Colorado University Athletics
Yoga Helps Prepare Buffs For Rigors Of Approaching Season
Student-athletes in a handful of CU sports - football, volleyball, soccer, golf, track and skiing - began participating in June in yoga classes instructed by Gerry and Nicole Wienholt, owners of the Yoga Pod in Boulder's 29th Street Mall. The final summer yoga class was July 29, but sessions will resume once the fall semester begins later this month.
Gerry Wienholt moved from Baltimore, Md., to Denver in 2004 then relocated in Boulder. Raised in Fort Collins until she was 10, Nicole Wienholt taught classes at the Yoga Pod for the previous owners, who eventually approached the husband-and-wife business partners about buying the studio. The Wienholts also operate PEP, inc., a motivational endeavor aimed at "defining Purpose, developing Excellence and discovering Passion."
Near the end of preseason camp last August, CU Head Athletic Trainer Miguel Rueda and the Wienholts collaborated for a "restoration day" that involved the yoga instructors working with groups of 20 football players at a time.
Also, Rueda said an hour-long morning yoga class was made available in the spring for student-athletes. "But attendance was hit or miss," he added. "This (summer class) has worked out far better. It's more of the way it's been received that I've been the happiest with."
This summer's classes have featured "a strong football presence," said Rueda, "but the feedback we're getting from the (student-athletes) across the board has been tremendous."
Attendance for the Thursday night classes averaged about 20, with nearly 30 student-athletes participating on occasion. Rueda said CU purchased the class time using an NCAA special assistance fund.
The CU student-athletes have "totally bought in" to the classes and developed an understanding of how yoga increases flexibility and can help prevent injuries, Gerry Wienholt said.
"To me, it's like a longer stretch," junior quarterback Tyler Hansen said. "It helps me combat soreness, getting all the lactic acid out (of muscles) and makes me feel much looser. I keep telling guys when they're sore they need to go to yoga; it helps a ton."
Added junior tight end Ryan Deehan: "It's been great for muscle recovery. I've liked the 'hot' yoga style a little better, but overall it's really been beneficial. It's helped me stay loose and not be super-tight all the time."
Wienholt said the 'hot' yoga Deehan referred to was practiced in the summer's final session, with the studio's temperature raised to 105 degrees and humidity hitting 60 percent.
In addition to improving overall flexibility and balance, most of the student-athletes experience core (hips, spine) strengthening, as well as strengthening muscles and ligaments and "opening up the hips . . . all of that helps in a collision sport," Wienholt said.
Another benefit cited by Hansen was the visualization segment that ends each class. When asked to visualize success, Hansen conjures an image of him and teammates surrounding a Big 12 Conference championship trophy.
"We're asked to relax and picture our goal," he said. "After one of the classes, I asked (safety) Ray Polk what he was seeing - he had the same picture in his head, the Big 12 trophy . . . we're all on the same page."