Sports – Football

Dana Santas has experience creating football-specific yoga programs for numerous teams and players in the NFL, including the Washington Redskins and New England Patriots.

Radius Yoga Conditioning (RYC) customized programs are available to football players and teams at all levels, including professional, collegiate, amateur, and youth.  In addition to onsite training, RYC programs can be made accessible to all serious athletes–despite travel challenges–using numerous formats, including Skype/Facetime sessions, as well as customized videos, audio files and manuals accessed via the Private Client Portal. Refer to the Sports Programs and Private Training pages for more information on specific program options.

In general, football players need to be big and fast. Because football is a contact sport, larger players are better equipped to withstand impacts. But bigger isn’t necessarily better. Speed and agility are critical to success. Players must have the ability to accelerate quickly and rapidly change directions while maintaining speed. Sheer bulk can’t deliver that kind of performance, so large players need to focus on training to maximize mobility. In contrast, smaller players should train to increase strength but also to compensate for lack of mass by fine-tuning their speed and agility.

For football players, Radius Yoga Conditioning not only concentrates on building functional strength and flexibility but also core strength, enhanced body awareness and proprioception (the player’s ability to recognize his entire body’s positioning in space and precisely control muscular reaction). According to New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, “I think if a player doesn’t play with proper body control…then he’s going to end up on the ground…whether you’re covering, whether you’re running, whatever you’re trying to do, you have to be able to play with proper balance.”

In addition to body awareness, the key to body control and balance is core stability. Bulk is not the only thing protecting football players when bodies collide at high speeds. Yoga conditioning strengthens the core—the lumbar region of the spine, the pelvis, and the hips as well as all of their stabilizing muscle groups (i.e., erector spinae, abs, iliopsoas, hip flexors and glutes)—to establish a center of gravity for maintaining balance. And by creating both stability and mobility through the core, players can more effectively transfer power through the limbs for quick accelerations and rapid lateral moves.

What else can yoga conditioning do for football players? Injury prevention. For example, the overall flexibility coupled with increased joint strength and range of motion is especially helpful in preventing injuries when players are forced into awkward twists at the bottom of a pile. And yoga’s breathing and focus exercises train players to avoid mental distractions during the game, heightening their ability to react during split-second plays. RYC’s specialized breathing, visualization and meditative techniques, are offered as part of “Eye of the Hurricane Training™.”

To learn about yoga for youth football, visit the Youth Sports page.