The Cobra Pose lengthens one’s abdominal muscles, strengthens the spine and other surrounding muscles that stabilize one’s shoulder blades. This helps make one’s cycling posture more solid and decreases chances of lower back pain. To do the cobra pose, lie face down on a mat and bring your hands below your shoulders. Press the top of your feet down into the mat, keeping your elbows bent, press into your hands and lift your chest away from the floor. Keep your elbows drawn in towards your sides so that your shoulders don’t round forward. Hold for 30 seconds, keep breathing through the pose, and release.
While cycling offers great cardio benefits, muscular endurance and strength, many cyclists experience tension in the shoulders, back and hips - specifically. One’s muscles gets used to the positioning of the body while on the saddle, and the ‘bent forward’ position can add strain on one’s muscles increasing the tension felt. Yoga helps strike a balance in the body so that this cycling posture does not become the default resting posture. We have picked five popular yoga poses that help cyclists, all-round.
COBRA
LOW LUNGE TWIST
The low lunge twist stretches and opens out one’s hip flexors, quads, chest, shoulders and spine. To do this pose, start in a low lunge, your right foot between your hands. Make sure that your right knee is directly above your right ankle and not in front of it. Drop your left knee to the floor. Bring both your hands to the inner side of your right leg. Keep your left hand planted on the floor, inhale and stretch your right arm forward in front of you. Then, exhale and bring your right arm up and back towards the area behind you. Your chest faces your right leg. Once you are ready, try bending your left knee and holding your left foot at the back with your right hand. Hold this position for 15 seconds, and then repeat on the other side.
COW FACE POSE
The ‘Cow Face’ posture targets one’s shoulders and glutes and is great for cyclists as it provides a different range of motion for the hips to explore rotation as opposed to extension and flexing. To practice this pose, sit cross legged, pulling your right knee directly over your left knee. Ensure that you do not sit on your left heel, and that your sit bones are grounded down into a mat. It is okay if your knees are slightly apart and not perfectly stacked. Sit up straight lifting your rib cage away from your pelvis, completely lengthening your spine. Stretch your arms out to your sides so that your right palm faces up, and your left palm faces the ground. Bend both elbows so your right palm and the back of your left hand rest on your back. Try to connect your fingertips together, without straining too much. If you can’t connect them, hold onto either end of a strap or towel or just let your hands rest on your back. Make sure your chest remains lifted, your back straight, and your core remains engaged. Hold for 15 seconds, and switch hands repeating for another 15 seconds.
BOUND ANGLE OR BUTTERFLY POSE
This pose strengthens one’s inner thigh muscles and outer gluteal muscles. To practice this pose, sit on your mat with your legs stretched out in front of you. Turn your legs outwards so that your feet form a ‘V’, and bend your knees so that the soles of your feet touch each other. Bring your heels as close to your pelvis as you can while keeping your knees as close to the ground as possible. Grasp your feet, ankles or shin (whichever is comfortable). Remember to keep your spine lengthened at all times. Hold for 30 seconds, breathe through the stretch.
BRIDGE POSE
This pose helps strengthen one’s glutes and hamstrings. To practice this pose, lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat on the ground and heels close to your bum. Your arms are by your side, palms facing down. Press down into your feet and arms to lift only your hips off the ground. If this is too easy, lift one leg off the floor too, but make sure that your hips stay level. Hold for 30 seconds.
Conclusion
These yoga poses are great to help cyclists bring balance into their bodies, and stretch out those tight tense muscles. This in turn helps improve performance on and off the saddle. Do remember to breathe deeply throughout these poses, and maintain the right posture for them to be effective.
