters, baseball players and golfers, alignment and biomechanics are crucial. The day David Buchanan, pitcher for Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies, came to my class, we talked for two hours about the mechanical skills he needs to deliver a killer fastball pitch. In his routine, we worked the hamstrings and hips in a way that helped him get more leverage in his delivery and explode off his planted foot. The poses are engineered to promote healthy alignment and target the areas that need to be opened and strengthened to perform optimally. In golf, it’s finding a deeper rotation in the torso without swaying the hips. Twists and lateral stretching in yoga are extremely helpful for this key action. Form in weight-training is paramount. No matter which muscle groups you’re targeting, yoga can help with your precision and breathing technique. Yoga uses clear physical landmarks and safety cues while moving mindfully with your breath.

Yoga for Combative Competitions

Yes, yoga even helps those whose sports who are meant to inflict pain on their opponents. Mental toughness, physical leverage and balance are key in hand-to-hand combat sports, such as wrestling, football, mixed martial arts and boxing. Yoga technique allows you to move your body fluidly and powerfully position yourself and strike an opponent with deadly force. There are many balancing poses like tree, warrior III and dancer’s pose, where you’re asked to balance on one foot while stretching. This awareness helps you stay on your feet, and defend and recover from offensive attacks more skillfully. These sports can be brutal to your body. The yoga poses stretch your body therapeutically and help you recover from grueling bouts.

Mobility & Explosive Core Strength

With any workout, the more seamlessly you are able to move, the more you will get out of your session. Workouts like rock-climbing and cross-fit demand good alignment and mobility. Rock climbers can strengthen the lower body to help hoist and hold themselves up, while opening and stretching the legs, hips and shoulders with yoga. In CrossFit, to advance you need to learn alignment to get into handstand pushups and other technical positions. Both require a strong core — which yoga delivers. In athletics, there is a crucial moment where you’re invoking a fiery burst of movement. Whether you’re throwing shot-put, sprinting or tackling another player, this split-second movement is often the difference between winning or losing the battle. Yoga helps develop strength by engaging your muscles in every pose, and flexibility where you need it most, so your body works like a fine-tuned machine.

Balance and Symmetry

Workouts often require a repetitive motion, whether you’re throwing a ball with one hand or planting with the same foot numerous times to jump or sprint. This makes your muscles develop asymmetrically. You can shift this imbalance with yoga. Yoga stretches the body evenly on either side. If you become so lopsided that it is problematic, you can structure your yoga routine to counter that asymmetry. When I teach Union soccer players, I take into account their specific position and have them hold some poses longer to balance their bodies. That way, both the right-side defender who is mostly healthy and the left-footed forward with the bad back each get exactly what they need from their practice.

[Read: 5 Yoga Poses You Can Do on an Airplane .]

Recovery Time

If you’re in pain before you start your workout, you won’t fully go for it and get as much out of it. During the Union yoga sessions, the players are usually between games or fresh off of a workout. We normally focus on restoring their bodies and practice in a way that resolves their injuries, pain and soreness. However you choose to compete in your own life, let yoga help you perform at peak level.

[Read: Save Money on Yoga by Making Your Own Props .]

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Men: How to Crush Any Workout and Win More With Yoga originally appeared on usnews.com

Don’t Settle for Student Loans to Pay for Online Education

By WTOP Staff
Online college programs are becoming a more popular choice for prospective students, with one study finding that more than 6 million students enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2015. The popularity of these courses can be attributed in part to their flexibility with working adults' schedules, students' ability to progress more quickly through online programs and, oftentimes, cheaper tuition. [See 10 low-cost online bachelor's programs for out-of-state students.]Online degrees can be beneficial to many college students, but some studies have shown online learners complete their programs at lower rates than students at traditional brick-and-mortar campuses. Individuals with student loans but no degree comprise two-thirds of defaulted borrowers. Though these numbers are not encouraging, just like for traditional programs, there are ways to reduce how much you'll need to borrow for an online program to ensure you won't become one of these statistics. Don't just settle on borrowing student loans to cover the whole cost of your program and living expenses. Instead, start thinking about how to cut costs and cover your balance in different ways, such as the following. -- Grants and scholarships: Even though you are taking an online course, you can still apply and receive grants and scholarships. But your first step should be to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly referred to as the FAFSA, which will allow you to receive a Pell Grant if your expected family contribution is low enough. The EFC criteria and award amounts are adjusted annually, but the 2017-2018 academic year awards range from $606 to $5,920, which could significantly lower the amount you borrow annually. Your next step is to apply for scholarships. You can start by checking online scholarship search engines, such as the Salt Scholarship Search, College Board's BigFuture and Peterson's. But don't forget to take advantage of local organizations and your school's financial aid office. Both may offer scholarships that you can't find with a national scholarship search. [Review these 10 sites to kick off your scholarship search.]For instance, organizations like the Elks Club, Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club typically offer scholarships annually to local students. Just because you're going to school online doesn't mean you're ineligible. Visit your local library for scholarship listings, and ask around town. You might be surprised how many local organizations offer scholarships. While these scholarships typically aren't large, every little bit counts. Each dollar you receive in a scholarship is a dollar you don't have to borrow and pay interest on. -- Work-study: Another option for online students may be work-study awards. Not all students enrolled in online programs are eligible, but students at some schools -- including, for example, SUNY Empire State College and Liberty University -- are. Work-study awards are not given upfront like scholarships and grants. In most cases, they are an offer to earn up to the awarded amount if you secure an eligible work-study job. While there is a misconception that all work-study jobs must be on campus, students can work for off-campus, nonprofit or public employers as long as the work is in the public's interest. You may be able to work for a for-profit employer if the job is relevant to your course of study. No matter who the outside employer is, it will need to have an established agreement with your college for you to receive work-study funds. Remember, to be eligible for federal financial aid, you must be enrolled and pursuing a degree or certificate. If you're not working toward a credential, Pell Grants and work-study won't be option, but you may still be able to take advantage of private scholarships -- just be sure to read the eligibility criteria carefully. [Explore what to know about financial aid in online programs.]-- Pay as you go: One of the great benefits to enrolling online is the flexible schedule, which can allow you to complete your college coursework around your responsibilities. But prospective students often overlook using their part- or full-time job earnings as an option for paying for college. Almost 80 percent of college students in 2015 worked at least part time while attending classes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By budgeting and thinking strategically about your college costs, you can likely reduce your dependence on student loans by paying a portion out of pocket. Many -- but not all -- online programs are less expensive than traditional programs and often have shorter payment periods. Six, eight or 10 weeks are common course durations. Because of the frequency of payments in an online setting, you may be well-placed to pay as you go and possibly avoid borrowing altogether. Attending college online and avoiding student loans may be challenging, but if you are willing to put in the effort, you can limit the amount you need to borrow. More from U.S. News Q&A: Understanding Student Loan Discharge Eligibility Student Loan Refinancing Isn't Right for All Borrowers
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