10 Yoga Poses Every Cyclist Needs In Their Life

Whether you’re an avid cyclist or a spin studio regular, stretching and cross-training are crucial to maintaining strength, recovery, and preventing injury. Enter: yoga for cyclists. Here, fitness trainers share their fave poses that give your body TLC after your latest ride.

Child’s Pose

Release low-back tension and gently stretch your quads and ankles before or after a long ride with child’s pose, says Jeff Bentle, a yoga teacher with Huffy Bicycles. Breathe deeply while holding the position to soak in all the benefits of the stretch.

Bridge

Your glutes are one of the main muscles that power your pedaling, so strengthening your booty off the bike with bridge pose will serve your ride, says YogaSix trainer Emilie Porter-Rand. Bonus? It lengthens the front of your body to counteract bike posture stiffness.

Downward Dog

Downward dog builds strength, mobility, and flexibility in one convenient move. Tone your arms, open up tight shoulders, and stretch the backs of your legs by holding the pose, says Bentle. Extra tight hamstrings? Pedal out your legs to further loosen up.

Cat/Cow

Your back and torso work hard to keep you balanced and upright as you pedal, says Porter-Rand. Help those muscles relax and recover after your ride by moving through a few rounds of cat/cow, inhaling for cow pose and exhaling for cat.

Hip Circles

Mobile hips are key to a smooth pedal stroke, and Porter-Rand says hip circles can help. Start in tabletop with one leg extended. Draw your knee to your arm, then circle it up and back to its original position. Repeat a few times in both directions, then switch sides.

Chair Pose

Lengthen and strengthen all your cycling muscles at once with chair pose, says Bentle. Holding the pose gently stretches and engages your lower back, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and ankles to keep you in tip-top spinning form.

Kneeling Lunge

Target tight hip flexors and hamstrings with this classic post-workout yoga stretch. If you’d like to loosen up your shoulders and chest too, Porter-Rand says to lower one hand to the ground and lift one up as you twist your chest open towards your front leg.

Half Splits

Logging miles on your bike can strain your hamstrings, and Porter-Rand says that half splits can ease some of that tension. You can also target ankle mobility — for your pedaling technique — by pointing and flexing your foot while holding the stretch, she says.

Warrior I

Your legs aren’t the only thing working while you cycle. Give your shoulders, arms, and upper back some love with warrior I pose, says Bentle. The light lunge motion will also stretch out your lower body and improve your hip alignment, he adds.

Dancer’s Pose

Good balance is crucial to keeping you perched on your bike seat. Build that stability with dancer’s pose, which Bentle says can help strengthen the joints and muscles in your legs and ankles that keep you upright whether you’re on your two feet or two wheels.