Yoga for Runners

Though all you need is just a pair of running shoes (not even that for barefoot running :) ), many people stop after a few runs as they have adopted the wrong techniques during their runs. I began running as a recreation sport a few years ago and truly enjoyed it - but only after I dived into Yoga did I truly start 'Loving' my runs!

Yoga strengthens every muscle and makes every run a pleasure,

Yoga balances your hormone system and hence pumps in the right hormones during your runs and

Most importantly Yoga moves you from belly running to chest running which is the key for endurance running to bring out the best in you!

Running is a cardio vascular exercise- but for me Running in combination with Yoga is all what your Body, Mind and Soul needs!

Why should you Run

Lets start with a short summary of benefits of running

• Improves your health: Running increases your good cholesterol level, improves lung function (when coupled with the right breathing techniques), improves cardio-respiratory system and boosts your immune system.

• Prevents Diseases: For women, it lowers the risk of breast cancer. Lowers risk of stroke. Doctors recommend running of people in the early stages of Diabetes, High Blood pressure and osteoporosis. By retaining the elasticity of the arteries and strengthening the heart, it considerably reduces your chances of a heart attack.

• Lose weight: Running is considered as the second best form of exercise for rate of calorie burn per minute, following only after cross country skiing. You may have several forms of exercise to lose weight, but the form of exercise which you can do consistently, for long period of time, without causing stress to the body (with sufficient cross training, recovery and nutrition) but at the same time providing a wonderful workout to the body anytime anywhere is undoubtedly Running.

• Boosts your Confidence and Self-discipline: Not all benefits are physical, running works tremendously on your personality development. The feeling you get out of setting your running goals, working towards it steadily and finally achieving it is priceless! In the process you work subconsciously on being a more disciplined, empowered, confident and happier person. You can start leading a healthier lifestyle automatically as you would not want to spoil the great deed you have started to do on your system!

• Relieve Stress: Stress is simply the way we handle the situations thrown at us. If we move to 'fight or flight' mode, we are using our sympathetic nervous system, but if we respond rather than react we are using our parasympathetic nervous system. If we are totally aware during our runs, constantly perform deep breathing, balance our hormones during runs and recovery, and strengthen our body well enough to enjoy our long (tiring) runs, we are in turn training our body to deal with such ease even in the tricky tiring situations we face in daily life! Stress for a runner is just another word.

• Eliminate depression: When you are not in best of mood, try going out for a run! Its no surprise that the hormones secreted during your run will ensure you return energized, least worried about petty issues and sometimes with a simple solution to them.

However, as with everything else, anything in excess or done the wrong way will have more negative effects than good. Same is the case with running. A body without sufficient and timely strengthening, recovery, nutrition and balance of hormones leads more to injury and breakdown rather than strength and fitness! The YOGAsanas, Bandhas and Breathing techniques helps both your body and mind to get you ready for your next run stronger!

Muscles you use to run

To understand what happens to our body when we run, we need to first understand the muscles involved during our run.

Quadriceps

These are the muscles on the front of your thighs and they get built whenever you extend your knee. During running, this takes place when your lower legs move from a bent to straight position.

Hamstrings

The muscles at the back of your thighs which help you flex your knees causing your lower legs to move towards your butt. While running, this takes place when your foot leaves the ground and your leg starts moving forward for the next foot stride.

Gluteals

Located at the buttocks and is involved by hip extensions. While you run, you build your glutes when your thighs move from a position parallel to the ground to a position behind your body. This normally happens when you run uphill.

Hip Flexors

They get worked when your thighs move towards your stomach. You experience this when your foot leaves the ground behind you and your thigh comes upward before your next foot plant.

Abs

The entire rectus abdominis that runs along the center of the abs and the oblique muscles along your sides get activated when you run. The intercostals are the muscles found in between the ribs and they get toned too when you perform deep breathing during your runs.

Calves

They get worked when you point your toes downwards. This motion takes place before the foot leaves the ground when your heal is in the air behind your body. The calves get more emphasis when running up hills.

Tibialis Anterior

The muscles that run on the front of the shins and get built when you point your toes upwards. This motion takes place when the leg is front of the body just before your foot lands on the ground.

Peroneals

The muscles that run along the sides of the shin that get worked when your heels are elevated similar to the calves.

All these muscles work in coordination for every step you take during your run and thus strengthening them is extremely important for a good run.

When do the muscles actually grow

It is often misunderstood that your muscles are built when you workout. This is not true.

When you run, your muscles are actually broken down to muscle fibers. After your workout, your body repairs the damaged muscle fibers through a cellular process where it joins the fibers together to form new muscle protein strands or myofibrils. When they get repaired they grow back thicker and stronger than before thus resulting in building those muscles which were worked on during the workout.

Muscles grow when there is

• Muscle tension: When you perform any activity which results in more stress than the body is used to. This is the reason walking is sometimes not sufficient for weight loss or to strengthen your muscles. When the body gets tuned to a regular activity, varying the activity or loading it with more stress (longer distance, tempo runs or tougher terrain for the run) is needed to strengthen more.

• Muscle Damage: There is a release of inflammatory molecules and immune system cells that activate the satellite cells to jump into action.

• Metabolic Stress: This causes cell swelling around muscle from the addition of muscle glycogen when thus results in muscle growth.

Muscle growth happens when the rate of repair is greater than the rate of breakdown, so basically, the growth or strengthening does not happen during the run but AFTER the Run while you rest and recover.

How do hormones affect your muscle growth- and why is excess training bad for you

We know now that muscle growth is from damage and repair of the muscles- hypertrophy.

Another factor that affects the muscle growth is our hormones. When you run, you release Cortisol from the adrenal gland and this is a catabolic hormone which breaks down cells. With training, cortisol breaks down 3-5% of the muscle proteins in your body daily! Too much training releases too much cortisol which breaks down too many proteins. Too much training also decreases testosterone. Testosterone is a hormone which increases muscle mass and decreases recovery time. While intense workout can increase testosterone, too much easy long training can decrease it.

Insulin is a very important growth hormone which gets secreted naturally when you sleep. Insulin is necessary for the cells uptake and storage of glycogen, thus resulting in cell growth.

Thus in short, the hormonal balance of cortisol, testosterone and insulin is highly important for cell growth. YOGA bandhas regulates these hormones thus resulting in a stronger and healthier body.

A run is detrimental to the body without proper rest and good nutrition

If you do NOT provide your body adequate rest and nutrition, you will reverse the anabolic process and put your body in a catabolic or destructive process. A body needs 24-48 hours rest time to recover from the muscle damage and this is the reason that the same workout must not be repeated the following day. A day after the run must always be followed by a cross strengthening activity which does not break the muscle protein further, but instead strengthens the muscles to work at its best. This is the reason Yoga is known as the best cross-activity for runners as it does not result in hypertrophy, but results in lean, longer and stronger muscles. Yoga not only strengthens the muscular system, it also strengthens the nervous, cardio-respiratory, hormonal, digestive and excretory systems. Yoga improves sleep and metabolic rate thus providing faster recovery for your body.

Stages of Running

Stage 1: Pre-run training

Running may seem like the most basic activity as we have been doing it since childhood. However years of inactivity of some of the muscles makes running a tiring, painful, dreaded activity for many.

How do you prepare for running? Firstly we need to strengthen our muscles and work on our breathing.

In Yogic terms - YOGAsanas and Pranayama.

Stage 2: Warm-up -- RUN -- Post-run stretches

A warm up is often given least importance but if neglected is a recipe for injury and a disastrous run.

Why do you need a warm-up? When you start running the body enters a self protective mechanism by releasing lactic acid to protect the muscle tissue. As the acidity within the muscle increases, the functional capability of the key enzymes decreases in order to protect it. Metabolic enzymes work optimally at a temperature slightly higher than normal.

So, a warm-up basically increases the body temperature slightly, such that the enzymes work optimally. Thus, a warm-up

• Increases the body temperature gradually to prepare the body for the workload

• Increases oxygen supply to the heart

• Gradually increases the metabolic processes

• Prevents premature onset of lactic acid accumulation in the blood thus resulting in fatigue

• Warmed muscles are less susceptible to injury

• Also, allows a psychological warm-up thus building focus.

RUN!!!

Once the run is complete, DONT SIT down immediately. The body requires a gradual tapering of activity, followed by a complete stretch of every muscle involved by performing Isostatic exercises (Asanas). This prevents the muscles and tendon from tightening up leading to stiffness and pain.

Stage 3: Recovery

This is the stage where your muscles grow. How you strengthen depends completely on this phase. Adequate rest, Yoga practice and nutrition is extremely important during this phase.

In short, runners must

• Strengthen each of the following muscles by performing the YOGAsanas during the Pre-run Training and Recovery phases

• Perform an isometric workout of each of these muscles as part of a Warm up before each run

• Perform an isostatic workout of the muscles immediately after every Run

YOGAsanas

Practicing 3 to 5 of these asanas (vary it each time) for 30 seconds for each muscle would help you avoid any pain, injury, stiffness, and enhances flexibility and strength of the entire body.

For Quadriceps

Padahastasana

Ashwasanchalan

Parvathasana

Garudasana

Vrkshasana

Utkatasana

Veera bhadrasana 1,2,3

Trikonasana

Ardha chandrasana

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana

Malasana

Camatkarasana

Side planks

Baddha Konasana

Gomukhasana

Janu Sirsasana

Virasana

Paschimottasana

Upavistha Konasana

Dhanurasana

Salabhasana

Ustrasana

For Hamstrings

Same as Quad +

Parsvottanasana

Parsvakonasana

Parivrtta Parsvakonasana

Supta Padangusthasana

Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana

Hanumanasana (splits)

Anantasana

Prasarita Padottanasana

For Gluteals

Padahastasana

Bhujangasana

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana

Ardha Bhekasana

Chakrasana

Ananda balasana

Salabhasana

Sarvangasana

Sirisasana

Vasisthasana (Side plank)

Purvottanasana

For Hip flexors

Naukasana

Dhanurasana

Setu Bandhasana

Ustrasana

Bakasana

Matsyasana

Ashwasanchalan

Veera Bhadrasana 1

Kapotasana

Dancing Natarajasana

Hanumanasana (splits)

Parivrtta Parsvakonasana

Camatkarasana

Bakasana

For Abs

Naukasana

Setu Bandhasana

Bakasana

Plank Pose

Utthita Parsvakonasana

Trikonasana

Matsyasana

Chaturanga Dandasana

Ardha Bhekasana

Ardha Chandrasana

Veera Bhadrasana 1,2,3

Kapotasana

Dancing Natraj

Ardh Matsyendrasana

Vasisthasana (Side plank pose)

Uddhiyana Bandha

Chakrasana

Purvottanasana

For Chest

Dhanurasana

Setu Bandhasana

Ustrasana

Marjaryasana

Utkatasana

Bhujangasana

Gomukhasana

Plank Pose

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana

Utthita Parsvakonasana

Trikonasana

Matsyasana

Ardha Bhekasana

Ardha Chandrasana

Kapotasana

Vrksasana

Chakrasana

Purvottanasana

Veerabhadrasana 1,2,3

Camatkarasana

For Calves and Ankles

Ustrasana

Utkatasana

Balasana

Gomukhasana

Garudasana

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana

Utthita Parsvakonasana

Malasana

Ardha Bhekasana

Ardha Chandrasana

Virasana

Dancing Natrajasana

Veera Bhadrasana 1,2,3

Tadasana

Vrkshasana

Purvottanasana

For Knees

Padangusthasana

Baddha Konasana

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Sukhasana

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana

Utthita Parsvakonasana

Utthita Trikonasana

Malasana

Ardha Chandrasana

Ardha Bhekasana

Virasana

Dancing Natraj

Upavistha Konasana

Prasarita Padottanasana

Yoga for Hormonal Balance - Bandhas

Performing the Maha Bandha (The Great Bandha) which is a combination of Mool Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha and Jalandhara Bandha, causes a rush of hormones into the blood thus causing a balance.

Balance of Insulin and Testosteron helps a runner in muscle growth and repair and Adrenalin balance helps in giving the best performance without additional stress or strain to the body.

Deep breathing - Pranayama

Deep breathing can help you run longer with less effort. Just before you crest a hill or reach the end of a speed interval, your lungs go into overdrive. Your breath becomes shallow and rapid. The more your chest heaves, the more you struggle. You may even end up exhausted, bent over, gasping for air. Runners think about training their heart and legs, but they rarely think about training their lungs. A strong respiratory system can improve your running. It's a simple equation: Better breathing equals more oxygen for your muscles, and that equals more endurance. Just as we strength-train our hamstrings and calves to improve our ability to power over hills, we can tone the muscles used for breathing. Yoga Pranayama improves the conditioning of the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen, and the intercostal muscles, which lie between the ribs and enable you to inhale and exhale deeper. When you take a breath, 80 percent of the work is done by the diaphragm. If you strengthen your diaphragm, you may improve your endurance and be less likely to become fatigued. When you take deeper breaths, you use more air sacs in your lungs, which allows you to take in more oxygen to feed your muscles. You should be a belly breather and not a chest breather.

Test yourself by - running a kilometre at a pace that gets you huffing a bit. Then stop and place one hand on their abdomen and one hand on their chest and watch. The lower hand should move with each breath, while the upper hand should remain relatively still (usually the opposite occurs). When you chest breathe, your shoulders get tense and move up and down. That's wasted energy-energy you should conserve for running. Chest breathing can be a hard habit to break-especially while you're preoccupied with keeping pace or calculating splits. One way to make the switch easier is to work on belly breathing when you're not running, and the skill will eventually carry over to your running. Yoga helps to make this happen. Yoga aims to increase flexibility, strengthen the core, and improve breathing. It stretches your intercostal muscles and lengthens my spine, which helps your breathing and your running.

Conclusion

Feeling the love for your run depends on how the body & mind adapt before, during and after the workout.

Practicing Yoga assures an injury free run with a steady growth in performance, happiness and satisfaction!

You not only evolve as a fitter person, you end up being a happier, healthier and stress-free person!