Total Gym Yoga for Athletes: Power, Presence & Performance

Maria Sollon, MS, CSCS, PES

Yoga isn’t just for rest days or flexibility fanatics. For athletes, it’s a secret training tool that sharpens movement, deepens control, and builds long-term strength.

This practice isn’t about nailing a handstand or folding into a pretzel.  It’s about moving better, feeling stronger, and staying in the game longer. Whether your “game” is on the field, in the gym, or navigating life with purpose, yoga delivers the edge to recover faster, stay resilient, and perform at your peak.

Why Total Gym Yoga Works

By pairing yoga-inspired movements with the incline of your Total Gym, you get a total-body workout that builds strength, flexibility, and mobility simultaneously. These sequences can fit anywhere in your routine as a warm-up, a cool-down, or a stand-alone flow.

This athlete-driven flow stretches what’s tight, strengthens what’s weak, and restores balance where your body needs it most. Plus, you’ll get all the recovery benefits of yoga, with the added bonus of breath-focused core activation.

Total Gym Athletic Yoga Flow

Set-Up: Low to medium incline
Format: 1–2 rounds, moving with your breath. Aim for control, not force and let your breath guide the transitions.
Mindset: Focus on how each move feels, allowing the glideboard to assist flexibility and challenge stability.

GB = Glideboard

Warm-Up: Sun Salutation Flow

Wake up your muscles and sync breath with movement using a Total Gym-friendly Sun Salutation.

• Upward Facing Dog
• Downward Facing Dog
• Child’s Pose

(Need a visual? Check out the Sun Salutation tutorial here.)

Pose 1: Runner’s Lunge + Hamstring Rocks

Focus: Hips, hamstrings, core stability
Benefits: Opens hip flexors, lengthens hamstrings, activates deep core for stride power
Why It Levels You Up: Improves running mechanics and lower-body mobility while testing balance and mental grit.

On the Total Gym:

• Face the vertical column in a runner’s lunge stance (one foot on the floor, the other lengthened on the glideboard.)
• Rock into the runners lunge stretch, hitting different trigger points that may be tight.
• Exhale and gently rock hips back to stretch the hamstring, then flow forward to hit tight trigger points.
• Move slowly between positions for 6–8 controlled reps per side.

Pose 2: Forearm Plank Saws + Child’s Pose Reset

Focus: Shoulders, core, spinal decompression
Benefits: Builds rock-solid shoulders and abs while releasing tension through the back.
Why It Levels You Up: Combines high-tension core strength with calming recovery in one seamless sequence.

On the Total Gym:

• Start in forearm plank facing the vertical column.
• Open and close the GB in a saw-like motion while maintaining the plank stability 8–10 reps.
• Then, sit hips back into Child’s Pose, reaching arms forward and to the sides to release lower back tension.

Pose 3: Bridge + Roll-Up Twist

Focus: Glutes, hamstrings, lats, spinal mobility
Benefits: Strengthens posterior chain, opens chest and hip flexors, enhances posture and breathing mechanics.
Why It Levels You Up: Fires up glutes and core while mobilizing the spine for rotational sports.

On the Total Gym:

• Lie supine on the glideboard, head at top, feet flat.
• Press through heels to lift hips into a bridge, pause, then roll the spine down.
• Roll up to seated, rotate to each side, then return to supine with control.
• Repeat for 10 slow reps.

Pose 4: Boat Pose (Navasana)

Focus: Core activation, hip flexor strength
Benefits: Strengthens deep abdominals, improves balance, sharpens focus, supports spinal alignment.
Why It Levels You Up: Builds powerhouse abs while challenging concentration and breath control.

On the Total Gym:

• Sit tall on the glideboard facing away from the tower, knees bent, feet flat.
• Hands can support behind knees or reach toward feet.
• Roll up into a V-sit and lift feet to balance on sit bones.
• To advance: extend legs straight and reach arms forward.
• Hold for 20–30 seconds, breathing steadily.

Cool-Down Flow

Reset and restore with a static sequence to lengthen muscles and calm the nervous system:

• Forward Fold + Rotation
• Pigeon Pose
• Child’s Pose
  Repeat on opposite side.

The Takeaway

Total Gym athletic yoga blends strength, mobility, and mindfulness into one powerful package, helping you perform at your best. Train with intention, breathe with purpose, and let every movement remind you that flexibility isn’t just physical — it’s a mindset.

Stay fluid. Stay strong. Stay in the game.

Maria

@GROOVYSWEAT  

Let’s Connect on Social Media