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Have you noticed that you now have more running shoes than regular shoes? Do you dream of running and you can’t keep your legs still at night? Take this test to find out if you are a real runner.
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Are You a Real Runner?
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The runners among you know all too well the aches, pains and muscle tension that occur during or after running. These are typically felt in the back, knees, legs, ankles and hips. They not only affect those new to running, but also those who run on a regular basis. The good news is that yoga poses can help you get rid of the pain, prevent injuries and even improve your breathing during your running sessions.
Good to know:
Regular yoga has a positive impact on your flexibility, bone density, blood circulation and breathing and even helps you gain muscle. It is also perfect for relaxing and warming up before a workout and promotes post-run recovery!
Below you can find the Top 8 Yoga Poses for Runners, which can help you improve both your running training as well as your post-run recovery. Whenever possible, make sure to breathe deeply from your abdomen when doing the poses and direct your breathing to the targeted body part to intensify the stretch.
Yoga for Runners: 8 Great yoga poses
1. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
Ask anyone, yogi or not, to name a yoga pose and most likely they will mention Downward-Facing Dog. Why? Because it’s an excellent pose to check-in with your body. Within this pose you open up and stretch your arms, back and legs. You can get a general feeling for the areas which are tighter than others while in Downward-Facing Dog while experiencing sensations in the areas you should focus more on. This pose allows you to open up your calves and hamstrings and stretch your feet and achilles tendon while pushing your heel towards the ground, thus making it the perfect yoga pose for runners. In addition to being extremely regenerative, this pose improves circulation throughout the body as the head is below the heart.
How it’s done:In this pose, it is important to avoid over-stretching your legs. Keep your back straight and make sure you lift your sit bones high. You can leave your knees slightly bent if you like. If you want to stretch your calf and hamstring muscles, bend one knee and then the other. Your arms should always remain straight with your biceps facing up.
2. Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)
Triangle will stretch the hips, groins, hamstrings, the muscles surrounding the knee, calves, ankle joints, shoulders, chest, and spine. It also strengthens the abdominal muscles, obliques, back, legs, knees, and ankles. This pose includes a light spine strengthening twist. This pose is great for runners because it helps to open the groins and hamstrings and improves balance by strengthening and stretching the ankles.
How it’s done:Stand with your legs straight and your feet a bit wider than hip-width apart (but not too wide). Raise your arms so they are parallel to the floor at shoulder height. Stretch your body to one side as if someone were pulling on your hand. Your back should remain as straight as possible, and your hips should face forward. Reach your arm down as far as you can while making sure that your weight is distributed evenly through both legs (your back foot should not come off the floor) and bend down to the floor with your back straight. The goal is for your hand to touch the floor, but you can also place it on your shin. Make sure to stack your shoulders on top of each other (as if you were leaning on a wall behind you) and look up at the ceiling.
3. Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana)
This pose is a great opener for the calves, hips and hamstrings and helps to strengthen the quadriceps and knees. It’s important for everyone to have loose and flexible hamstrings. Tight hamstrings are likely the culprit of back pain and tension which can then transfer to problems with the knees and hips.
How it’s done:Stand with your feet hip-width apart and bend forward over your knees. Put your weight on your legs so you can hang naturally. Keeping your knees slightly bent will help to really relax your upper body.
4. Tree (Vrksasana)
If you want to do this pose you need to think strong and balanced. This pose is great for strengthening the calves, ankles, thighs, and the spine, while simultaneously stretching the shoulders, groin, chest, and inner thighs, and opening the hips. Another benefit of the tree pose is that it can also reduce flat feet and relieve sciatic pain.
How it’s done:Stand upright and keep your back straight and your legs active. Bring one foot up the inside of the other leg and place it there above the knee (not on the knee). The knee of the bent leg should point to the side, thus stretching your lumbar muscles. Reach both arms up above your head. Tip: Focus on a point in front of you to help keep your balance!
5. Reclining Pigeon (Sucirandhrasana)
Reclining pigeon is a gentler modification of pigeon pose, and perfect for tight hips. This pose is also excellent for stretching the connective tissue that runs along your outer thigh from your hip to your shin, the so-called IT band. This yoga pose is also known for being preventative for knee problems because a tight IT Band could eventually lead to issues with the knee. If you want to you can do this pose at the end of any run.
How it’s done:Lie on your back with your knees bent and cross one foot over the other knee, keeping your foot flexed to protect your knee. Now reach your hands behind the hamstring of the leg on the floor and hug it toward your chest. Make sure to keep your shoulders and neck relaxed.
6. Cobbler or Butterfly (Baddha Konasana)
Being a great stretch and yoga pose for runners, the cobbler’s pose opens the inner thighs, knees and groin, and even boosts mobility in the hips while releasing tension and strengthening the muscles of your back.
How it’s done:Sit with your spine straight. Bend your knees out to the side and bring the soles of your feet together. Your back should remain as straight as possible.
7. Child’s pose (Balasana)
This pose is meant to be a comforting, gentle stretch and resting pose. With the child’s pose you stretch your hips, knees, thighs, low back, and ankles. It also releases back and neck strain and helps blood flow to the brain and spine. For athletes, and especially for runners, the child’s pose aids in keeping the ankles flexible and supple, while stretching the tops of the shins and the feet, which may help in avoiding shin splints. If you already have had the chance to take a yoga class, your instructor most likely reminded you to come to this pose at any time throughout the practice if you need a break.
How it’s done:Kneel on the floor with your knees hip-width apart and your big toes touching behind you. Bend over and lay your torso down between your thighs. Sit back on your heels and rest your forehead on the mat. To increase the back stretch, you can actively stretch your arms forward and push your tailbone back. If you want to give your shoulders a rest, place your arms at the side of your body.
8. Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana)
Well-known as an excellent hip opener, the low lunge stretches the groin and thighs. Many runners suffer from tight hips, which can lead to under active gluteal muscles, resulting in potential knee and/or low back problems. For this pose you need to focus. It can be performed with the front toe up against a wall in order to promote balance and stabilization. It’s also okay to use the wall to walk your hands up until you feel stable enough to extend them above your head.
How it’s done:From a standing position, take one step forward while keeping the second leg in place. Bend the knee of the front leg at a 90-degree angle. Lower your back leg to the floor or hold it straight. Make sure to keep your back straight, your tailbone tucked under and your hips facing forward. Reach your arms straight above your head. If you have problems keeping your balance, try focusing on a point in front of you and breathe calmly.
Bottom line
Yoga for runners has many benefits. The main thing is to perform the yoga poses properly, focus on your breathing and listen to your body. As part of your warm-up and cool-down routine, these poses can get you ready to run and promote post-run recovery and muscle growth. Are you looking for the best type of yoga for beginners? Give hatha yoga a try. In this type of yoga, the yoga poses are performed slowly, and the focus is on creating a balance between breathing and movement – perfect for getting started with yoga!
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To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, we wear face masks to protect those around us from being exposed to our potentially infected respiratory droplets. But if you’ve been rocking a neck gaiter or bandana for style or ease, you’re actually not offering much protection at all, according to new research.
Scientists at Duke compared 14 different types of face coverings—including 2- and 3-ply fabric and surgical masks, various N95s, a neck gaiter, and a traditional bandana. They measured how many droplets came through the fabric when the wearer spoke.
Their findings, published in Science Advances: While some masks work quite well, bandanas offer almost no protection against the transmission of respiratory droplets. And the neck gaiter they tested actually let through more droplets compared to not wearing a mask at all.
Study on efficacy of 14 different face masks against COVID-19 Josh Erikson
Why Gaiters and Bandanas Don’t Work Well
The Duke team didn’t study why exactly some masks worked better than others. But the type of fabric and how tightly the mask fits to your face are both key components in how effective a face covering will be, says lead study author Martin Fischer, Ph.D., associate research professor of chemistry at Duke.
Bandanas leave a huge gap under your mouth for particles to travel out of as you speak or breathe.
And the material and weave of a neck gaiter—at least the one Fischer’s team used, which was a single layer of polyester/spandex—disperses larger droplets into several smaller ones, which actually increases the droplet count overall.
In addition to creating more droplets for someone to breathe in, smaller droplets stay suspended in the air for longer than big ones, thanks to gravity. That adds even more exposure risk to those around you if you’re covering your mouth with a gaiter as you pass someone on a narrow trail or in a crowded subway car.
N95 face masks sockagphoto / Shutterstock
So Which Face Masks Actually Worked?
As far as the most effective masks, Fischer’s team found a fitted N95 to be best, most likely because it has both a tight seal and thick material.
However, the valved version of an N95 mask performed very poorly. That’s not surprising considering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last week that masks with exhalation valves or vents (i.e., the face coverings you might have from construction work) do not prevent the wearer from transmitting COVID-19 to others. After all, you’re just letting all your air directly out into the world.
Second best overall was a 3-layer surgical mask, followed by a 3-layer cotton/poly blend (like the kind a family member might have sewn for you). The main takeaway here is the more layers the better—three helped significantly lower the number of respiratory droplets that were able to travel through, compared to 2-ply or single ply fabric masks.
The Bottom Line
Fitted N95 masks work best—but these should be reserved for healthcare workers, Fischer points out. Cotton masks, meanwhile, block about 80 percent of the droplets, which is “perfectly fine” for everyday use, he adds. Opt for a three-layered variety if you can. (TBD on if ties are better than elastic, Fischer says.)
Perhaps surprisingly, if a gaiter is the only face covering available, you should still use it. Fischer is quick to point out they only studied one type. Other brands and materials might perform better. But at the very least, fold your gaiter in half or three times so you have more than one layer in front of your mouth to up the protection ability, he suggests.
Overall, the tighter a mask fits to your face and the more layers of fabric between your mouth and the outside world, the better protection it will offer. (A good rule of thumb: If you can see light through the fabric, it isn’t going to offer much protection, Fischer says.)
Yes, those are two things that also make a mask harder to breathe out of when you’re working out or wearing it all day. But until we understand more about who is a carrier of COVID-19, the goal of wearing a mask should be to protect others from your own respiratory droplets. And any mask is better than no mask.
Buff Filter Mask and Asics Unisex Runners Face Cover Courtesy Images
Our Picks (Not Based on the Study)
If you’re a hardcore fitness fanatic who sweats regularly, try to time your outdoor workouts to off-peak hours in less-congested areas (i.e. avoid parks). If you’re training in extremely hot and humid conditions, try the new Buff Filter Mask ($30). It comes with five replacement filters that block 98 percent of airborne particulates (they should be replaced after 24 hours), and the adjustable back-of-head elastic bands ensure a snug fit. Or, opt for Asics’ Runners Face Cover ($40). It mitigates the spread of droplets by covering your nasal passage without inhibiting breathability within the mask. Specifically placed air holes let air in but keep your saliva from escaping out. These aren’t as foolproof as an N95, but again, those should be reserved for healthcare workers. By being more strategic about where and when you train, on top of wearing one of these masks, you’ll ultimately lower your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19.
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The reason we all love running is its simplicity: we can squeeze in our workout in wherever we are. Has your running routine become a bit monotonous? Give trail running a try — it will energize you and make your workouts much more fun!
What is trail running?
A trail is any unpaved surface; it can be rocky, muddy, icy, hilly, uphill or downhill. Trail running is often done on hiking or walking paths and is categorized as such when the runner goes “off road” into unfamiliar terrain. Trail running is an effective full-body workout. More muscles are used than when we run on flat surfaces. It also improves your balance.
Ready to give trail running a try? adidas TERREX Pro Athlete Benni Bublak has got the best trail running tips to get you started in off-road running.
3 Trail Running Tips for Beginners
1. Don’t overdo it
The most important thing for beginner trail runners is to pace themselves. Don’t go from zero to 100 right away. Start slowly, get a feeling for trail running to adjust your body to running on uneven surfaces.
Pro tip:
Instead of tackling a mountain right away, start out on an uneven path or field. Or take the chair lift or gondola up to the top and run a few loops without exhausting yourself.
2. Be Patient
Many people tend to start a new sport bursting with excitement and motivation, expecting to see changes overnight. But change takes time. When you start trail running, it will take some time before you start to see success. Be patient with yourself.
3. Have Fun on your Runs
Fun should be your number one priority as a beginner in trail running. Listen to the birds chirping, the wind rustling the leaves, and put the noise of traffic and the concrete jungle behind you for a while. What makes this sport so special is the natural environment in which you do it.
More trail running tips on the right trail running shoes and bodyweight exercises to get your body ready for it can be found on the adidas Runtastic blog.
FKT – Fastest Known Time
Trail running pros compete regularly in races around the world. Many races are cancelled right now, but there are still ways to challenge yourself and compete with others, such as Fastest Known Time (FKT). An FKT is a successful attempt to run a predefined route as fast as possible.
Even if you are a beginner in trail running, you can choose certain (short) routes to challenge yourself on a regular basis. This is a great way to keep track of your progress and see how you improve. It will keep you motivated to continue training and it’s loads of fun.
Curious which trail runners are trying to set new FKT records? We’d like to present four adidas TERREX Pro athletes.
We hope these tips for trail running will motivate you to get out there and experience nature and running in a new way. Are you already an experienced trail runner? Then maybe it’s time for you to push yourself with an FKT route!
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Every one of us is unique. We each have our own story – also when it comes to fitness. No matter what kind of sport you prefer, what motivates you, don’t compare yourself to others. What’s important is that you do what feels good for you and your body.
How Train Like You will Help You Get There
The Train Like You campaign is designed to help you harness your workout motivation and get in shape at your own pace. Join others in the Train Like an Athlete challenge in the adidas Running and adidas Training app. Motivate each other and enjoy the fun of competing in a community!
Don’t miss the four featured workouts (such as “Train like a runner”) and two guided workouts that will push you to new levels.
How can I participate in the challenges and workouts?
You can join three different challenges from July 20 to August 23. Here’s how it works:
Download the adidas Training or adidas Running app on your phone.
Open the adidas Running app and tap the Community tab or adidas Training app the Progress tab.
In the Challenges section you will find “Train like an athlete”, “Train like a trail runner” and “Train like you”. Open the challenge you want to join and tap “Join Challenge”.
Track all of your activities (listed in the challenge description) with adidas Training or adidas Running and see how great it feels to Train Like You. Now’s the perfect time to try a featured workout or one of our training plans!
You can find guided and featured workouts under the Workouts tab in the adidas Training app.
Looking for some workout motivation? We talked to three strong women who are members of adidas Runners Vienna and couldn’t be more different. They told us what motivates them to push themselves in their workouts. Check them out – you might just connect with one of their stories.
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Meet our athletes
1. Nasim
She walks into the room with the air vibrating around her. Her energy and enthusiasm is palpable as she and her sister share their stories, finishing each other’s sentences and admiring each other’s accomplishments. Nasim is a Crew Runner with adidas Runners and an adidas Runtastic Ambassador. Her major source of inspiration and workout motivation is her sister, Sajeh, who is an adidas Runners Captain.
Nasim’s motto is “You can achieve anything if you want it badly enough.” Through her life she’s been criticized for being too different, too loud. People have told her that she didn’t have the right body for running. But instead of letting these negative comments get to her, she turned them around and used them to grow stronger.
Then one day, Nasim was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disorder that damages the thyroid gland and is nine times more common in women than in men. Most people with Hashimoto’s disease eventually develop hypothyroidism. Again, Nasim demonstrated her grit and made a decision: “I want to be healthy and fit. I want to keep my disease under control.” With support from her sister, she changed her diet and made a commitment to herself to actively work on staying strong and healthy.
2. Cat
Slight in stature with glossy black hair that reaches almost to her knees, Cat glides the office gracefully and surveys her surroundings with a close eye. After getting her own questions answered, she opens up and shares insights into her life. Cat has always been petite, struggling to gain weight and muscle, even as a child. She often felt invisible, overlooked, and had trouble with her self esteem. In her early 20s she discovered her passion for dance (hip hop, freestyle, and house), which took her to New York City. The more she danced, the better she understood her body and realized how strong she really was. Cat’s self confidence grew along with her muscles.
After suffering from a herniated disc, Cat realized that she had to do more to stay in shape in addition to dancing. That’s when she discovered running. Now she knows that running is the foundation for her dancing. She also practices yoga, which helps her focus on her breathing.
Cat wants to motivate other women to feel stronger. “Even if someone tells you that you’re too weak or too thin, don’t let it discourage you. You are stronger than you think!”
3. Lolu
The last to join our meeting is Lolu, and we hear her laughter before we see her. Her stories are peppered with jokes that everyone can relate to. She is down to earth and magnetic; the image of her on stage with her African dance crew comes easily. Dance is not exercise for her. What she loves about it is the adrenaline rush and how it feels to move her body with the music. It is the perfect release after a stressful day.
Lolu was never able to understand why people got so excited about running. But when she joined the Punch Runners project with adidas Runners Vienna one day, things changed for her.
Her goal is to improve her fitness and endurance. She still describes her feelings about running as a love/hate relationship, but the adidas Runners community gives her the support and the push she needs to keep it up. The camaraderie of running together as a group is what motivates and inspires her.
No matter where you come from, what you look like, or what your goal is, whether you run, dance, or lift weights – what’s important is that you stay motivated and focus on your own personal goal. Have fun when you exercise and do it for yourself, because in the end, the things you do best are the things you enjoy. So get out there and Train like…YOU!
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by Monika Dauterive
People and Culture Manager, HR at Runtastic
I have always had a complicated relationship with sports. There have been times when I was truly athletic, and times when I did not move at all. Times when I enjoyed physical activity, and times when I had to force myself to even go for a walk. There have even been times when I was passionate about team sports, and others when I preferred to train alone. But exercise has always been part of my life – whether as a friend or foe.
In 2017, my fitness motivation hit rock bottom after I tore my ACL or anterior cruciate ligament. Within only a few months I had put on quite some weight, but also got out of shape at a level I had never experienced before. And while I had finally started appreciating and loving my body, I felt anything but fit.
How I Stayed Motivated
After a six-month break from any kind of exercise, I started running again in January 2018. At a pace of 8:00 min/km I was able to do about two to three kilometers before I had to call it quits.
I wanted to have an average of three fitness activities every week, so I started the body transformation plan in our adidas Training app. I was probably training at the lowest level possible, and I was satisfied if I finished two workouts per week. In other words: it took me about 20 weeks to finish a 12-week training plan.
I am my harshest critic, which is why I turned to my social network to boost my confidence. Every time I posted a run or a workout in my news feed, I received positive feedback from my friends; every time I had a low, somebody would take the time to encourage me to keep going. Every time I joined a group workout or run, the high fives at the end made me feel proud of not giving up and boosted my fitness motivation.
“I am my harshest critic.”
Reclaiming my Body
Eight months into my new exercise routine, my life turned upside down when my husband and I decided to split up. For six months my work-life-routine was anything but balanced, I barely slept. Instead I went out partying, and my diet was… well…non-existent. I consequently lost weight rather quickly (not sustainably though), and my running pace was crazy (for my standards). But I felt weak, tired… and not as voluptuous as I had in curvier days.
As a result, I rediscovered my fitness motivation and started working out again and immediately noticed how my arms started to feel firmer, my butt fuller, my thighs stronger, my waist narrower. I increased my workouts to three to four times per week; sometimes I even went for a run and did strength training on the same day. For me, this was (and still is) huge. Seeing the fruits of my labor was really rewarding.
I love how I feel
Even though I re-gained weight in the following months (as I started to eat again, or rather indulge in too many sweets), I felt like a total bombshell. And I still do. My scale and I have agreed that we would keep our relationship distant but friendly, and I do not freak out over minor weight changes. Usually when I look into the mirror or at pictures of myself, I like what I see.
I am not generally lazy, yet I am easily tempted to just skip a few days of workouts. The longer the break is, the harder it gets to bounce back and muster up my fitness motivation. I sometimes feel frustrated when I run slower than the week before or when I can’t do as many push-ups as I thought I could.
“It’s frustrating to lose muscle much faster than I built it; this is what keeps me going.”
Finally I have reached a stage where my body can regain muscle much faster after a break, and where I actually miss working out after a day or two. I love sucking in fresh air during a run along the lake, and I love dripping with sweat after a round of burpees (much more than I love burpees, I might add). I love that I can still easily lift my kids and that I can walk for hours without feeling tired. I love that I feel empowered, healthy and happy with my body.
About Monika
Monika Dauterive is a vital part of the Runtastic HR team and a strong ambassador of our company values. As a mother of two, she tries to be a role model for her kids by teaching them to be content and not take oneself too seriously.
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Many beginner runners quickly find themselves out of breath. This usually means that their pace is too fast. But it can also be due to inefficient breathing while running. In today’s post, we show you how to breathe properly while running and thus improve your performance. Deep belly breathing vs shallow chest breathing While running […] More
Do you want to improve your running times? Besides endurance and well-trained legs, a solid core is extremely important for your running performance. Many runners, however, are unaware of how much they can benefit from having strong abs and back muscles. Improve your running performance Running basically consists of constantly shifting your weight and changing […] More
