yoga_strength.jpgI’ve been doing Ashtanga with regularity now since December and I’ve had some great – though slow – benefits so far. The two biggest areas of improvement which I felt in the space of 3 sessions was:

Balance – this has improved and still gets better every time I do another session. There’s a lot of positions that require great balance. So what impact has it had on my ju jutsu? Well balance is pretty damn important to staying on your feet and its getting people off your feet that’s one of the keys in JJ. So its helped to some extent with that though not as much as you’d expect. You see the yoga is done without resistance – its basically static balancing while performing a posture. Although it does help with balance you’re not training yourself to stay standing during pulls and pushes with aggressive changes in direction as you do in JJ. Its still come in handy though.

Flexibility – This has been great. Its becoming harder for my partners or opponents to put on locks and holds due to an increase in flexibility.

Core Strength – this has had the greatest impact of all and my core is a lot, lot stronger from doing yoga than 50 days of a core heavy training programme. It works your entire abs, back, obliques, and deep core. You have to apply locks (suck you stomach in) while performing many of the moves. There’s also numerous exercises requiring you to lift you legs off the ground and arse while pulling your abs in to keep off the ground. Core strength is one of the vital components of ju jutsu and a storng core really helps in every sphere from powering punches and kicks to working on the ground to get the advantage. Your core is the powerhouse of every other muscle group so when this gets stronger YOU get stronger.

Verdict: Go for it if you can fit it into your existing schedule!