Ready? Set. Pose! Yoga for Runners
Perfect Your Running Technique with Yoga
Whether you are a sprinter, a long distance runner or your everyday jogger, stretching the muscles in your body is essential. Yoga gives you the chance to get more from your running. It can serve as a warm-up to prime your muscles for more strenuous activities. Yoga is so dynamic that you can target your legs, thighs and even arms to get them into top-notch conditions. You can restore or create a balance in your movements and take your strides to the next level. Yoga for runners retrains the body to perform at overall maximum efficiency.
Yoga creates equilibrium and complements running perfectly. It syncs the mind and body to create complete awareness, and it focuses and improves your breathing. And we all know that to have endurance while running, we have to control our breathing.
Here are some great yoga poses that every runner needs to incorporate in order to ensure maximum performance when running:
Upward Dog- The upper body is often neglected by runners but it also needs strength training as well. According to Kimberly Fowler of L.A Marathon, weak upper bodies may hurt performance.
Low Lunge/Lizard- This position gets your whole body engaged and helps you to maintain balance and breathing which is extremely important to perform like that champion that you are.
Tree- Yes, leg fitness is vital to running. The Tree position allows you to strengthen your legs and improve your balance. this means you can almost forget about twisting your ankle or having to stop due to pain or cramps.
Downward Dog- If it goes up, it must come down. This pose not only lengthens but strengthens your hamstrings, calves and hips but it opens the upper back and arms. This helps you to scare away injuries of the shin, foot and knee.
Of course, there are much more useful yoga poses, that will take your athleticism beyond what you expected.
Three main benefits of Yoga for Runners:
Helps to prevent injuries
Makes you run smarter with more control
Strengthens and improves your flexibility and breathing
Being in form is an advantage. Yoga gives you that competitive edge. It's time to feel better running. Ready? Set. Pose!