Warm ups don’t have to involve a ton of different stretches or take a long time.
Here is one Full-Body “Yoga Sequence” to warm you up from head to toe.
Repeat this stretch 8-15 times per side depending on what you are doing that day and if you are including other stretches in your warm up.
Quick instructions for The Yoga Sequence Warm Up:
- Set up in downward dog.
- Swing your left leg up and back toward the ceiling. Then swing it up and outside your left hand so you are in a low runner’s lunge.
- Drop your left elbow toward the instep of your foot. Make sure you keep that front foot flat on the ground.
- Then come back up to your hands and drop your right knee down to the ground. Sit back on that right knee, keeping your left leg straight out in front of you. Feel a nice stretch down your hamstring.
- Then come back forward into that low runner’s lunge and reach your left hand up toward the ceiling, rotating your chest up and open toward your leg.
- Place the hand back down on the ground then turn your back toe out and sit back into a lunge. Make sure your back heel stays down on the ground and your front leg is straight. Sit down and back as low as you can without your right (back) heel coming up.
- Then shift back forward and step your left foot back into a plank position. Push back into downward dog and repeat on the other side.
For more great warm up moves, check out these 15 Dynamic Stretches.
Here are some other great warm up routines (with a few perfect for runners and cyclists):
