NFL Player Practices Pilates and Yoga
Seattle Seahawks fullback Mack Strong credits Pilates and yoga with keeping him in great shape and extending his professional career. “I just felt myself being just a little more stiff. Not as fluid,” Strong told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “Years and years of pounding, your body gets stiff. . . . When I started doing [yoga] 3 years ago, it was the best I’ve felt.” Last off-season the fullback also began taking Pilates classes once a week with his wife. He is in his 13th season with the National Football League.
Strong told the Seattle Times that the Pilates and yoga exercises have kept him flexible and in good cardiovascular health. They combat the soreness and stiffness he has felt from years of blocking and grunt work.
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
