Yoga Fuel for Runners: Unleashing the 3 Best Poses to Enhance Your Performance

There are many yoga poses that runners can practice that help stretch and strengthen different muscles and parts of the body. They also help to improve tired muscles or soreness that people face from prolonged sessions. Runners can try the following poses with repetitions to see more benefits:

1. Downward Dog

How to:

• Lay out a floor mat for this exercise.
• Stand straight on a ledge and raise both arms.
• Pull up and forward keeping the knees straight.
• Bend down, touching the mat without bending the knees.
• Tilt your head in to look back.
• Press the heels down into the floor which helps improve the stretch.
• Number of repetitions: This can be done four to five times holding the pose for at least 30 seconds.
• How it helps: Runners who usually face leg or knee problems need to try yogic poses that will help stretch and lengthen the quads, hips, calves as well as hamstrings. It also helps to open the arms and stretch the upper back. Repeated backward and forward swings are helpful.

2. Upward Facing Dog

How to:

• Use a floor mat for this exercise.
• Lie down in a plank position with arms forward on either side.
• Push up from a plank position, supporting the upper body with your hands.
• Roll the toes and arch to the chest in a back bend.
• Number of repetitions: The exercise can be performed three to four times with a pause of at least 30 seconds.
• How it benefits: This exercise helps strengthen the upper body including the core and arms. Along with this upper body exercise, it can help strengthen the back as well as the core. Back stretching also helps to strengthen and stretch the back muscles.

3. Bridge Pose

How to:

• Begin by lying flat on the floor mat.
• Bend the legs and keep the hands on both sides.
• Keep hands at sides and lift hips off floor.
• Raise the core and hold in position.
• Return to the resting position by lowering the hips.
• Number of repetitions: Hold the pose for 30 seconds and repeat 10 times.
• How it benefits: Exercise offers many benefits. For instance, it helps to open the muscles of the shoulders and the front of the body. It also focuses on the core. It helps counteract poses where we tend to lean forward. By lifting the hips to the sky, one engages the core and also works the pelvic floor.