Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Ooooooh - Tight Hammys!

Practice this morning was not fun. My husband and I bought an elliptical machine for our home, because we are both busy, and want to be able to have a quick workout. So I've been running on it a lot lately, and my hamstrings, hip flexors, and quadriceps are TIIII-IIIGHT.

I like the cardiovascular fitness aspect of including this workout, it is much easier to keep a slow, fluid, controlled breath during Surya Namaskar for example. However, I'm not sure about this whole tightening up thing!

Any runners out there have any suggestions? I always do a long Paschimattanasana, Badha Konasana, and Supta Virasana after I run...but any other ideas would be greatly appreciated! :)

5 comments:

CJ said...

What you're doing sounds fine. It gets tight and then after a while I think your body gets used to it and you regain some flexibility. It's a trade off also. You'll develop muscles running that you don't doing ashtanga, and these new muscles cause all sorts of stuff to go weird (my supta k effort became much much harder). After a while though, you work back into those areas and it's cool again. Just you're stronger. Good muscle around the joints means better stability I do believe.

Elaina said...

Thanks CJ :) Yeah, my Physical Therapist always says I'm "multidirectionally unstable" at my joints, so I'm sure that this will be good in the long run!

Good to know that I will regain some flexibility though, My supta Kurmasana efforts are difficult enough to being with ! :)

alfia said...

I agree with cj - tight hamstirngs mean that you are building strength there. I think it is better to built flexibility from strength than the other way round. Fewer injuries.
:)

Elaina said...

OH, CJ by the way, I just sent an email to your temporary gmail account about the private blog. Are you still checking that?

CJ said...

yep!