Before I get into the nitty-gritty of this post, I want to do a shout out to my mom. Today is her birthday! She’s pretty awesome, and is a yoga teacher, too! I’ll be heading home in two weeks to celebrate with her.
Thanks to Mar on the Run, Eat Pray Run DC, and You Signed Up for What?! for hosting the Friday Five Linkup. This week I’ll be talking about five yoga postures that are great for runners.
Reclined Pigeon Pose
Start on your back with the knees up and the cross the right ankle on to the left knee. Go ahead and lift that left foot off the ground and hug around the left thigh. Keep both feet flexed to protect your knees and ankles. This is a great stretch for the outer hip, glutes, hip flexor… pretty much everything in the hip region. If it hurts your knee, back out a little. Switch sides when you’re done.
If you want to go deeper, come down on to your hands and knees or downward facing dog. Draw the right shin forward and place it on to the ground. Eventually (with lots and lots of yoga), your right shin will be parallel with the front of your yoga mat. Draw your left leg back a little until the entire left leg is on the ground. Make sure the ankle comes out straight from your leg. Now, bring your attention to your hips. Draw your right hip back and left hip forward and make sure that you are not flopped off to one side. Come down to your forearms or lengthen the arms long. Be sure to do both sides.
Low Lunge
Come on to your hands and knees. Step your right foot forward between your hands and bring your left knee back maybe two inches. Make sure that your front ankle is not behind your front knee, so that your knee is stacked over the ankle joint. Now, you can lean a little dropping your pelvis towards the front heel (it wont go far, I promise), or lift up and out from your hip bones so that your hips are drawing away from the front leg (this is the more proper way to do the poster). Hang here for a few breaths with your hands on the ground or on blocks. Low lunge will really open the front part of your hips, quads, and the outer hips. It should feel really good, so if it doesn’t, back out a little.
If you want to go deeper, tuck the back toes under and lift the back knee up. Feel as if the power from your back leg is coming from your hamstring muscle lifting towards the ceiling.
Hamstring Stretch
This posture is a simple stretch and is super great to do right after a run. Come back into low lunge (posture before this one). Come back half way until the front leg is straight and your hips are stacked above your back knee. Flex the front foot. Place your hands onto books, blocks, or the floor and begin to draw your chest forward. Try to keep your back long, so I want you to feel like you are drawing your chest towards the toes… not your head. Breath!
Bridge Pose
Alright, now that your hips are warmed up, come on to the back with the knees up and your hands by your sides with the palms down. Make sure that the feet are hip width apart. Just start by pressing your feet down into the mat as if you were standing up. The power from this posture comes from your feet! Press your hands down into the mat and draw your lower back to the floor and your belly button towards your spine. Now lift the hips up. If you want to go a little deeper, from here try to draw the shoulder blades towards each other and roll the arms under your shoulders. Press into your feet a little more and lift those hips up! Notice how much strength you have in your outer hips and glutes!
Half the Lord’s Fishes Pose (weird name, huh?)
Come to your seating bones and extend the legs out in front of you. Take your right leg over the left leg so that your knee is bent and the palm of your foot is down. Keep your left foot flexed and take your right hand behind you right up against the spine. You want your spine to be very long. If you want to go deeper, once you have the right leg over the left, bend your left knee and draw it in so your left foot is towards your right glute. Take your right hand behind you up against the spine and either hug your right knee, or bring your left elbow to the outside of the right leg. Don’t forget to breath and do both sides.
Hope you enjoyed this short little (written) yoga practice. Gaining range of motion while working on your training will only help keep you from getting injured AND it’ll make you feel good. Namaste!
What is your favorite yoga pose or stretch for runners? Feel free to give a shout out to my mom for her birthday!
She Runs the Wasatch 
Ooh, I love the variation on the pigeon pose! And the low lunge is another favorite. Thanks for sharing these, and happy birthday to your mom!
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Thanks! Pigeon pose is so great. It’s my go to post run yoga pose.
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I could live in pigeon and recline pigeon poses. Feels SO good!! I’m excited to hit up a yoga class tomorrow. Perfect active rest for my training plan. Happy Birthday to your mom and thanks for linking up with us!
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Thanks for hosting the linkup! I think I could live in pigeon too. I think yoga is the only way keep me from becoming a big ball of soreness. Haha!
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Love all of those! The hamstring one gets a little intense for me but it’s definitely a must-do!
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That is intense for me too, but I do it after almost every run. Feels so good!
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Pigeon pose keeps me running. If I skip it for too many runs, I can totally feel it. I’ll have to try the others as well.
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Pigeon keeps me running too. Before races, sometimes I’ll be just laying on the pavement doing pigeon.
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Happy Birthday to your mom! Those are all great poses! Love pigeon!
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Thanks so much! I love pigeon too!
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Love this! I try to do most of these poses after I run because they feel soooo good – especially pigeon!
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Yeah, if I don’t stretch after I run, I get really sore and tight. I always need it.
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Pigeon pose is my favorite, but I like lots of them when I need a good stretch. You have provided at great list.
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Thanks! Hope you get some use out of these stretches.
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I am not a big yoga person but I know that I should do it more often. Great stretches that would benefit us runners. I’ll Ned to try these.
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Yeah, a lot of people try yoga and don’t love it. Just doing some more passive poses (like these) after you run actually helps out a lot!
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My favorite right now is revolved triangle. I need to do a lot of stretches for my IT band, and I can feel the entire outside of my leg stretching with revolved triangle. Some days I have to ease into it and will do it again once I’m loosened up.
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Oh I know. Me too! Revolved triangle is really tough. Honestly, I should do it more often. Thanks for the reminder.
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I’m a big fan of legs up the wall. Hope your mom has a great birthday!
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Thanks! I am a fan of that posture too!
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I’ve never done yoga, but I do like the downward dog. 🙂
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You should try it! It feels really good. Down dog is a great posture, especially for us runners!
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Pigeon pose! Feels so good. I also do couch stretch which I am sure is not a yoga pose but it is sooooo good for hips.
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Pigeon is the best. I don’t know couch stretch… but it might be called something else in yoga. I’ll have to look that up.
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Thanks for the yoga reminder! I surprised myself by knowing all of the poses and practicing them; although not often enough.
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Thanks for stopping by! I need to practice these postures more, too! Sometimes I skip my stretches after a run and I definitely feel it later.
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I love pigeon, almost any kind of twist, and I’ve recently really gotten into cow face — another weird name! some of the names I just don’t get.
How awesome is it that you both teach yoga? My mom’s never done it in her life!
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Cow facing pose is a tough hip opener. I usually have to remind myself to practice it since it is such a deep stretch. Twists are probably my favorite class of postures, they feel so amazing!
My mom is actually the one who got me into yoga (I was a kid when she got me to try it). She has been a yogi for as long as I remember.
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YESSSS YESSSS YESSSS! To every single one of these. GREAT poses, thank you for the reminder. Going to get on my yoga mat tonight and do them 🙂 Have a great weekend!
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Thanks! I hope you had a great practice and a great weekend! 😉
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Great poses! I always do a forward fold and reclined pigeon after running to stretch out my back. Also savasana with a bolster down my spine. So yummy. Happy birthday to your mom! 🙂
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Try legs up the wall if you run in back issues after a run. It feels really good and is very relaxing. You could take the bolster under your lower back to elevate the hips a little more as well.
Savasana with a bolster might be one of the most feel good postures ever.
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Love these yoga poses! And happy birthday to your mom!
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Thanks! And thanks for stopping by!
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I love all of these poses! My hips are always so tight so I really feel the low lunge and pidgeon poses. Great tips!
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Enjoy! My hips are pretty tight too, so I live in those poses. 🙂
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