Coach Spotlight – Caitlin Tvrdik
Meet Caitlin Tvrdik, coach of the new SISU Power Yoga class!
About Caitlin
My husband and I live in Minnetonka with our three dogs. During the summer, I love running and open water swimming with our lab Moose. In the fall, Moose and my husband are out hunting almost every day. We love cooking healthy meals with wild game. It’s pretty awesome to know exactly where your meat comes from, and what it has been eating out in nature. You can also catch me paddleboarding, hitting up the farmer’s market or drinking wine at one of the local wineries.
I’ve been doing Crossfit with SISU in some capacity for over 4 years. It’s crazy to think back to my first few WODs and how far I’ve come! I never thought I’d get those darn kipping pull-ups, and now they are one of my favorite movements!
Finding Yoga
I’m pretty sure I did my very first yoga practice when I was about 12 years old in the basement with my mom, following along with a Rodney Yee video! In all seriousness though, yoga has been a regular part of my physical and mental wellness routine for about 10 years.
The benefits that yoga has had on my crossfit performance are almost hard to count. It has helped me to control my breath, increased mobility (hello, overhead squats!), and improve my body awareness (from spinal alignment to foot placement). In terms of my overall health, yoga has helped me to stay injury free and allowed me to embrace active recovery. I used to hate taking days off because doing nothing didn’t feel good. Now I can allow my body to recover by taking a day to just focus on yoga and still feel like I’m getting a great workout in, with lots of sweat involved.
Becoming a Yoga Instructor
Although I love my full time job as a marketer, I also feel called to help people be well. From recommending essential oils to friends to cooking healthy meals to share, helping others find holistic wellness and balance is really fulfilling for me. I had been considering getting my yoga instructor certification for years and finally pulled the trigger. I didn’t know exactly what I’d do once certified, but I was confident that it would allow me to bring wellness to more people!
I did my training at Minnesota Power Yoga in Uptown, a Baptiste style studio known for excellent training focused on the body’s anatomy rather than a textbook approach. The process of earning my 200 hour certification was WAY more intense than I dreamt it would be and SO awesome. I learned the foundation for any vinyasa flow, how to give hands-on assists (I like to give lots of those in my classes), and all of the foundational details of hundreds of poses.
Why Crossfitters Should Do Yoga
There are so many reasons why yoga is great for crossfitters! If I had to pick just one benefit it would be body awareness. Once you become more aware of your core, your spine, your foot placement, and all of the little details that make up a CrossFit movement such as an overhead squat, your performance will improve and you will feel better while executing the movement.
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Join Caitlin at Power Yoga at Excelsior on Saturdays at 8:15am and find out for yourself how yoga can enhance body awareness, prevent injuries, improve flexibilty, and boost overall performance!