Yoga over gym

Yoga has now found its way to the domain of cricket too. Chris Gale, now into his fifth world cup has kept himself away from the gym for the last two months and has now taken up extensive yoga and massage sessions as his way of staying fit. Gayle, now in his 39, has found with his experience that one needs to find one’s own method of staying fit customized to one’s physical needs, peculiarities and engagements. He explains that what might work for a person like Virat Kohli may not fork for another person in cricket.

Gayle realized that he needed more rest in between the matches for higher functioning and intense gym might take away this rest. Moreover, cricket being not just a physical game, but also a mental game, one needs to keep focus and should stay mentally fresh and active. At the same time, this shouldn’t be at the cost of physical fitness which is essential for the game. The only solution that met his needs was yoga which reduces his mental stress, gives him exercise, makes him more flexible and at the same time, give him enough of physical; and mental rest.

He agrees that age does catch up but at the same time, believes that if you actually think you can do it, the body will react accordingly. In his own words, he is just taking a lot of rest, getting a lot of massage, lots of stretching, just trying to stay fresh for games.