When it comes to staying at the top of her game, VIS Mentor and Dallas Wings Forward, Satou Sabally, swears by the power of Pilates and yoga. Building strength through movement beyond our primary sport, also known as cross-training, can be extremely beneficial. By engaging in these activities, we can develop muscle groups that we might not pay any attention to during our regular training. To discover how we can incorporate cross-training into our busy routines, we talked to Sabally about how she practices Pilates and yoga, and how we can take a page from her book to reach our peak performance.
The Benefits of Pilates and Yoga
As athletes, incorporating Pilates and yoga into our fitness regimens can offer many benefits.
Pilates focuses on strengthening the core muscles, improving posture, and enhancing flexibility through controlled movements and breathing techniques. It emphasizes precision and alignment, making it an effective method for developing stability and body awareness.
Yoga combines physical postures, breath control, and meditation to promote strength, flexibility, and mental clarity.
Sabally says that Pilates and yoga has done “a great deal” for her, emphasizing that the practices help her to find “a gentle meditative state” that she doesn’t typically experience on the court. And “since it’s always the same, it gives me a starting point of my warm up routine,” she says. In many sports, we find ourselves moving at such a fast pace, leaving little time to listen to our bodies. Pilates and yoga offer us a precious opportunity to slow down and reconnect with our bodies, guiding us toward long term mental and physical success in our sports.
Why Yoga and Pilates Fuels Sabally’s Performance
Sabally keeps to a consistent routine of 25 minutes of Pilates per day. She finds it specifically beneficial before games to get her “smaller muscles activated.” Muscle activation is critical for our athletic performance because it reduces injury risk and prepares our muscles to perform at a high level.
“Incorporating Pilates and yoga into my routine has done a great deal for me. The practices balance out my hectic basketball world and keep me healthy.”
Her yoga routine is more flexible, although she still tries to complete two sessions a week. Yoga is for “days where I either have a day off or simply need longer deep stretches to get rid of some tension,” she says. Sabally prefers Yin Yoga, which places a focus on meditation and balance, but more active forms such as Yang Yoga also have benefits. In short, Yin Yoga is slower, emphasizing holding poses for long periods of time, and Yang Yoga involves a dynamic flow through poses.
Getting Started: Sabally’s Advice
No matter your previous experience, Sabally recommends to just “simply start” by “watching a YouTube video or signing up for a local yoga/Pilates course.” VIS has created a list of at-home workouts that we can follow to begin our journey with yoga and Pilates here. If you are looking for an instructor to follow, Sabally recommends Sarah Beth.
Don’t feel like you need any fancy equipment to begin. “You only need yourself and a mat,” Sabally says. “When I travel, I simply put a towel on the floor.” She also mentions that “both practices can be very time and cost efficient” if we “don’t have the resources for a full, one-hour class.”
It’s okay if it feels like a challenge to stay consistent when we start incorporating yoga and Pilates into our daily routines, especially considering our schedules as students, athletes, and people. But Sabally reminds us that even if we don’t see immediate results, remember to “believe in the benefits of both sports” because they’ve helped her “balance out my hectic basketball world and keep me healthy.”
Incorporating Pilates and yoga into our fitness routines, like Sabally does, offers us a lot of advantages. It helps strengthen our core, increase flexibility, and keep our minds clear, which are all crucial for staying on top of our game. Sabally’s commitment to daily Pilates and weekly yoga sessions shows us how these activities can benefit our performance and overall well-being. So, whether we're looking to improve our game or just stay fit, giving Pilates and yoga a try can make a real difference.
