Running and Yoga: Stretch Your ‘Strings
February 28, 2009 by Susan Watiker
Filed under Women's Health
I’m getting ready to run a half-marathon in May, and even though I am not going all the way this year, I am finding that running and yoga are not only a great fitness combo for health, but some of the stretching and yoga poses really come in handy during training.
Even to this day, my legs tend to get stiff after a long run. I thought that after a few years of this, the stiffness would go away, but it hasn’t totally.
One of my favorite stretches for my legs is a Standing Hamstring Stretch. Here’s the run-through (sorry, bad pun):
-Place a chair in front of you
-Raise your right leg onto the seat of the chair, with your knee pointing upward, hips level, and quadriceps fully engaged
-Deepen the stretch, leaning forward from the hips into the bend
-Hold anywhere from 30 seconds up to several minutes
It’s that simple and that easy. I now do this before and after my runs as part of my warm-up and cool down.
See ya on the road!
Peace.
Image: Newscom
