YOGA TREND HOTTING UP
Mixed Martial Art fighting and Yoga may not seem a natural fit, but one of Wales's best MMA exponents, personal fitness trainer Tim Newman, disagrees – perhaps because neither area is fully understood.
Q: What is MMA fighting?
A: It is better known as cage fighting, but it is just a combination of all the martial arts and you compete in a cage. You have to have all types of fitness for this, power, technique, skill and the endurance to last three rounds.
Q: So what are your next targets?
A: The first targets are domestic, I want to be the British Association of Martial Arts title holder, but then there is the USC which is the Premiership of MMA – if you get there then you have really made it. I am just a couple of successful fights away. The next thing for me is set to be the Cage Warriors in Saudi Arabia in April.
Q: MMA fighting and Yoga – not many people would associate those two together?
A: I have been in the fitness industry for nine years and had never done a yoga class, even though flexibility is clearly important. Now I just wish I had done it sooner, if I am more flexible then that will help my MMA.
Q: What does it involve?
A: Yogafever in Cardiff is about hot yoga, the room is heated up to around 36-38 degrees. That makes your muscles looser and easier to stretch and it has worked wonders for me.
Q: Yoga is about people trying to stretch and stay calm, isn't it? Hardly perfect for explosive athletes?
A: At yogafever you look around you and there are a lot of young people and you can tell they work out. Since going down there I have bumped into a lot of training partners who obviously know the benefits as well.
Q: Does it help with injuries as well?
A: I had a bad lower back and neck trouble for the last year, but since I started doing the yogafever that has gone away. It is certainly something I would recommend for athletes to implement in their training programme.
Yogafever Studio, 2nd floor, 39 Windsor Place, Cardiff, Cf10 3BW.
This is the first of a series of six articles with top sportspeople talking about the benefits of yoga. Look out for it in future editions of SportingWales.
increase your performance with hot yoga
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“I was very sceptical of yoga, but after being dragged along to Hot Yoga I haven’t looked back - I loved the great whole body work- out it gave me.” — Jonathan Davies, Wales & Great Britain
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