You are a busy person with work, family, social life… so how do you find time to fit in these new sessions and lessons? And why should you?
Yes, yoga it’s the best ‘quick’ exercise to get into, as it works many of the key muscles you use in triathlon.
The details I’ve included aren’t what I’d call ‘ideal’ work, but if you get down to your bed three times a week and stick to these four powerful exercises I’m glad you covered most of the bases.
The muscles you’ll be targeting here are the hip flexors, upper quads, glutesiliotibial band, lats and the legs.
The best yoga exercises for triathlon
Hold each stretch for 20 seconds or more. Repeat each stretch (movement) x4.
1. Child Proliferation
Aim: Stretch the latissimus dorsi (‘lats’) after swimming or running.
Event: From all fours sit back on your heels and stretch your arms up. Extend your fingers and jump back from your hands.
There are many variations of this stretch including interlacing the fingers to get a deeper stretch and moving both hands on the left side, then the right to tighten the sides of the back.
2. IT Band Lunge
Aim: A great multitasking technique, it targets the upper quads, hip flexors and iliotibial band while also giving the back and hips a rest.
Event: Start on all fours. Place your right leg between your hands and lift your upper body. Tuck your hips in and slowly move forward into a lunge.
Place your right hand on your right thigh and sweep your left hand.
3. Four Famous Figures
Aim: Stretch the glutes (and the piriformis) It’s a great workout!
Event: Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat on the floor. Lift your right leg, turn your knee out and place your right heel on top of your left thigh. Stay here if this is difficult.
To go deeper, lift your left leg off the floor and hug the legs toward you. You can hold it behind your left thigh or above your left neck.
Play by swinging the legs slightly to the left to engage the piriformis muscle in the middle of your glutes.
4. The Hamstring
Aim: Stretch the hamstrings in a relaxed and accessible way. With an option to search for calves as well.
Event: Lie on your back. Bend your left leg. Wrap a yoga strap (or gym belt, long sock or sleeve) around your right leg and straighten your right leg up toward the ceiling. Hold for about 30 seconds.
To shift the focus to the calf muscles, slide the band through the ball of the foot and push your heel toward the ceiling.
These lessons are taken from Lexie Williamson’s books Yoga for running a Yoga for bikersby Bloomsbury Publishing.
Best Picture: Photographic images