5 Yoga Poses Every Cyclist Should Be Practicing

Yoga and cycling may not seem like an obvious combination, but it’s truly a beneficial partnership. By balancing your cycling workouts with a regular yoga practice, you allow your body to recover, so your next ride can be that much better. Plus, regular stretching can help you increase your range of motion, as well as improve your flexibility.  

Why Cyclists Need Yoga

If you’re a cyclist, you may think cycling is the world’s most perfect sport: You’re building strength, endurance, and aerobic fitness through a low-impact activity. What more could you want? Well, for starters, variety. With cycling, you’re stuck in the same seated position for long stretches of time, so not all your muscles are getting a great workout. And that repetitive motion can lead to tightness in certain areas that make you more prone to injury. Enter: Yoga. 

Yoga Increases Flexibility

The time you spend sitting in the saddle is great for your cycling skills—but less than optimal for your muscles, which may become tight and stiff due to the repetitive motion. “Tightness in the hips and glutes can lead to muscle imbalances and incredible discomfort in your day-to-day life,” says Hannah Corbin, a Peloton instructor. “Finding length here can relieve lower back pain, which will take a load off your mind as well.” A 2016 study published in the International Journal of Yoga found that athletes who took 10 weeks of yoga classes, twice a week, had measurable increases in their hip, lower back, and hamstring flexibility.

Yoga Builds Core Strength

When you cycle, the downward stroke of the pedal engages your glutes and quads. Once you hit the bottom of your stroke, you activate your hamstrings and calves. As a result, you’re engaging all of your major leg muscles—over and over and over again. However, you’re not doing the same to your core, which is essential to counteracting the stress placed on your back during your rides. Most yoga poses require some degree of core engagement, making them a great complement to cycling. 

Yoga Helps Reduce Your Risk of Injury

Yoga may also help you avoid getting injured. A 2022 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that collegiate athletes who regularly participated in yoga had better functional movement while playing their sport, potentially lowering their risk of injury. Additionally, a 2020 study published in the International Journal of Yoga found that a regular yoga practice helped decrease fatigue and injury rates among soccer players.

Yoga Improves Breathing 

If you’re a cyclist, you know how important it is to practice relaxed breathing. A steady breath helps you control your heart rate and efficiently deliver oxygen to your working muscles. A 2012 review published in Sports Medicine found that exercisers who practiced respiratory muscle training (i.e. breathing exercises) had better endurance than those who didn’t.

Yoga can help you learn beneficial breathing techniques to use on and off your Peloton Bike,  strengthening both your lungs and heart, and subsequently making it easier to go longer and harder in your cycling classes.

How to Incorporate Yoga Into Your Training Schedule

There is no right or wrong way to work yoga into your cycling routine. Take into consideration your fitness level, how many days a week you’re cycling, and the intensity of your workouts. There are also different types of yoga to test out. In general, though, if your cycling routine includes five training days and two rest days, it may be beneficial to incorporate a restorative yoga class on one or both or your rest days to give your muscles a gentle stretch.

Best Yoga Poses for Cyclists

Overwhelmed by the number of yoga poses? It’s understandable. Below, we break down five key poses that will stretch and strengthen the muscles you use while cycling. Plus, all of them engage your core muscles.

Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana)

This posture helps open up your hip flexors, a common area of tightness for many cyclists. 

Muscles stretched: Quads, hip flexors

Seated Spinal Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana)

This movement stretches your glute muscles, which can get especially tight during cycling workouts.

Muscles stretched: Glutes, lower back, upper back, erector spinae muscles

Cat Pose (Marjaryasana) and Cow Pose (Bitilasana)

This familiar pair of poses can provide deep relief for your lower back muscles.

Muscles stretched: Lower back, upper back, neck, chest, abdominals

Standing Forward Bend Variation (Uttanasana)

This variation on a classic posture engages your tight hamstrings and calves, and allows you to stretch out your IT band.

Muscles stretched: Hamstrings, iliotibial band, calves

Upward Plank Pose (Purvottanasana)

This posture helps counteract the stress placed on your back and spine from cycling. 

Muscles stretched: Chest, hip flexors