Book: Hit Reset: Revolutionary Yoga for Athletes
Author: Erin Taylor
Release Date: May 1, 2016
Purchase: Amazon ($14.74 as of this posting)
“You’re reading a book on yoga?” my wife asked, surprised.
I am not particularly flexible, and while I’ve made some earlier attempts at trying yoga as a supplement to running, I’ve never managed to stick with, other than occasional downward-facing dog poses. To some extent, I may have been intimidated by the dizzying variety of types of yoga, the difficult looking poses, and the question of applicability to improving my running. I know there have been books on yoga for runners (here or here) but my level of comprehension of yoga was so low that even those books didn’t resonate with me.
I was eager to see if Hit Reset would yield a different result. It’s an oversize paperback with robust (i.e., non-flimsy) pages. What jumped out at me at first was that it was written in a very conversational, fun – and hence, readable – tone. What jumped out next was that there weren’t an overwhelming number of poses depicted in the book. Rather, each chapter focuses on a particular issue or body area, such as balance, core, knees, or shoulders. Within the chapter, there is typically identification of problems, followed by solutions. There are plenty of illustrative pictures, and the models in the pictures are not the kind of super-flexible yogamasters who go on America’s Got Talent and twist themselves into human pretzels (which is impressive but intimidating). Rather, they are elite athletes like Lauren Fleshman, among others. That’s a nice touch, because it shows that the yoga depicted in this book is aimed at athletes, including pro runners.
I’m still working my way through the book, but that is my failing, not the book’s. I feel like I missed an opportunity on a recent trip down to California by not bringing this book with me when I had plenty of time to use the hotel gym (or even hotel room) to work on some of the exercises. (In addition to, not instead of, running.)
