How Yoga Makes You A Better Runner

Runner’s World magazine reports that practicing Yoga is an effective way to ease pain and relieve stress. According to the online magazine, which specializes in running tips, the helps to make your running time better. How?

Well, Yoga builds up your body’s flexibility, as well as strength. These improvements can be found in your core, quads, hamstrings and hip flexors. Better flexibility means a decrease in chance of running injuries. And, increased strength means gaining the physical ability to run longer, farther and faster over time. This all leads to becoming a better runner.

10 Yoga Poses to Improve Your Running Time

1.    Downward/Upward Facing Dog Pose – Use the Downward pose to give your calves and hamstrings a good stretch. The Upward pose helps with stretching the front side of your entire body, and opening up your hip flexors, chest and shoulders.

2.    Twisting Chair Pose – Build up the power in your legs, arms, core and glutes with this pose.

3.    Head-to-Knee Pose – When you need to stretch out the backs of your legs, this pose is for you. It helps to release

all of the tension and tightness in those areas, while also releasing pressure from your entire body.

4.    Figure 4 Pose (Sucirandhrasana) – Practicing this Yoga pose will help you release tightness and tension throughout the outsides of your hips and insides of your thighs.

5.    Reclined Wide Angle Pose – With this pose, your hip muscles and hamstrings get and intense stretch, simultaneously. This releases helps to relieve physical stress in those areas, without putting physical stress on your back’s lower area, like many similar exercises.

6.    Low/Lunge Lizard Pose – This Yoga pose helps your get a good stretch in your legs, including both the front and back areas. Lunges are also effective for giving your core more strength, while opening your hips up. It’s even more effective when you do it on your elbow.

7.    Half Lord of the Fishes Twist Pose – For a good stretch of the IT band, neck, hips and shoulders, this is the right Yoga pose for your workout routine. Just be sure to begin your twists in your stomach area, not your neck.

8.    Reclining Pigeon Pose – With this pose, your glutes and hamstrings are stretched out thoroughly.

9.    Sugarcane in the Half Moonlight Pose – Get into this Yoga pose to get those quadriceps, hamstrings and the flexors in the hips stretched out and opened up.