Post-Workout Yoga Poses to Boost Your Health

What’s Inside – 

• Why should you do yoga pose a workout?
• Yoga poses to try
• Want to learn these and more? Hith Yoga has you covered!

Cooling Down and Breathing Deep 

Nothing feels as good as a workout where you go all out – you feel high, accomplished, and you know that you have taken some major strides towards your fitness goals. But while working out is an essential part of life and health, it is important to remember that exercising also takes something away from the body, such as energy and calmness, and it can also give you things – such as soreness and a feeling of your muscles being ‘all bunched up’. 

One prominent mistake that many make is that they do not cool down after exercising. Just as your body needs to warm up to get to its peak performance, it also needs some time to relax and restore itself.  Here is how yoga training can help you post a workout – 

• Yoga helps you in stretching out all the muscles and body parts that you have just exercised. This, in turn, means that you will face less soreness and recover more quickly. A good stretch after your workout can also help you exercise more regularly without strains or injuries.
• Gentle yoga can help in bringing your heart rate back to normal, making you feel more relaxed. If you workout in the evenings, this can be especially helpful to aid you in sleeping.
• Exercising often pulls our minds in all directions, and it is not uncommon to drift away as you do something you are well used to. Yoga training can also help you in achieving mindfulness and bring you back to the present so that you are ready to tackle whatever comes after your workout. 

Hence, yoga training after a workout can help you recover faster, feel better, and be ready for what the next day will hold.

Yoga Poses to Try 

Here are some easy to do yet effective yoga for beginners that focus on lengthening, stretching and relaxation to help you enter zen mode post a workout. Just add ten to twenty minutes of yoga training to your workout, and you will feel the difference yourself – 

• Threading the Needle – Whether it be pumping iron or pushups, or the dreaded planks, your shoulders can often accumulate a lot of physical strain and tension during a workout. This yoga for beginners poses helps you open up the back of your shoulders and allows your to breathe deeply and evenly while giving your sides a nice, gentle stretch. Stay here for up to a minute, and repeat on the other side.

• Anjaneyasana (Crescent Lunge) – Get into your hips and open up your chest and shoulders with this gentle pose that helps in cultivating balance too. When done perfectly, it can also give the back a gentle inversion stretch, but focus more on the hips and learning the correct posture first. Hold the pose for up to a minute and repeat on the other side.

• Cat/Cow – Get rid of the kinks and tension in the entire length of your spine with this dynamic sequence, a must-have in the repertoire of yoga for beginners. Stretching both the abdomen and the back, this pose allows you to get in touch with your breath, while shaking off all the fatigue from your body.  Be sure that your neck moves in sync with your body – you would not want to strain it during yoga training.

• Viparita Karani (Legs Up The Wall Pose)  – If you have gone a little extra hard today, yoga training is the perfect treat for you in the form of this restorative and relaxing pose, which helps in releasing tension from the back and chest, and allows the legs, which have been jumping around, to relax. Let your breath and thoughts flow freely as you relax, and hold the pose for anywhere from five minutes to longer. 

• Balasana (Child’s Post) – Getting into those squats and lunges give you big benefits, but you also want to make sure that you stretch out your glutes and lower back post these challenging exercises. This pose, one of the easier in the yoga for beginners series, allows you to rest your hips, elongate your lower back, and if you are comfortable enough to do it, lengthen your upper body too with your hands spread out.

• Reclined Spinal Twist – Get into your back and sides with this pose, which also releases your hips and stretches your shoulders. Some may have difficulty in keeping their hand straight on the opposite side – this is completely normal. With time and practice  you will be able to enjoy the full pose.

• Shavasana (Corpse Pose) – End your yoga training cooldown with a post literally designed to help you relax. This deceptively simple looking yoga for beginners pose is a fundamental part of yoga training, and is often used at the end of sessions to help the body restore. Stay here for anywhere between ten to fifteen minutes, and release all your tension and fatigue. 

Want to Learn This and More? Hith Yoga Has You Covered!

Sure, yoga is a great way to cool down post a workout, but did you know that it can be a great way to exercise, get stronger and more flexible, reduce weight, and gain better mental health too? Intrigued? Want to dive into the world of yoga? Well, there is no better place to start than Hith Yoga. Bringing the best of yoga together through highly qualified and experienced teachers, a variety of classes, personal and corporate training sessions and regular retreats, Hith Yoga ensures that your journey into yoga is the best possible for your fitness goals and overall health. So come join Hith Yoga, and change the way you experience health and wellness.