This week we take a moment to review the eBook “WOD Recovery Yoga: A Functional Fitness Athlete’s Guide” by author Stephanie Ring.
Item: WOD Recovery Yoga: A Functional Fitness Athlete’s Guide
Price: $24.99 USD
Author: Stephanie Ring
Page Count: 85
Purchase: EndureYoga
The relationship between yoga and CrossFit is one that has been growing steadily over the past few years. In recent times we have seen a growing number of functional fitness coaches and trainers use yoga in their warm ups and cool downs, and many CrossFit gyms even running yoga classes as part of their weekly schedule.
There is no denying there is a blossoming relationship between CrossFit and Yoga, with both ‘sports’ complimenting each other in many ways.
For many functional fitness athletes, mixing yoga into their daily routine is a great way to increase flexibilty and strength, as well as improving overall recovery. In addition, with all the high intensity workouts, yoga is a great way to allow individuals to balance out thier ‘ying’ and ‘yang’.
So when I first heard about the eBook, “WOD Recovery Yoga” by Stephanie Ring I was naturally interested. A book aimed at teaching CrossFit athletes how to use yoga to improve their performance and recovery? Sounded perfect for me!
According to the eBook’s website, WOD Recovery Yoga:
“Provides Functional Fitness Athlete’s the ability to take their recovery into their own hands. With 70 yoga postures, all of which are accessible to athletes of any age and fitness level, athletes now have a set of stretches useful for their post WOD recovery.
There are a few ways Functional Fitness Athletes can use this downloadable pdf. First, each page contains a list of functional fitness movements that each yoga posture can help you recover from. Second, in the table of contents there is a section where the poses are organized by muscle group so if you find one area of the body is sore or tight from a previous workout, you can choose some of the stretches related to that area of the body. Lastly, there is a list of the top 20 most common functional fitness movements with 5-6 yoga postures you can use as recovery.
Stretching post WOD is something we as athletes take for granted. Take the guess work out of your recovery with these simple stretches, while relieving soreness and improving mobility.“
So in simple terms, if you are about to complete a workout involving deadlifts, box jumps and pull-ups, WOD Recovery Yoga will tell you what yoga poses to do to prepare for the workout, and what to do to recover from it.
After reading the WOD Recovery Yoga, I decided to put it to the test and implement some of the yoga poses into my daily CrossFit routine. Here’s what I thought of the eBook and whether I think it’s a worthwhile purchase.
The Good
It Works: I’ve always had fairly good flexibility and range of motion, which is part of the reason i’ve never thought to implement yoga into my fitness regime. However, after following some of the poses recommended by Ring, I started to notice a slight difference in my recovery. To be brutally honest, I’m a lazy athlete, and i’ve been known to skip cool-downs to be able to rush home to eat food. So it’s fair to say i’ve never been one to have a solid ‘stretching programme’ as part of my training.
However, I particularly noticed a reduction in DOMS in my lower back, hamstrings and glutes after following the WOD Recovery Yoga plan for a few weeks. I also started to notice a slight improvement in my range of motion, especially in my shoulders and ankles.
Easy to Follow: Prior to reading WOD Recovery Yoga I was expecting to be confused by the book and slightly frustrated with my poor yoga ability while trying to perform the moves. However, it was actually quite easy to read and the instructions were simple and easy to follow. Ring has certainly done well in explaining how to perform yoga moves to beginners like me.
Pictures: A picture tells a thousand words…. pictures also make it damn easy to follow yoga poses! Just like Kelly Starrett did in his movement book, “Becoming a Supple Leopard”, Ring has made effective use of pictures to demonstrate some easy and complete yoga poses. Without the images, i’m not too sure how well i’d go performing any of them.
Simple Movements: As mentioned earlier, the movements in WOD Recovery Yoga are detailed in a very simple and effective way, making them easy to perform (depending on our range of motion). Ring has written the eBook in a way that even yoga beginners, like myself, are able to perform the movements without too many complications.
Scaled Options: WOD Recovery Yoga also offers a number of scaled options for the poses. Ring has included “level down’ and “level up’ varieties for most of the poses, so if you’re struggling to perform a particular move, you can perform an ‘easier’ pose. On the flipside, those who are quite comfortable in a certain position are able to perform a ‘harder’ version of it as well.
Targeted at CrossFitters: It’s clear Ring is targeting WOD Recovery Yoga to CrossFitters. I mean, the title includes the terms ‘WOD’ and ‘functional fitness’. Unlike many other yoga books on the market, this one specifically shows you how to incorporate yoga into your CrossFit training, and how to improve your performance in your box by using yoga. It also makes it easier to put into perspective for those, like myself, who don’t have a great amount of ‘yoga knowledge’.
The Bad
No Hard Copy: Unfortunately WOD Recovery Yoga is only available as an eBook and has to be downloaded as a PDF, which is a let down for the old school book enthusiasts out there. It also makes harder to access at the gym or during training as you’d need a computer, smartphone or table to be able to read it. Hopefully we’ll see a hard copy released in the near future.
Price: WOD Recovery Yoga sells for $24.99 USD which is a decent price for the knowledge and information provided in the book, however, compared to some other eBooks on the market it’s one of the more expensive ones. I’d happily pay $24.99 USD for a hard copy of the book, but for an eBook I feel the price is a little high. That being said, the content is quality, so I really shouldn’t complain, and it’s still a hell of lot cheaper than the $59.99 price tag for Kelly Starrett’s Becoming a Supple Leopard.
No Website: I’ve always been a big fan of website content accompanying books like WOD Recovery Yoga. Unfortunately, at the time this review was published there was no website for readers to go to for extra information, yoga tips etc. Personally, when i’m learning a new skill or movement, I like to refer to videos to master them. While WOD Recovery Yoga does as well as a book can in teaching a skill through pictures and text, I still think it would be great to see the book expanded to include some online videos for readers to refer to.
Conclusion
Before reading WOD Recovery Yoga I considered myself a complete yoga beginners who knew very little about the spiritual practice. However, after reading the eBook, I feel i’ve developed a solid understanding of the discipline and how to perform many of it’s poses.
That being said, I didn’t read to book to become good at yoga, I read it to be able to successfully implement yoga into my functional fitness training to improve my performance and recovery. And did I achieve that? Yes. I think I can honestly say I did.
Using WOD Recovery Yoga I’ve been able to notice a slight improvement in my range of motion and a reduction in DOMS and post workout soreness. I’ve also become more confident leading into workouts knowing i’ve warmed up the muscles i’ll be targeting during the WOD.
While I do feel the price is slightly hight for an eBook, I think the content is good enough to justify the price. Ring does a great job of simplifying the many yoga poses and explains them through great use of images and text.
If you’re a functional fitness athlete looking to implement yoga into your training regime, i’d strongly recommend starting with WOD Recovery Yoga.
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