There is a man in Newell Boathouse that is sought after when muscle strains, fatigued quads, and tight calves arise. His name is Anderson and he recently started to frequent the women’s crew headquarters, Weld. One interesting method the team learned yesterday to nurture overused and strained muscles related to rowing was called, tennis ball yoga.

Anderson is legendary for his 40+ day all-juice diets, or his philosophies on the wonders of wheatgrass. At the beginning of the week, he had the heavyweights doing an alternative form of stadiums that involved pigeon toes ascending and leg drops descending when scaling each section. So hearing this useful stretching technique from this wellness guru did not come as a surprise.

Tennis ball yoga is great for any athlete. Equipment is very minimal, just you and a tennis ball. The idea is to place the tennis ball underneath your body, either under your back or your legs and roll until you find a spot of tension. Leave the tennis ball in that area and breathe deeply to amplify the pressure. Some spots to target include the connection between your upper hamstring and lower butt, just above your hip flexor, under your Achilles and then upward up your calf.

It seems simple, but doing a little bit of tennis yoga each day can ensure that athletes have a long career and do not succumb to muscle tightness and strain.