A Hot Workout for a Player

After a four-year NFL career, Sean Conley was forced to give up professional football due to a series of injuries. Now, as a former NFL player, he is not working out in the same way he once did. In a recent interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sean reflects that “I spent my whole life building strength, muscle and speed.” But since his retirement from the NFL, Sean has shifted his focus to a different type of workout. These days, you will find him sweating it out in a yoga class – often in the company of his NFL friends.

Sean and Karen Conley, owners of Amazing Yoga in Pittsburgh, are regular teachers at the Pittsburgh Steelers training center. Players from the Steelers are being offered regular yoga classes as part of their in-season training. As a skilled instructor who recognizes the benefits of a regular practice due to his own football injuries, Sean is able to encourage other football players to explore this new avenue of exercise.

Given the nature and goals of his football player students, Sean has specifically designed a program that is both therapeutic and athletic. The program he provides has been well received and supported by Garrett Giemont, the head strength and conditioning coach for the Steelers. “This is something that will always be used in my program,” Giemont says. “It helps the players with balance, pro-receptive strength and flexibility. It’s also a mind break.”

Although it may not be every player’s choice of exercise, Sean and Karen have seen an ongoing interest and growing participation in their yoga sessions. As Sean points out, “We live in such a driven, competitive world that yoga can be a nice complement to all athletic endeavors.”

If you found this blog interesting, you may be interested in reading about yoga for basketball players, or how golfers practice yoga to improve their game.

For a full article read on Sean and Karen’s Amazing Yoga, go to the Post Gazette.

[tags]yoga for athletes, football and yoga, Sean Conley, Amazing Yoga, Steelers do Yoga, yoga for healing injuries[/tags]