This quick 5-min yoga sequence can be used pre or post ride. It focusses on stretching through the entire body whilst increasing the mobility & flexibility of the joints that most cyclists use. With our Osteo Bret a keen cyclist and the start of the Tour De France this 5-min yoga forcyclists sequence is a great warm up or cool down option. Even if you’re not a cyclists this is still a great warm up or cool down workout sequence that doesn’t require any equipment so it can be done anywhere.
Hold each of the following postures for 5-10 breaths. Cat
pose Seated kneel Big cat stretch Down dog Cobra Lunge Pigeon Lying twist Lying
hamstring stretch
1. Cat pose
2. Seated kneel
3. Big cat stretch
4. Down dog
5. Cobra Lunge
6. Pigeon Lying twist
Full sequence including instructions:
Cat pose
Starting on all fours, wrists under shoulders, knees under
hips, inhale as you arch through the spine, roll the shoulders down and away
from the ears and look forward. Exhale tuck the tail, round through the upper
back and relax the head and neck.
Flow through in your own time, completing 5 full rounds.
This posture is great for stretching through the upper back
and opening through the chest, this is a great posture to counter your normal
cycling position.
Seated kneel
Take the buttocks to the heels, sit up tall and allow the
spine to lengthen, as we stretch through the shins, toes and ankles.
Big cat stretch
Inhale to come forward, reach your hands out in front and
walk you knees back under your hips. Gently move your head and chest in between
your upper arms towards the ground and hold for 5-10 breaths, opening up
through the upper back and chest.
Downward facing dog
Walk the hands back towards the knees as you push into
palms, lift the knees and take the buttocks towards the sky for a down dog.
Opening and lengthening the spine, stretching through the hamstrings and
mobilising all of the joints from the wrists through to the ankles.
Cobra
Drop to the knees, take the shoulders over the wrists and
lower your way all the way onto the floor as if you were doing a push-up.
Inhale, roll the shoulders down and away from the ears as you gently push into
the hands and lift the chest. Hold for 5 breaths before lowering the chest back
to the floor, pushing back onto hands and knees and back into your down dog.
Lunge
Inhale in down dog and as you exhale step your left foot in
between your hands for a lunge position.
Take your hands to your bent leg and settle into this stretch for the
right hip flexors. To intensify the stretch reach around a take a hold of the
back leg and breathe.
Release the back leg and push back into your down dog to
repeat on the right side.
Hold each side for 5-10 breaths before releasing and
transitioning back through your down dog.
Pigeon
Inhale in down dog and as you exhale bend your left knee and
take your left knee to your left wrist. Lower the back knee to the ground and
square off the hips. Stay here or lower the forearms to the ground and drop the
head. Take 5-10 breaths opening and stretching through the glutes and hip.
Release, transitioning back through down dog and take pigeon
on the opposite side.
Hold for a further 5-10 breaths before releasing back to
your down dog before making your way onto hands and knees and onto your back
for some lying postures.
Lying twist
Lying on your back, extend both legs out in front and take a
bend to the right knee. Exhale as you twist open to the left. Extend the arms
out to shoulder height and look out over the right hand, trying to keep both
shoulders on the floor.
Inhale through centre and change the legs gently twisting
open to the right, through the lumbar spine as we mobilise the lower joints of
lower back.
Lying hamstring stretch
Inhale through centre, bend both knees and extend right leg
towards the sky, holding on behind the calf or hamstring with both hands. For a
deeper stretch extend the left leg long along the floor and start to mobilise
the ankle by flexing and extending the right foot.
Release the right leg back to the floor and repeat on the
left side. Try to keep both shoulders on the ground and relax through the head
and neck. Release the leg to the floor to finish.
For best results aim to hold each of the postures in this
sequence for a min of 5 breaths.