Yoga for Cycle Tourists

With the lack of yoga specific to cycle touring (particularly long distance cycle touring). I thought I would share this 30 minute yoga for cycle tourists class that will help prevent those common ‘complaints’ and issues that can develop when long distance cycle touring.

I’ll be creating more and more resources to help prepare your body and mind for your cycle tour or bikepacking trip. I’ll also provide resources to help you manage common issues (like those below) that you might encounter while on the road.

I’ve also created this Yoga for Cyclists course – which is free for a limited time. Sign up now if you want to check it out. Lifetime access and downloadable classes included.

Common ‘complaints’ when long distance cycle touring

This sequence will concentrate on strengthen and stretching the main ‘problem areas’ listed below.

If you are experiencing any other common cyclist problems or have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line or visit my yoga site. A bit of a working progress at the moment, but I do offer online classes and Skype/ Zoom yoga classes (as I know how difficult it is to maintain a regular practice while cycle touring).

• Weak glutes – this is something I didn’t discover until sometime after we had finished our cycle trip and I took running back up. It turns out my quads got so strong that they were constantly over compensating for my glutes. This resulted in weak glutes, and less support for the knees (and some knee pain) particularly when running or walking downhill.
• Wrists (numbness in the fingers) – a very good cycle tourist friend of mine got this numbness so bad, she could feel or really move the entire left side of her hand.
• Tight hamstrings – Michael got this really really bad once we finished cycling across Canada. He was constantly waking up in the middle of the night with cramps in his hamstrings, and could no longer completely straighten his leg.
• Upper back, shoulders & neck – I used to get a lot of tension in my neck and upper body from a day in the saddle. I’ve created a separate article on back strengthening that gives a few more exercises on how to prepare the back for a cycle tour.

This practice shouldn’t be a substitute for seeking medical advice – this is to help prevent these issues from occurring. If you do have any persistent issues listed above then definitely look into getting it checked out.

30 minute yoga for cycle tourists class