yoga for runners

As I’m mentioned before, I’m not a yogi. I’m a runner. But yoga for runners is key to avoiding injury.

With that in mind, I’ve gone to a couple of dozen studios over the years and tried to get into it, but it’s just not my thing.

 

 When I exercise, I want to feel like I’m burning a lot of calories.

 

Plus I’m not good at yoga. A couple of easy reasons why:

1. You have to practice yoga to get good, and I don’t practice.
2. I’m not flexible and my balance is bad.

Now I’m sure changing number one would help change number two, but let’s just ignore that for the moment. 

So despite my firm feelings against yoga, I do acknowledge I need to do something about my lack of flexibility which has led to many injuries.

With that in mind, I actually stumbled onto something that works really great for me.

 

I call it my Yoga YouTube Time.

 

Twice a day, I do a quick Google search and a find a short yoga video on YouTube. In the morning I get in about a 5-10 minute video after my morning workout of either spin, kettlebells, or boot camp.

In the evening, I do the same- whether I run after work or not. If I have time, I like to fit in about a 20-minute video before I get to my other nightly rituals of cooking, blogging, or reading.

I customize my yoga “session” to exactly what I noticed was tight during my morning workout or throughout the day.

 

One quick YouTube search and I have a short video that will target that area.

 

One morning it’s “Yoga for tight calves”. The next day could be “release tension in hips”.

It’s wonderful to be able to target exactly what my body needs that day.

I also love the lack of commitment. No matter how bad I think an instructor is, I’m not going to walk out of a yoga class.

But if an instructor moves too slow or too fast in their YouTube video, one click of the button and I’m onto the next.

 

And the funniest thing happened after I started doing this. I started looking forward to it!

 

I’ll be driving home from spin now wondering what stretches I want to focus on.

And another funny thing has happened; I’m not nearly as tight as I normally am. I sincerely notice a difference.

There is no doubt yoga is good for you, but if you don’t like classes either (or don’t want to shell out the money) this approach might work for you, too.

I’m saving all my favorite videos to a folder on my YouTube Channel. Feel free to check them out.

And if you have any favorite yoga instructors that have YouTube Channels, please let me know in the comments below. I’m always excited to add to my list!