Yoga Before or After Running: Which One is Better?

Runners have experienced everything from tight hamstrings to painful calves, knee aches, and an unpleasant IT band.

For runners, aches and pains are normal. Regular yoga practice may help you manage these discomforts and enhance your performance. You might benefit from including yoga in your fitness regimens because it’s an excellent method to increase flexibility.

So, should you do yoga before or after running?  Given that many runners could be tempted to do yoga as a warm-up before running, it is a legitimate topic and one that needs to be addressed.

Is yoga helpful for runners?

Being an effective runner involves a variety of elements. Possessing good balance and a strong core is essential, as is making a daily effort to prevent injury. Since some of us hold our breath when stressed out without recognizing it, it’s necessary to consider the capacity for even breathing.

Yoga is a beautiful method to maintain your muscles mobile, strong, and flexible. Practices like Hatha, Vinyasa, and Iyengar yoga are all excellent options. The arm balances and tree postures are perfect for developing balance and core strength, and breathing exercises will help your breathing to become automatic.

It can improve flexibility-impaired joints and tight muscles with light yoga. Running provides the optimal combination of stretching and tranquility and a cool-down period after your exercise, making it the perfect preparation for a restorative yoga session. The body may suffer more harm than benefit if you run before a hot yoga or Bikram yoga class.

Even by itself, hot yoga is regarded as a cardiovascular workout. To increase heart rate, you must do yoga in a heated environment at 105 degrees. Furthermore, just the heat will cause you to sweat more than before. Running a few kilometers before a hot yoga session is not advised for hydration and muscular soreness.

Is yoga helpful for runners

Yoga before running

Yoga has several advantages runners may take advantage of, so it would seem wise to do it just before a run. Doing a whole yoga class before jogging is probably not a good idea.

Running requires muscles to be tense to sustain the physical stress, whereas yoga practice stretches and relaxes those muscles. Because your muscles are excessively relaxed after yoga, you risk hurting yourself.

However, as long as the poses are dynamic, you can do yoga before going for a run. Your body will become more effective and prepared for fluid movement due to the activation of the dormant muscles.

The muscles that runners employ will be targeted by the yoga poses that follow, which may appear to be stretched.

Before going for a run, you can practice these poses:

  • Warrior 2
  • Standing March Hold
  • Deep Squat

Pros

  • It is a great warm-up
  • It can calm down your anxiety before a high-intensity run
  • Decreased pain
  • Reduced symptoms of depression

Cons

  • Your muscles can become too relaxed.

Yoga after running

It is preferable to run before doing yoga for a variety of reasons. Yoga positions and deep breathing help your body relax by stimulating your parasympathetic nervous system. Your heart and breathing rates will slow down, as a result, enabling relaxation of the body and mind.

When you do yoga and then go for a run, you will put your body in a strained state. The body will experience some shock as a result, and chemical reactions may cause the production of extra stress hormones, which might impair your ability to run.

The muscles will fully warm up if you run before doing yoga. By doing this, you’ll be able to practice yoga while positioning your body in deeper postures. Additionally, it will lessen the possibility of damage as you transition from a bending position into a twisting or lunging stance.

There are several forms of yoga that you may practice to assist you in reaching your objectives, whether for strength, endurance, or therapeutic benefits.

Ashtanga yoga might benefit you to gain more strength because it features a quicker-paced routine. Think of the Boat Posture as an example. Each pose will emphasize strength, and each movement will serve to develop your core.

Hot yoga will undoubtedly aid you in your quest to raise your degree of endurance. In the session, which ranges in temperature from 90 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, you’ll perform several stances, including the Runner Lunge, Pigeon Pose, or Lizard Pose.

Yoga poses for relaxation quiet the body and the psyche. The slower-moving positions are an effective technique to stretch and unwind the muscles.

After a hard run or grueling workout, yoga will help loosen up those tight hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors, back, and core muscles.

Your range of motion will also expand as a result of stretching and relaxing, which will speed up the recovery of your muscles. You could even increase your record and run faster the next day.

PROS

  • raises overall fitness levels
  •  reduces pain
  •  tones the body
  • and boosts pleasure

The muscles may fully warm up after running, which can assist you in going deeper into various yoga positions. Similarly, doing yoga for cardio might speed up recovery and help you set an even higher PR the following day, especially if you do it after a long run.

Yoga after running

How to incorporate yoga into your workout routine?

Knowing which kind of yoga is ideal for your objectives is crucial if you’re a yogi trying to get in some cardio or an active runner hoping to incorporate some yoga into your life.

Yoga comes in various forms, from restorative, Yin, and Hatha to Vinyasa, power, hot, and Bikram—and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Running provides the optimal combination of stretching and tranquility and a cool-down period at the conclusion of your exercise, making it the perfect preparation for a restorative yoga session. The body may suffer more harm than benefit if you run before a hot yoga or Bikram yoga class.

Yoga is excellent for loosening up tight muscles and extending the range of motion for runners. However, vigorous yoga techniques would be preferable. Additionally, this will lessen the chance of damage by preventing overstretching of the muscles.

Yoga before or after running – Which is the correct answer?

In general, it’s preferable to perform cardio first, then yoga. Though why?

There are a few explanations. In the beginning, yoga has a propensity to relax the body and unwind the mind. Do you think you could fall asleep during Savasana and then run a few miles?

It might be shocking to the senses to go from leisure to marathon training. In contrast, before bending, twisting, lunging, and gliding into different yoga postures, you should warm up the body with cardio.

Yoga helps deactivate the sympathetic nervous system and encourages parasympathetic response. Thus, you should do it after jogging. This promotes the best possible post-exercise recovery by reducing muscular tension across the body.

The sympathetic nervous system produces a fight-or-flight response. Your metabolism is increased, most bodily processes are halted, and the blood is flushed to the muscles, preparing them for action. On the other hand, the parasympathetic response, sometimes known as “rest and digest,” causes your body to relax and down-regulate

Before running, the sympathetic nervous system should be activated since it affects muscle performance, water and electrolyte balance, and thermoregulation. You can thus perform better, move more quickly, and use glucose more effectively.

After a run, activating the parasympathetic response is crucial since it reduces blood pressure, initiates digestion, moves nutrients around your body, and utilizes them for repair and recovery.

Yoga before or after running

Conclusion

Doing yoga after running is, by far, the most acceptable approach to enhance your running and aid in regaining full mobility. Dynamic stretching can still be used as a warm-up, but a complete yoga practice should wait until after the run.

For me, there isn’t a better way to warm up for yoga after a successful run. Your muscles will be more elastic and flexible as a result, which will make doing yoga postures effortless.

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