ESSENTIAL YOGA MOVES FOR STRENGTH AND INJURY-PREVENTION

YOGA CAN REDUCE INJURY AND STRENGTHEN YOUR SWIM, BIKE AND RUN PERFORMANCE. PLUS IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CALM ANY FESTIVE STRESS! HERE ARE THE ESSENTIAL MOVES YOU NEED TO STAY IN SHAPE...

- WORDS JAMES WITTS IMAGES GETTY IMAGES

You no doubt have a busy training schedule, busy family life and busy work life. So what's all this about us imploring you to squeeze yoga into your schedule as well?! Don't skip this feature, though, as the benefits you can gain from at least one yoga session each week will be noticeable. Plus, if you can't fit in any more sessions, it's arguably worth dropping one of your swim, bike or run training sessions for yoga.

Why? Key is injury prevention. Spending long hours training, especially when it comes to sitting hunched over on your bike, can develop muscular imbalances that can result in injury. Yoga can go some way to correcting these imbalances. Also, while cycling and running can build powerful hamstring and quadricep muscles, the strengthening of hip and back muscles is often overlooked. Again, yoga can help here.

Yoga can help lengthen muscles that are squeezed from endurance training and a work life that's often crouched in front of a computer, while you shouldn't neglect the mental benefits of yoga, too. It's been shown to lower stress hormones while simultaneously increasing the levels of 'happy hormones'.

Need further convincing? Look no further than the legend that is Jack Maitland. Maitland's a former elite triathlete and fell-runner turned coach, whose disciples used to be the Brownlee brothers. Maitland's been an advocate of yoga for triathletes for years and now runs a triathlon business called The Sports Ashram, which uses yoga to help triathletes develop and perform to their optimum. If it works for a man who helped mould two of the finest triathletes to grace this multisport world, it can work for you.

Just remember to take deep breaths with each stretch held for around 30secs. Sets are usually around five to 10, but base on how you feel.