Do You Downward Dog?

For those of you that are Yoga Zombies you do not need any further that this, for those of you that are not I strongly recommend you continue reading.  


I have been running with my dog for about two years now and still to this day it amazes me that when he sees me put on my running shoes he knows what is about to happen and he immediately starts to get ready for our run. He goes into a stretching routine with his first move resembling the picture to the right and he has never ever watched one of my P90X videos. 

There has to be something to this so during your next warm-up when you are choosing a move to stretch out your hamstrings, try holding a downward dog pose, it’s a classic yoga move. So from your hands and knees, straighten your legs out and try to press your heels to the floor, keeping the back as flat as you can. Think about trying to pull your chest towards your legs by tightening your hip flexors, quads, and abdominal wall. Getting the knees to fully straighten out is the key here. The engaging of the hip flexors and quadriceps is a much better way of lengthening out the hamstrings than just bending forward from a standing position. Try holding it for at least a minute. The downward dog pose is a great move that should be used in a warm-up to really force the hamstrings to lengthen and activate the hip flexors. Try incorporating this move into your warm-up this week. 

I have always been pretty flexible for a big guy so my hamstrings were never a problem but I can tell you that this move not only had an effect on my progress in becoming more flexible but it also helped strengthen my lower back. When I first started doing Yoga again I experienced pain in my lower back from the combination of going into this move from upward dog. Now I am pain free and continuing to progress daily.