Meditation, yoga key to Shane Watson fitness

Omnisports

May 8, 2016 7:27 AM

After ending an international career blighted by injuries last March, Shane Watson thinks undertaking yoga would have made a difference.

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Former Australia international Shane Watson believes meditation and yoga are responsible for overcoming his previous injury troubles.

The all-rounder called time on an international career blighted by a series of physical problems following the World Twenty20 in India in March.

However, the 34-year-old, now playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, thinks he has finally found the solution to remaining injury free.

"If I was helping someone coming through who has similar issues to me, there are two things I would definitely recommend," Watson told cricket.com.au.

"The first is the mediation side of things – just have a bit of chill out time, because life and cricket is all very busy and you just need time for your body and mind to relax a bit. But the most important thing is yoga.

"For quite a while a lot of people were saying you shouldn't stretch, you shouldn't be over-flexible, so I hardly stretched. But now I've been doing yoga and it's just changed things totally.

"I would have got a different result if I had have done yoga throughout my career, there's no doubt.

"It's only half an hour a day before training, before playing. It's pretty simple and I think that might have made a big difference."

Watson discussed the various methods he underwent in a bid to maintain peak fitness while representing Australia.

"For a lot of the time throughout my career I was pretty desperate to be able to say fit, so I was willing to try anything legally to get fit and stay fit," he continued.

"For a period of time I used to go to sleep with a specific machine that had sensors that were attached around my legs, around my ankles.

"It was more about regeneration, sending through a mild electric current that you couldn't feel but it was a way to regenerate your muscles and your body while you were sleeping. I did that for a couple of years.

"I got into the Ayurveda side of things, understanding Ayurveda medicine which is based on ancient Indian medicine. I travelled with an altitude machine for a bit to be able to train at altitude.

"The other thing I tried for quite a while was dry needling. I was getting that done five times a week and I did it for about 12-18 months."

Omnisports