I've been feeling tighter and tighter lately. I could make a lot of assumptions, but I think it has a lot to do with my lifestyle being more sedentary than before. Going from working as a personal trainer where I was moving, stretching, on my feet all day, to studying in various sedentary positions is taking a toll on me. It's a hard thing to describe how I feel really, I'm mostly unbothered for training sessions, but overall I'm insanely tight as compared to a year or six months ago. Being about 25 weeks out from a potential meet means that this is a good time to address this and try something new. I went to yoga with my mom and sister when I was in high school and I really enjoyed it. They both kept it up, but I was more interested in rugby pitches and barbells. Later on I tried some globo gym yoga classes, but it just wasn't the same and I didn't enjoy it. I brushed it off and let myself think that going to yoga could hinder my lifting. In reality, I have never hurt myself being mobile, but I have hurt myself being too tight. I'm now at a point where I'm limited in what I can do in the gym because of my movement quality - I can't overhead press, sumo deadlift, or do any rotational movements. I feel like letting myself down this pass could very well be disastrous and lead to lifelong injuries.
So I've been to two hot yoga classes this week - One yin class and one vinyasa (flow) class - and my body already feels worlds better. It's a challenge to get into some poses, and some poses I probably won't be able to get into in the near future, but it's the kind of challenge I'm open to. I can tell I'm only strong/flexible in very specific ranges (obviously), so I'll work towards a bit more mobility, but I don't plan on going full pretzel mode.
One thing I don't plan on doing is going to yoga the day of a training session. Being TOO mobile COULD be a detriment, so I'm avoiding that. I'll be going on two of my three rest days and keeping an eye on my recovery along the way.
