Terry Porter is already making his mark on the men’s basketball program, but not in the way you might think.
While hot yoga is usually reserved for the Lululemon models of Instagram, part of Porter's plan for the Pilots men's basketball team now includes participating in the popular exercise.
For those who don’t know, hot yoga refers to performing yoga exercises under hot and humid conditions. Regular yoga is tough enough to begin with, but for a basketball team with many players who are taller than average, it can be extra difficult.
The whole team, including those players who are nearly 7 feet tall, attend the classes.
Many of the players have been taking to Snapchat to document their experiences at hot yoga.
Junior guard D’Marques Tyson highlighted the difficulties of the new workout, saying, “Hot yoga is no joke,” on his Snapchat story.
Senior guard Alec Wintering said it was coach Porter’s decision to start attending hot yoga classes and that everyone, not just the players, who is a part of the organization has attended a class.
At least once a week the entire UP basketball organization endures the hot and humid conditions of hot yoga at the “Firelight Yoga PDX” studio on North Killingsworth St. in Portland.
Luckily for the Pilots, they’re getting an inside look into the way players in the NBA stay in shape.
“It had been something that coach Porter had done in the pros and there are a lot of benefits to doing it,” Wintering said. “It’s also a good bonding experience.”
Hot yoga helps with flexibility, building a stronger core, conditioning and building mental toughness. It isn’t an easy workout, but the players trust the knowledge of Porter and know that the work they are putting in now will benefit them when the season rolls around.
The Pilots surely aren’t the prototypical yoga-goers, and they probably won’t be featured on any Lululemon pages anytime soon, but they are putting in some hard work that they hope pays off when the season is in full swing.
