Unstick your tight running joints with yoga.
I don’t know about you, but the sound of yoga used to be so daunting for me. I arrived at my first-ever yoga class unable to do the splits, let alone touch my toes! But I left feeling light and open. I was hooked from then on and my yoga journey began. Today, we host yoga retreats and festivals so that people can experience yoga of all kinds in one place and leave with a new sense of opening.
Trail running is amazing, but it can lead to injuries if you neglect some simple stretches.
I'll share four very effective stretches that can leave you running light, open, and injury-free - without having to join a yoga class!
We’ll focus on hips, glutes, hammies, calves, and hip flexors. Poses can be held from one to five minutes. Bear in mind that the deep muscles and fascia only start to release after three minutes, so make that your goal.
Open hips with pigeon
Pigeon pose is an extremely effective hip and glute opener that addresses both areas, with the front leg working in external rotation and the back leg in position to stretch the psoas. If you are very tight, and pigeon pose is inaccessible to you, try the reversed pigeon variation.
How to pigeon
• From all fours, bring your left knee forward towards your left wrist. Depending on your body, it may be just behind your wrist or to the outer or the inner edge of it.
This story is from the Issue 37 edition of TRAIL.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 37 edition of TRAIL.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Heat Cheat
In his How Or Why series, coach SEAN TAIT, founder and Running technique coach at Off the Mark, digs deeper into specific issues troubling TRAIL readers.
Pacing The Way To Change
Seeing a need, Jo Keppler ran 130km to raise funds for the Southern Lodestar Foundation breakfast programme on Saturday 6 November 2020.
Die Ander Tafelberg(e)
Dalene van Staden developed Die Ander Tafelberge* project, recruiting Caro Jordaan and Magan Hanekom to summit all 15 Tafelberge in the Western Cape, ending with Cape Town's Table Mountain.
Dodge The Super Plods
We all want to get faster, not slower. But the plods are real – if we overdo our training. Stay fast with Joburg-based coach Neville Beeton.
Grounding Is It The Missing Link?
Durban biokineticist Stephan Terblanche has been in private practice for almost 25 years. One of his biggest frustrations is that some patients do not get better, regardless of treatment, for unknown reasons. He believes that a lack of grounding is a major factor.
THE ALIENS ARE HERE
Why do we run? There is no simple answer.
Meeting Rona
Being young and fit doesn't faze COVID-19. Salomon runner THABANG MADIBA (36) experienced this for himself.
For the Love
RACHEL MANYATHI is an ultra runner and high school teacher whose life centres around kindness, and mountain adventure.
Cultivating FLOW
High-performance coach CRAIG CAROLAN shares the Tao of Mike and positive psychology to help you reach maximum gratification on the trail.
Bites & Stings
Life support medic ALET MAARTENS is a Gauteng-based trail runner with a few tips to keep you safe against summer bugs with big appetites or short tempers.