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Running is a high impact exercise, especially for the feet. Each time your foot touches the ground it bears at least thrice you body weight. This is precisely why foot and ankle injuries are most often heard from runners. However, all this can be minimized with the help of yoga. By performing yoga poses, the strength of muscles as well as ankle joints can be significantly increased.
Running is essentially undertaken as a cardio-vascular exercise. It is meant to increase the rate of metabolism in the body and thus to lose weight. For athletes, its exact opposite is true. Theirs is a strength exercise and needs to be done in a slightly different manner. Yoga can serve the needs of both types of running. Here is a more elaborate description of how it can be done.
Yoga for Athletes:
Athletes need a burst of energy in their leg muscles to compete in athletic events. Hence, it is essential that their muscles are dense as well as relaxed at the time of a competitive event. While muscle density can be increased more effectively by undertaking regular weight and resistance training, it becomes imperative that athletes relax their muscles to allow them to grow.
Yoga poses help in this by initiating the release of certain 'feel good' chemical agents called endorphins. These are a type of natural painkillers which help minimize the pain suffered by the body. Obliquely, they also produce a calming effect through out the body, allowing it to quickly recover from the wear and tear of a rigorous training schedule.
Yoga Poses for Joggers:
There are many amongst us who undertake running as a strictly cardio exercise, meant only to burn calories inside our body. In these cases, it is imperative that the distance is given preference over the time taken to cover it. Achieving this is possible only when the individual is able to sustain his/her breath for the entire length of distance. Also, relaxed and agile muscles make running easy on the body and mind. Yoga poses definitely help with this.
Keeping in mind the two unique set of demands that athletes and joggers have from running, there are different yoga poses which can be employed to help them achieve their goal. The poses which can get what they want would include the following:
* Awkward Chair Pose- Utkatasana
* Downward Facing Dog- Adho Mukha Svanasana
* Eagle Pose- Garudasana
* Four Limbed Staff Pose- Chaturanga Dandasana
* King Dancer Pose- Natarajasana
* Mountain Pose- Tadasana
* Plank Pose
* Pranayama (Breathing Exercises)
* Tree Pose- Vrikshasana
* Warrior I Pose- Virabhadrasana I
* Warrior II Pose- Virabhadrasana II
* Warrior III Pose- Virabhadrasana III
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