TRAINING
here are a zillion reasons why yoga is great for runners. Postural yoga teaches practitioners to move with both agility and stability, cultivate deep core strength, and hone flexibility by exploring the movements of the joints. Postures that work the feet, lower legs, hamstrings and glutes are particularly useful for runners, even though those are the ones they often struggle with. Resources for learning these postures abound. YouTube has numerous yoga classes for runners to try on for size, and there are new yoga studios popping up around town every day. I teach a Yoga for Athletes class at Phys Ed KC. One of my favorite things is working with members of the running community as they practice something that is not easy but so good for them, because I see huge improvements in every class. I can go on for days about stretches I love and breathwork to explore. But while I have you here, I want to take a slightly different approach and explore why yoga and trail running are totally fitness and mindfulness BFFs, and what we can gain by Yogi in the Forest How yoga can improve your trail running experience Written by Kelly Cirone T My husband jokes that Surya Namaskar, sun salutations commonly practiced at the beginning of a yoga class, are like fancy burpees, and he’s right! Both share many movements like hip flexion, shoulder flexion, axial extension, stepping or hopping forward and back. And they both serve a similar purpose: to warm the body by engaging all major muscles through repetitive movement. Actually, although Surya Namaskar is sometimes thought of as an ancient practice, it was more likely sequenced in the late 1920s as a form of calisthenics and was heavily inspired by gymnastics. Burpees, and many other super-fun strength-building exercises, employ explosive movement, speed, and repetition, while sun salutations slow it way down, with each movement being intentional and purposeful. Why are these things beneficial? Trails are unpredictable. That’s one of the best things about them—you never know what’s around the bend. This being the case, it’s incredibly helpful to learn how to efficiently and thoughtfully control your body and how you move through space rather than flailing wildly down the path. There are times on the trail when you’re going to harness the dynamic power you’ve learned in your strength training, like when you’re chasing someone down or leaping over a copperhead. But you’ll spend much more time trying to relax into the path to find your rhythm. Reining in your movements helps you save energy for the entire journey, which is important when your long run lasts for incorporating both into our training schedule. STRENGTH IS GOOD, LEARNING TO CONTROL IT IS EVEN BETTER
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FALL 2018
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