Express Yoga
Yoga has plenty of benefits from helping to improve mood and reduce stress to helping ease low back pain and increase range of movement and more. Scientific literature is starting to back up many of these claims that many enthusiasts have known for years. Even if all that was ignored, yoga poses are great tools for stretching especially post work out when you’re warm and your muscles are more pliable. You may have heard of compound strength exercises, exercises such as squats and bench press that work multiple muscles and multiple joints, think of yoga poses as compound stretches as they often stretch large groups of muscles across the whole body. If you don’t have loads of time to stretch then the two poses below make great short cuts to hit a lot of problem areas. If you run a lot you could have tight calves and Iliotibial bands and if you are seated for extended periods of time your hip flexors and hamstrings are probably not as loose as they could be and could be contributing to back pain. All of this and more can be addressed with just two stretches.
Downward facing dog pose
This pose is great to stretch almost the whole posterior chain from the legs including the calves and hamstrings to the back muscles such as the spinal erectors and lattimus dorsi and it can even help to improve shoulder mobility. Start in a push up position and lift your hips so you look like an upside down V. Push through the heels of your hands and try and get the heels of your feet down. If it is a bit challenging try and keep your knees slightly bent. Yoga poses are best performed with deep breathing with a focus on relaxing into the stretch on each exhale, I recommend trying the pose for 5 deep breaths and build up from there.
Pigeon pose
NOTE: This next pose is not worth trying if you have bad knees if so just do two separate stretches one for your hip flexors and Iliotibial band (ITB)
Pigeon pose is great for stretching the abductors of the hip and the ITB tendon that often gets tight; the rear out stretched leg also can get a good pull on the hip flexors if you keep yourself upright. What you want to do is place the outer side of one leg on the floor in front of you and extend the other leg back so the front of the knee is contacting the floor. The forward bent leg should be any were from 45 degrees to almost 90 degrees bent although the closer you get to 90 degrees the more strain it puts on your knee so don’t overdo it! It is best to just go to 75 – 80 degrees at most. You can and should protect your knee by dorsiflexing your front foot (trying to point your toes up towards your knee) as this keeps the knee more stable. Again I’d recommend holding for 5 deep breaths either side. If the pose is a bit challenging try elevating your front foot on a step or bench and keeping it more bent than shown in the picture.
If you have more time and want to feel the full benefits of yoga then try a full yoga class. Better body group holds multiple classes throughout the week so feel free to enquire next time you’re in.
Jas Sandhu
Exercise Specialist
Better Body Group, Sevenoaks
