Athletes There's a Class for That

Bike Ride Recovery and Yoga – Make Your Next Ride Better

Yoga for Cyclists

Yoga as a physical practice was developed to help yogis both prepare and recover from long periods of seated meditation. It’s no surprise that yoga practices are widely used to help with recovery from sport.

Recovery has long been a hot topic as a cyclist can only ride for so many miles and so many days in a row before their body begins to breakdown. We know that adaptation happens in the recovery period between rides and not during the actual training itself. Coaches and riders alike are looking for off-the-bike solutions to maximize recovery.

As the body gets tighter and tighter with the repetition of pedaling and static position on the saddle, recovery becomes more and more difficult over time.

Yoga can counteract the consequences of time in the saddle by maintaining flexibility, helping with range of motion and improving sleep; thus, adding up to a significant recovery boost from which all cyclists can benefit.

Spanda in Sanskrit means “pulsation”. Things go in and go out. We exert ourselves during the day, and then we take rest at night. In the same way when you ride a bike for long hours, you must take time to repose, recover and restore your body. The degree to which you take time to pause, stretch, and breathe are correlated to how much you’ll be able to rock it on the bike the next day.

We developed a series of classes to maximize recovery time and help absorb the benefits of a ride. The classes are designed to maintain range of motion and flexibility while simultaneously ensuring not to detract from the training load or challenge the body after a hard ride.

Cyclists ride bikes to fuel their souls and yoga can help rejuvenate between each ride!

About Taro Smith, Ph.D.

Taro is a physiologist, yoga teacher, and former bike racer. He designs specialty content for YogaGlo to benefit a broad range of yoga practitioners. He is the co-founder of Boulder Cycle Sport, a nationally renowned cycling retailer and 90 Monkeys, a professional yoga school. Connect with Taro on the bike via Strava TSmith and on LinkedIn Taro Smith

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