All those miles you've been putting in recently are seriously boosting your fitness, but also come with repetitive loading through key muscles. Over time, you might start to feel tight, stiff and a little less springy than you’d like. That's where yoga comes in!

Yoga supports runners by improving mobility and range of motion, enhancing posture and breathing mechanics, and promoting better recovery between sessions. The result? You'll feel fresher, move more efficiently, and stay more resilient as your training builds. Our Yoga expert, Coach Louis, is sharing the top poses to boost your recovery.

How to do it: Kneel on the floor with your big toes touching and knees slightly apart, then sit your hips back toward your heels. Reach your arms forward and rest your forehead on the mat, breathing deeply into your lower back and hips.

Benefits: Child's pose gently stretches the hips, thighs and lower back, helping release tightness that you carry from the repetitive forward motion of running. Start your yoga session with this pose and focus on deep, calming breath work to ease tension in the nervous system.

How to do it: Start on all fours with hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Inhale as you drop your stomach and lift your chest and tailbone (Cow), then exhale as you round your spine and tuck your chin and pelvis (Cat), moving slowly with your breath.

Benefits: Cat Cow encourages spinal flexion and extension to help increase mobility and relieve stiffness in the back, hips and shoulders. It is a particularly great pose to incorporate if you have an office job. You can also use it as part of a warm up if you are running in the evening after work. The movement also helps strengthen your core.
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How to do it: From hands and knees, tuck your toes and lift your hips up and back to form an inverted “V” shape. Press your hands firmly into the ground, lengthen your spine, and gently bend or straighten your legs to stretch through the calves and hamstrings.

Benefits: Down Dog is a staple yoga pose that provides a very effective stretch to muscles that absorb a lot of heavy impact during your runs. You'll really feel a stretch in your the calves, hamstrings and Achilles tendons, areas that often tighten up after big training weeks. It also helps lengthen the spine and improve overall posterior chain flexibility.

How to do it: Step one foot forward to the outside of your hand from a high plank or lunge position. Lower your back knee if needed, keep your chest lifted, and sink your hips forward to deepen the stretch through the hip flexors and inner thigh.

Benefits: This pose really helps to open up the hip flexors, muscles that are easy to forget to stretch and strengthen. It also helps stretch out through the groin and inner thighs. By releasing tension in these areas, Lizard Lunge can support better stride efficiency, improve range of motion, and help reduce post-run discomfort in the hips and lower back.

How to do it: From a low lunge (back knee down), lift your torso upright and raise the arm on the same side as your back leg overhead. Gently lean away from the front leg to create a stretch through the hip flexor and side body.

Benefits: This pose combines a hip flexor stretch with an extension through the side of your body. This helps create lengthen your torso and release tension around the hips and lower back – very beneficial after high mileage weeks.

How to do it: From a low lunge, shift your hips back so your front leg straightens and your toes point upward. Keep your spine long as you hinge forward slightly over the straight leg to stretch the hamstrings and calves.

Benefits: If you get particularly tight hamstrings, calves and hip area, this really improves leg length and flexibility. It can also reduce tension in the posterior leg muscles, enhancing recovery and reducing soreness after runs.

How to do it: From hands and knees, bring one knee forward behind your wrist and extend the opposite leg straight back. Square your hips as much as possible and either stay upright or fold forward over your front leg.

Benefits: This pose really opens up your hips and improves overall flexibility. It can feel uncomfortable at first if you have tightness in your glutes, but use it as an opportunity to practice some breath work and feel the tension being released. Releasing these areas helps improve hip mobility and decreases compensatory strain on the lower back.

How to do it: Start on all fours and walk your hands forward while keeping your hips stacked above your knees. Lower your chest toward the mat and rest your forehead or chin down to open through the shoulders and upper back.

Benefits: This is a variation of Child’s Pose that emphasizes opening up the shoulders, chest and upper back. This helps reduce upper-body tension accumulated from running and improves overall mobility.