Why Yoga is good for Snowboarding…

Truth…here it is. Yoga and snowboarding may seem like an unlikely pair, but yoga can do so much for your riding. Whether you enjoy shredding piste, pow or park this yoga series will target specific area of the body to strengthen and stretch to ultimately improve your snowboarding. The main areas we will be focusing on in the snowboard series are strength, balance and flexibility.

Let’s start with Strength… if you have done any touring or backcountry it goes without saying that your legs will feel the burn at the beginning of the season. Having strong legs not only to walk up, but also to board down will result in better endurance meaning more time on the mountain, which is the ultimate goal, right?! Yoga can greatly strengthen your quads doing lunges, squats and warriors, which are also great for improving your power and style in the snow park. Jumps, carving and various flat tricks also require strong legs to achieve good control of the board.

“Get stretching after a long day on the mountain and your body will thank you for it later…”

You may feel that you’ve got strength covered but many snowboarders struggle with flexibility, perhaps more than strength and it can help your riding in more ways than you may think! A lot of being flexible is linked to body control and mobility, which yoga is the best thing for! Good body flexibility can help prevent injuries by making your body more supple and reactive. It is also a great asset when it comes to riding park as you can improve your style with good body control and precise movements. You will also find that it’s easier to perform tricks such as grabs and rotations, so get stretching after a long day on the mountain and your body will thank you for it later. Low lunges, half split, forward fold and twists are great yoga poses for boarders!

Balance is key for snowboarding from the very beginning. Having good balance means good control of the board as well as good core strength. Our core is the centre of our being and is essential for snowboarding to perform tricks involving jumps and rotations. Balance and core strength are interlinked and by strengthening both we can better control our bodies and our understanding how our body works on and off the board. By working on your mobility, posture and body control you will start to see the results on the slopes.

Our yoga series for snowboarding has been designed by Giulia and Amy, both yoga teachers and snowboarders for over 10 years and Giulia is also a qualified snowboard instructor and competition rider. We are passionate about both yoga and snowboarding and we wanted to bring something different to help people improve their snowboarding mentally and physically.

Most people speak about the physical aspects of the sport, but we also want to bring attention to the mental side of things. Fear and doubt can also play a big part in your performance on a snowboard. Yoga isn’t just about controlling the body but also the mind, learning to let go, trust and understand your bodies capabilties is why yoga is so useful for snowboarding.

Are you ready to find out for yourself? Click the link below to discover our series for snowboarders, we hope you like what you find!