Love Your Core Yoga, Made for Snowboarders

Welcome to your core yoga class, that focuses on creating a strong core, with a few yoga poses, so you can feel stronger the next time you strap on that snowboard.

I never use to be the most fit person in the world, I’m still not that fit! There is a common misconception that only flexibility is needed to do yoga poses, but also having strength is just as important.

Over stretching can also be a problem, so if you’re stiff consider yourself lucky that you know your body’s limits.

The more I snowboard, the more I realise that without a strong core, you’re pretty much not going to be able to balance.You won’t have the strength to support your entire body while snowboarding.

If you look at any professional snowboarder, particularly the ladies, they have not only a very physically strong and fit body, but also a super strong core. If your core is weak, you won’t be able to balance easily.

Snowboarding is about finding those little nuances to be able to balance and not eat a load merde (that’s poop in French) because you fall over all the time.

Much like yoga, snowboarding does take some practice, if you’re brand new to snowboarding.

I would highly recommend this yoga sequence for you, to get in touch with your body and to focus on that core of yours.

Also snowboarding is really, like really, hard to learn. Plus it really hurts, so be patient and eventually you’ll get to ride down without falling down, too much.

Although falling down is pretty much inevitable when snowboarding and that’s part of the fun. You get knocked down, but you get up again (thinking of that old song, you know the one).

On another note, having a stronger core will also help your lower back pain, as you may end up overcompensating for the lack of core strength, into your lower back.

A stronger core will also help to prevent injuries, so that your body is ready for snowboarding, which is an extreme sport after all.

I have to be honest that I’m not a strong believer in Yoga for fitness. I do prefer yoga for its calming properties, mostly for appeasing my anxieties, the non cheerleader voice in my head that I call Nollum, whose mean and for introducing me to meditation.

However these are poses that require a certain amount of strength and the key here, is to have a strong core.

I’m sure much like me you’d like to enjoy yourself the next time you snowboard.

So here’s the short sequence for you:

1. Downward dog

Stretches the whole body out, to prepare for the following poses.

2. Downdog crunches

This one focuses a little on your upper body strength.

3. Warrior III

This pose feels great to realign the hips, which may feel unbalanced from snowboarding, it also requires you to use your core strength to be able to balance.

4. Plank to Chaturanga

Upper body strength plus core workout, or a yogi push up.

5. Downdog to Chaturanga

This one will really push your body, from downdog you want to move forward into chaturanga, you’ll need both a lot of upper body strength and core strength here.

6. Navasana / Boat Pose

This one is the ultimate core strengthener, you can modify it to fit your level by placing your hands below your knees and having your knees bent, with your shins straight.

If you’d like to really get stronger, I’d recommend doing this sequence x3, you’ll feel the love/burn in your core!

If you’d like this sequence offline, click on the banner below to sign up and get it straight into your inbox.

Have you tried these core strengthening  poses? Found that they helped? Let me know in the comments below.