Redknapp praises yoga and pilates for footballer fitness

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp extolled the virtues of yoga and pilates, two new forms of exercise he has introduced to White Hart Lane to improve his players' fitness levels. "It's fantastic. We have been getting in to doing the yoga and I think pilates is just an amazing thing," the veteran boss said on Wednesday. Redknapp has employed a yoga guru brought to the club by 40-year-old Brad Friedel after his summer move from Aston Villa. "If it's good enough for Brad with the shape he's in at 40, then it's good enough for the rest of us. "It's brilliant. It makes the players more supple. "Ryan Giggs is in to it, big time. It certainly has kept him in good shape. "I joined in last week with all the coaches. I couldn't walk for two days but other than that it was good." Spurs defender Danny Rose is also a fan, declaring: "I'd take yoga and pilates over running up and down hills any day." Ironically Redknapp is facing an injury crisis ahead of Thursday's Europa League tie with Russian side Rubin Kazan. Sebastien Bassong and Younes Kaboul are his only two fit centre-halves after Ledley King joined Michael Dawson, William Gallas and Vedran Corluka on the club's injury list after going off with a groin tear in Sunday's 2-2 draw at Newcastle. "Central defence is a big problem for us," Redknapp said. "We are really down to two central defenders. "The problem is that we have no one who will be back fit at the weekend so if one of them gets a knock on Thursday, we will be bang in trouble for Sunday's game against Blackburn." Although the scenario is not ideal ahead of two games in four days, Redknapp would have been in even more trouble had King's injury been as bad as first feared. "Ledley has had a scan. He has a slight tear in his abductor. It's not too bad," Redknapp said. "It's only a grade one tear, which is not so bad, so it shouldn't be too long." Redknapp is likely to rest the majority of the team that drew against Newcastle, with Rose, Andros Townsend, Tom Carroll, Giovani dos Santos and Roman Pavlyuchenko likely to get be drafted in while the likes of Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Scott Parker are rested ahead of this weekend's trip to Blackburn Rovers.