Fitness Swellness: Nike’s new yoga workouts on the NTC app

August 4, 2017

Last weekend, Nike partnered with Sport Chek to bring the Brahaus pop-up to Yorkdale Mall in Toronto. I had a chance to learn about the new bras in the collection and learned that while the sport bras are divided into low-, medium- and high-impact categories (with sports slotted into each one — Pilates would be under light impact and running under high impact), your personal preference and the comfort and support you feel should be what ultimately determines the sport bra you wear. For example, if a medium or even light impact bra feels supportive enough for you for running, you can go ahead and rock that one. Besides actual construction and design elements of the sport bras, the level of elasticity of the fabric content also varies.

To more about the new Nike sports bras, check out my post over at iRun; this is the Nike Pro Indy Logo bra I have on here.

Besides learning about the new bras and the other fun they had planned for the Brahaus, I also sat down with Master Trainer Eva Redpath to talk about my marathon training. To complement my training for Chicago, she recommended I take advantage of the new expanded yoga offering on the NTC app. There are currently nine yoga workouts (Nike consulted with both yogis and three Nike Master Trainers) with more to come and they range from ones that focus on mobility (concentrating on recharging the body), endurance (where the focus is strength and holding poses for a long time, and flows that will build heat and make you sweat) and restorative.

Eva knows I have no problem getting my miles in but that I slack on the restorative part of my training. She recommended two of the yoga workouts for me on my non-run days: Deep Restorative Yoga and Ultimate Strength Yoga (which was created by Traci Copeland, a runner herself). Like the other NTC workouts, you get a preview of each movement, and the app is designed so that you can follow along like you would with a yoga teacher in a class by having them lead you through without a visual.

One of Eva’s aspects of the yoga workouts is the diaphragmatic breathing (there is at least two minutes of breathing at the beginning of each workout), to help you tap into your central nervous system’s fight or flight response and help manage that; she noted that anxiety could happen mid-race and deep breaths can help me get that response under control.

This training season, I’ve upped the frequency of my training, so I’m finding timing pretty limited in my schedule but I hope to incorporate at least one yoga workout a week, so I’m looking forward to trying out these new NTC yoga workouts. Given my limited time in my schedule, I do appreciate the ease of working out at home, with zero commute-to-a-yoga-studio time , and I’ve always found the NTC app to be super well designed and motivating so will soon  namaste with Nike.

How ’bout you? How’s your training going?

 

 

 

Filed under: Fitness Swellness

Tags: cross training, Eva Redpath, marathon, marathon training, Nike, Nike Brahaus, Nike Master Trainer, Nike Training Club, Nike Women, NTC, sport chek, sports bra, yoga