Yoga for runners: a routine for after the run

Running asks a lot of a small number of muscles, over and over, in one direction. Hips, hamstrings, quads and calves do most of the work, and they tend to let you know about it. A short, slow yoga routine after a run is one way to give them some easy attention while they are still warm.

This is not a running coach’s advice, and nothing here is a training plan or a promise about pace or injuries. It is a yoga routine for after the run and for rest days, built from the pose library on this site. On rest days, the long, quiet holds of Yin yoga for tight hips and legs are the slow counterpart to the miles.

For more lunge options, see hip flexor stretches from gentle to deep, and for the backs of the legs, hamstring stretches with hold times and a desk version. Before you head out, the six-minute warm-up for stretching before running swaps long holds for leg swings and lunges. One safety line first. A running injury that hurts, swells, or does not settle within a few days needs a physiotherapist or a sports doctor, not a stretch. Stop anything on this page that causes sharp pain.

What yoga gives a runner

• Mobility. Slow stretching through the hips, hamstrings and calves, the areas many runners feel tight in.
• Balance. Standing on one leg, and lunging with control, asks the small muscles of the feet and ankles to work. Dancer Pose, a one-legged balance with a thigh stretch, does both at once.
• Breathing. Practising a slow, steady breath when a shape is uncomfortable is a useful habit for the last kilometres of a long run.
• A calmer end to the run. Five or ten quiet minutes after a hard run is a good way to come down.

What yoga does not do: it is not strength training, it is not injury treatment, and it will not replace the rest days your body needs. For some bodyweight strength on the side, the hip exercises for runners’ glutes and outer hips use bridges, lunges and balances.

A ten-minute routine after a run

Do this after your cool-down walk, when you have caught your breath. Move slowly and breathe through the nose. After a gym session instead of a run, the eight cool down stretches for after a workout are a shorter, standing-friendly set.

1. Downward Dog, 1 minute. From hands and knees, lift the hips up and back. Bend the knees generously and pedal the feet to ease into the calves and hamstrings. See Downward Dog with bent knees.
2. Low lunge, 1 minute each side. Step one foot forward between the hands and lower the back knee onto a folded towel. Let the hips sink forward to feel the front of the back hip. The full low lunge, with its cues, shows where the front knee goes. The Yin version, Dragon Pose for the hip flexors, shows how to use blocks under the hands.
3. Half splits, 1 minute each side. From the lunge, shift the hips back over the back knee and straighten the front leg a little, flexing the toes towards you. Keep a soft bend in the knee.
4. Pigeon, 1 minute each side. Bring the front shin forward and rest the hip down, with a cushion under it if it floats. If the knee complains, lie on your back and cross the ankle over the other knee instead. See Pigeon Pose and its reclined option.
5. Strapped hamstring stretch, 1 minute each side. Lie on your back, loop a strap or towel around one foot and raise the leg, knee soft, until you feel a mild stretch. Keep the other leg long or bent.
6. Legs Up the Wall, 2 minutes. Rest your legs up a wall and let the breath slow. See Legs Up the Wall for tired legs.

If you own a roller, a few minutes of gentle foam roller exercises for calves and thighs can go before this routine.

Yin on rest days: long holds for hips and hamstrings

Yin holds each shape for a few minutes, with the muscles as relaxed as possible, so the stretch is slow and mild rather than strong. It is static stretching at its slowest, and the page on static vs dynamic stretching explains when each kind suits a runner. Many runners enjoy it on a rest day, when there is no hard run to save their legs for. A simple Yin half hour for a runner might hold Dragon, a reclined Pigeon, a Caterpillar forward fold and a supported Butterfly for three to five minutes each. For the fronts of the thighs, Hero Pose, sitting high on a block, is a quiet seat to finish in.

Keep Yin gentle: the aim is a mild sensation you could stay in for minutes, never a strong pull. If you are not sure whether a slow or a faster class suits you, the yoga style quiz can help you choose, and yoga for flexibility, slowly explains why steady practice matters more than depth.

Before a race, and the week after one

In the days before a race, keep yoga short and easy. This is not the week to try a new deep stretch or a long Yin class that leaves your legs feeling unfamiliar. A few minutes of the routine above, well inside your comfort, is plenty.

After a race, rest comes first. Once walking feels normal again, a slow practice lying on the floor, such as Legs Up the Wall and a supported Reclined Butterfly, is a gentle way back. Leave the deeper hip openers for a few days.

Where you run shapes the day, too. After an early loop in BGC or a run along Manila Bay in the heat, keep the practice that follows almost entirely on the floor, and drink before you stretch. If you would like a class near your route, the page on yoga in BGC is a starting point.

When to see a physiotherapist instead

See a physiotherapist or a sports doctor if you have pain that is sharp, that swells, that makes you limp, that returns every time you run, or that does not settle after a few days of rest. The same goes for pain in a bone rather than a muscle, and for knee or hip pain that catches or locks. Yoga can sit alongside their advice once they have seen you, never in place of it. Once you are cleared, the gentle knee stretches for the muscles around the joint keep everything slow and mild. If a sore back is part of the picture, gentle shapes for a stiff back covers what to leave out, and the slow floor sequence in yoga for better sleep doubles as a rest-day evening practice.