FLEX TIME
Yoga isn't just for folks who can already bend like a pretzel. In fact, tight, inflexible runners stand to gain the most.
By John Hanc
From the August 2004 issue of Runner's World
I'm not alone, of course. Surveys show that 16.5 million Americans practice yoga. Many of them do so with the zeal and obsessive drive of runners, proclaiming that yoga has changed their bodies, changed their consciousness, changed the very way they breathe. How valid are these claims--and more important, just what can yoga do for runners? "There is nothing evidence-based about the injury prevention or flexibility benefits of yoga," says physiologist Ralph LaForge of Duke University Medical Center and a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. That said, LaForge--also a nationally-ranked masters runner--adds that he has been practicing yoga for years.
Proponents of yoga have their own language: They talk about lengthening "short, puffy muscles"; about "opening up" and "creating space" within joints. Some of these claims might be questioned by an exercise physiologist or physical therapist. But Alysia Mastrangelo, who is both, as well as a runner, believes that while the scientific evidence may be scarce, the benefits are real, especially for runners. "Tight muscles create imbalances and every step you take makes the situation worse," says Mastrangelo, a professor of physical therapy at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. "Because yoga focuses on balance, flexibility, and proper alignment, and can relax and elongate the muscles, I would absolutely recommend it as part of a training program for runners."
The value of yoga for our sport has been recognized as far back as the 1950s, when the great Herb Elliott--a renowned middle-distance runner, Olympic gold medalist, and world record holder from Australia--studied yoga. "Yoga is based on quieting the demands of the body and allowing the strength of the spirit to come through," Elliott said in a 1996 interview. "That's very appropriate for athletics, to challenge the weaknesses of the body and develop that inner drive to carry you through the pain."
If all of this is sounding very mind-body, well, that's exactly what yoga is. The word itself is Sanskrit for "yoking" or "union"--an integration of mind, body, and soul. But can static, noncompetitive yoga and its exercise opposite--dynamic, goal-oriented running--ever truly be integrated into one training program? Yes, provided you appreciate the yin-yang relationship of the two disciplines, and don't go into yoga class with a stopwatch or heart-rate monitor, trying to measure your performance. "Patience is a virtue in yoga," says Christine Feldstead, who teaches a yoga class for runners in Toronto. "Just the fact that you feel good when you leave class is a measure of progress."
Sometimes, yoga can produce striking results in a relatively short time. A case in point is Nicola Cantley, who in 2002 was training for the Dublin Marathon. A series of aches, pains, and overuse injuries began to hamper her training to the point that one morning, about five weeks before the race, "I couldn't get out of bed," she says. A desperate Cantley, who was then living in Toronto, attended one of Feldstead's classes. "I walked out without limping," she says--enough of an improvement that she threw herself into yoga. She attended five classes a week and ran the other two days in a last-ditch attempt to recover for the marathon. This unorthodox yoga-heavy, running-light training program worked. Cantley finished the Dublin Marathon in 3:10--a personal best by six minutes. "I was over the moon," she says. "Yoga is now part of my training program."
Thom Birch went even further into orbit over yoga. A runner at the University of Houston in the 1970s, Birch had just signed a pro contract with Nike when he tore his Achilles tendon. "My surgeon told me I would never run again," he says. Birch, a New York native, heard about a yoga class being taught for the New York Road Runners by a woman named Beryl Bender. "I went to the class, Beryl put me through some postures, and all of a sudden my foot, which could not flex because of the tear, released," he says. After eight weeks of yoga, Birch soared to a 29:20 in the 10-K. He didn't stop there. Birch and Bender got married, and he, too, became a yoga teacher. In 1990, at age 36, Birch won his age group in the National Cross-Country Championship. "It was the yoga," he says.
I wasn't going to be winning any national championships, no matter how many downward dogs I did. Still, it was the yoga that, through the fall of 2003, gave me a spring in my step and a looseness in my stride I hadn't felt in previous marathon build-ups. It was the yoga that kept my shoulders back and my mind at ease at the starting line. It was the yoga that made me feel, at age 48, a little more like the limber runner of my youth, and helped me finish that year's Philadelphia Marathon in 3:07, my 19th career marathon, and third best time. Whether in marathon training or not (I've run three since then), it is the weekly practice of yoga that continues to soothe my muscles and my sometimes stressed-out soul.
Yoga Decoded
In the two years I've been practicing yoga, my instructors have included a prim corporate trainer, a big burly guy who could have been coaching football ("come on, hit that pose!"), and a hippie-dippie who mused about the meaning of life. Some of these teachers were terrific--others were not for me. "Finding the right teacher is the most important thing," says Christine Feldstead, who teaches a yoga for runners class in Toronto. "There are a lot of yoga teachers out there, and individual styles vary greatly." Finding a good match might involve sitting in a few different classes and finding an instructor you feel comfortable with.
There are several major yoga styles or schools, which share a common lineage. Almost all fall under Hatha Yoga, which seeks to achieve a balance of mind, body, and spirit through the practice of specific asanas (poses) and breathing. The differences between the styles are more a matter of emphasis--on breathing, alignment, coordination of breath and movement, on holding the posture, or on the speed with which the practitioner flows from one posture to another. As yoga has become Westernized, the differences between the "brands" are vanishing. "No one type of yoga is better than another," says Sherry Roberts of yogamovement.com. "It is simply a matter of personal preference." That said, here's a list of some of the more common ones:
Ananda Yoga: A gentle and inward-focused style that's not as athletic or aerobic as other styles.
Ashtanga Yoga: A more challenging workout, where the practitioner moves from one posture to another rapidly to build strength and flexibility. Power Yoga is a form of Ashtanga.
Bikram Yoga: Involves a set series of 26 asanas practiced in a room that may be as hot as 100 degrees in the belief that the body will be more flexible in heat.
Iyengar Yoga: Pays attention to the precise alignments of the postures, and uses props, such as belts and blocks, to help the flexibility-challenged do the poses correctly.
