Yoga For Runners

Have you ever wondered about yoga for runners and whether it is something that could help to up your running game? Does the flexibility and balance offered by this kind of exercise make you a better and stronger runner?

Yoga is a great idea for runners, and it helps out in a multitude of ways. It keeps your muscles loose and flexible, it improves your breathing, and it makes a perfect start and finish to a run. There are many poses that will specifically strengthen the muscles used in running, and give you a better experience when you run.

Beginner’s Yoga For Runners

You can start out very slowly with yoga, so even if you’re a complete beginner, you’ll benefit from some simple and easy stretches and poses that will help to mitigate post-run soreness.

You don’t need to be doing complex yoga to feel better, so consider signing up to a beginner’s yoga class, or try some of the below suggestions:

• Child’s pose, which is great for opening up the lower back.
• Thread the needle, which is good for opening up the chest and stretching out the back muscles.
• Downward facing dog.
• Low lunges.
• Ragdoll, which is good for tight hamstrings.

Just doing a few of these before and after you run, and practicing some deep breathing, can make all the difference to your workout. You don’t have to add hours to your routine; although yoga does need a bit of time to be really effective, just a short stretch can still help.

Morning Yoga For Runners

You might prefer to do yoga when you first wake up (or as well as a pre- or post-run workout). Many people find this starts their day on a good note and makes them feel great. It also means if you don’t have a lot of time for running, you aren’t losing out on it by trying to fit in yoga as well.

Which poses you choose to do in the morning will depend a bit on your personal preferences, but some good ones include:

• Neck circles, which help to improve your posture and are therefore really good to do at the start of the day.
• Shoulder circles, which help you to remember to drop your shoulders, instead of holding them tight.
• Hip circles, which are particularly good if you sit a lot when not running; both sitting and running stress the hips, so it’s good to stretch them.
• Squats, which help to improve ankle strength and mobility. Because many runners injure their ankles, this is a great one to include in your daily workout.

Strength Yoga For Runners

If you’re specifically interested in building up your strength, you can still use yoga to complement your running routine. If anyone has ever told you that yoga is always easy, they aren’t telling the truth! There are plenty of challenging yoga poses that will tone your muscles and make you stronger.

You might be wondering whether yoga is “enough” to build up your strength, but there’s no easy answer to that question, because it very heavily depends on your goals. If you want to break world records for the strongest person, yoga probably won’t be enough.

However, you can definitely use yoga to supplement your routine. It lets you learn to lift and hold your own body weight in a variety of challenging poses. If you want to go further, you’d have to look at weight training, because you can’t really increase the yoga difficulty much once you are at ease with your weight.

To build strength, look into rocket yoga and power yoga. You can also try poses that need to be held for longer periods of time to increase your endurance without causing impact damage. You don’t have to be moving fast to be gaining strength, so if you find the quick-paced classes too much or you have surpassed them, try slowing down.

You might find that it’s a lot harder to hold a pose for thirty seconds or a minute than you expected it would be. Combine this with other techniques, and you’ll soon find your strength increasing.

Yoga For Runners Post-Run

Yoga is a great way to cool down after a run. It gives a chance for your muscles to relax in a much gentler way, and will help you to stretch out tightness and soreness. This makes it easier to go for a run the next day, and the day after that. More yoga = more running.

If you’ve ever run without a cool down period afterward, you’re likely to know why this isn’t a good idea, so try using yoga for your cool down and see what you think. You should find that your muscles and joints feel less sore the following day!

Yoga Poses For Runners To Try

We have already covered a few poses, but we’ll go over a few more that should help to make your running experience better. You may find that you need to ease into some of these slowly if you are just getting into yoga, but they all target key running muscles and sore points.

• Reverse warrior, which stretches many of the major muscles in your legs and your sides and upper body as well.
• Bow pose, which increases the flexibility of your back, strengthens the glutes, and loosens the shoulders, reducing tension there.
• Pigeon, which is good for reducing sciatica and stretching out your hips.
• Single leg forward bend, which targets the hamstrings. These are usually particularly tight for runners, so you may find this pose takes some work, but it should provide a lot of relief if you do it regularly.

Conclusion

Yoga is a perfect complementary exercise for running. It can reduce soreness, increase flexibility and balance, and make it easier to run more often without a greater risk of injury. If you’re thinking about taking up running or you’re considering yoga as a companion exercise, go for it!

These two are perfect for each other, and there are many more stretches and poses you can use to maximize the benefits you glean.