Use this simple pose to help your run-weary legs recover while you take a moment to relax.

This post-run exercise gives beat-up legs a healing boost. It is a useful useful cool-down exercise that will make your legs feel revitalised.

Legs up the wall

Lie with your butt against a wall, legs extended up, perpendicular to the floor. Keep the entire back of each leg in contact with the wall if you can; if your hamstrings feel strained, slightly bend your knees. Open your arms to the sides, palms up, and hold for five to 15 minutes. For an added hip and groin stretch, bend your knees outward and bring your feet sole-to-sole.

After running hard or long hours of standing waste products and even your body’s own healing nutrients and chemicals can pool in your legs, creating extra inflammation that harms rather than heals. This cool-down routine reduces swelling, calms your nervous system, and sends a fresh supply of blood to carry nutrients to—and toxins from—fatigued muscles and joints. Use this simple pose to help your run-weary legs recover while you take a moment to relax.  If more than 30 minutes have passed since your hard run, start with five to 10 minutes of brisk walking to bring your heart rate back up and reopen constricted vessels.

Source: Runner’s World