Yoga for LE

[Gray222]

Stress relief is a benefit...but then again, I shoot for that...

Stress isn't an issue.

[LittleLebowski]

The WSJ has a regular section entitled "What's your workout," and this is an article in that section. Here are the first two paragraphs:

Colleen Quinn was used to being aggressive when she worked out. An 11-year veteran of the New York Police Department, Officer Quinn played basketball and lacrosse in college and was accustomed to bruises and ice packs. The one yoga class she’d tried about seven years ago was too slow.

But about five years ago, a friend dragged her to another class. This time, the instructor was doing handstands and some of the moves she’d watched break dancers do on TV. Officer Quinn was hooked and soon was attending yoga classes six times a week.

Again, she doesn't sound like a tough beat cop (not that I was saying the article implied that) and like VDM said, BJJ does the same thing w/ more benefits for an actual working police officer.

[imp1295]

Not LEO, but the wife has been a Yoga instructor, Kettlebell instructor and avid cross fitter for the last decade. She has worked with plenty of active duty mil and also works with the local PD. It isn't so much about "how it makes you more efficient" as that it helps their overall mobility, which means less likely to sustain an injury when doing something dynamic. If it is sitting in a cruiser for hours a day or sitting at a desk, that contracted hip position can wreck havoc on so many other parts of your body. If you have to un-ass a vehicle and sprint, wouldn't you like to be a mobile as possible and able to go from zero to 90 without worrying about pulling a hammy?

I guess her thing is she skips most of the whole spiritual 'Namaste' stuff and looks at it from a mostly healthy mobility perspective.

Oh, and BJJ doesn't necessarily do the 'same thing'. I've been doing BJJ on and off for a while and there are quite a few issues it can cause too. Not exactly your daddy's yoga here. And this guy knows a little about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6SkUWJfSRw

Another example, we just left PA. And my BJJ Professor was having some serious neck and back issues. My wife started working with him on an almost daily basis to help his pain and mobility. Her first comment was how 'tight' he was. This is a guy who's been started Luta Livre with Marco Ruas in the 90s and is a pretty legit Black Belt. So, BJJ can help. But in my experience and watching my wife work with people, Yoga can have some decent benefits if you can find a place that fits your needs.

[TGS]

...I'm always open to making myself more capable, by all means, please explain how yoga will make me....more efficient?

If all the benefit is that you gain flexibility then BJJ does that with a good helping of stretching...

yoga isn't just stretching/flexibility. It can be a good strength workout as well, especially for strengening accessory muscles that can make a dramatic difference in your overall power and abilities.

I've only ever done it for my back problems, personally. But you can get into some pretty legit shape doing yoga.

[Gray222]

Inversion table fix's my back problems

[PNWTO]

Inversion table alleviates my back problems

FTFY.

[redbone]

Is this guy operator enough for you VM? Or just another wuss that you look down on?

http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/yoga-benefits-for-men

I started doing yoga in 2011, when I was shutting down Iraq as part of Operation New Dawn.

Eight other Special Forces guys and I were the last American soldiers north of Baghdad, and our job was to represent U.S. support for a sovereign Iraqi state.


The area wasn’t particularly dangerous (for a war zone, anyway), and we had some free time on our hands. So my fellow SF guys did yoga. I lifted heavy things. Yoga was a sissy workout, I thought.



But one day after I’d finished a CrossFit WOD, the guys goaded me into joining one of their “sissy” sessions.



As a sergeant with the Special Forces, I’ve been on sniper teams and reconnaissance teams and led hundreds of men in battle.

I deadlift 515 pounds, squat 405, and bench 315. But this yoga session left me in shambles. It was held in a cinder block building in the desert with no AC.

Matching my breathing to inverted poses was nearly impossible, and I felt like I’d used a whole new set of muscles

[Gray222]

I know plenty of "operator" type dudes that do yoga. Some also do cross-fit and they'll be the first to tell you all about the fact they are navy seals/rangers/inset tier 1 group other than delta/etc, cross-fitters and make you feel bad because you eat things that cast a shadow.

Yoga might be good for me when I'm not doing street work anymore, but right now I'd rather devote time to actual fighting/combatives which will directly impact my ability to successfully overcome others during interpersonal combat.

[Gray222]

So do you just wear yoga pants because they make you feel pretty?

While on patrol today I saw the neckbeard type, pony tail and all, wearing yoga pants, like the type just below the knee. He had a tshirt on that read "judge me not for you will be judged" that was probably in the XXL range and draped over his FUPA. I swallowed the vomit that came up suddenly and kept driving, suppressing the immediate response of violence.

[Gray222]

So, basically yes?