Yoga for Athletes: Hip and Hamstring Flow Explained

Most yoga sequences for runners and cyclists are built around a single goal, loosening tight hips and hamstrings before or after a long session. Teddy McDonald's "Yoga for Athletes: Hips and Hamstrings" class, the 271st in his numbered series, is more interesting than that goal suggests. Filmed live and posted to YouTube in March 2021, it shows an endurance athlete and yoga teacher working through a roughly ninety-five-minute session that moves from breath and neck mobility into wide-legged inner-thigh openers, side-to-side hip warm-ups, sun salutations, a deliberate split of the calf from the hamstring, and a pigeon pose. Along the way he modifies his own practice around a healing shoulder, narrates why each adjustment matters, and treats the mat as a training environment rather than a place to chase flexibility for its own sake. What follows draws on the opening stretch of that session, and on the logic behind the choices he makes.

What does a yoga class for athletes look like when it starts on a live stream?

The class opens the way many of McDonald's sessions do: feet about shoulder-width apart, palms together, eyes closed, a few breaths in and out through the nose. He mentions up front that the class is streamed live alongside a half marathon crew, which explains the mix of audience and athletes in the room. There is no rush. Before any pose, he asks students to set an intention, and he is loose about what that intention should be: "release some stress, heal, strengthen, whatever that means for you," he says, encouraging them to "add a deeper meaning to your breath and your movements."

The warm-up that follows is slow and unglamorous on purpose. Neck stretches side to side, circles of the arms, shoulder rolls forward and back, a clasped-hands reach overhead with the ribs gently drawn down. For a runner who spends most of a week in a forward-leaning position, this is where the upper body gets its first real attention. It is also where McDonald starts teaching a habit that shows up through the whole class: find the edge, then breathe into it rather than forcing past it.

Why does the wide-stance fold matter so much for hamstrings?

Around the five-minute mark, McDonald widens the stance and sinks side to side, stretching the inner thigh of the leg that is not bending. He then moves into a twist, lengthening the upper body before rotating, and returns to the side-bend position on the other leg. The pattern repeats: one hip, then the other, then a deeper variant where the rear arm reaches back and the torso rotates open.

The most useful instruction in this section comes during the side-to-side hip warm-up, roughly at the 8:37 mark. McDonald tells students to protect their knees and hips first, and to treat any support as a legitimate tool. Then he states the principle that organizes the whole class:

"The lower the hips are, the deeper the stretches."

Teddy McDonald, live-streamed hip-focus class, Yoga for Athletes: Hips and Hamstrings (2021).

That is a practical rule and a limit at the same time. A deeper hip sink can intensify the stretch quickly, so the lowering should be gradual and matched to what the joints tolerate. Later, in the wide-legged forward fold, he asks students to scoot the hips back and let the head drop. The reason is specific: the hips shifting back changes where the pull lands. McDonald says he wants "to get it more into the hamstrings a bit," and the adjustment is a clear example of how small changes in pelvic position redirect a stretch from the lower back toward the back of the thigh.

How do you tell whether a tight leg is a calf problem or a hamstring problem?

This is the most instructive section of the class. From a downward-facing dog, McDonald bends one knee and presses the opposite heel toward the floor. At first he simply asks students to drop into the stretch, which he describes as a "mass stretch," a broad, general sense of the back of the leg lengthening. Then he changes the question. He wants students to understand the difference "between isolating the lower part of the leg, calf and Achilles, and the upper part of the leg, the hamstring."

The method is a micro-bend. With the back leg lifted and the front leg on the floor, he asks students to bend the knee slightly and also bend at the ankle, letting the foot flex so the Achilles and lower calf take more of the stretch. Then he straightens the leg, allowing the hamstring to receive more of the work. Students are asked to notice which one they feel more and to adjust the bend to find that distinction in their own bodies.

For endurance athletes, the distinction matters. A calf that feels "tight" after a run may be responding to the Achilles or to the hamstring, and stretching the wrong one does not solve the problem. McDonald's approach gives students a way to test it themselves instead of guessing. It also reflects a broader theme of the class: the athlete's body is a set of distinct tissues, and yoga is a tool for learning to address them one at a time.

How does a teacher modify poses around an injury mid-class?

McDonald is open about his own shoulder. During the sun salutation section, around the 24:57 mark, he says, "my shoulder saga seems to be healing," adding that it is "still a little tender but all these modifications have been helping." His adjustments are concrete. Instead of full chaturanga, he lowers only halfway, which he calls a "baby chaturanga," and he repeats the push-up five times with a shallower range. He also notes that he is not trying to strain it, and he lowers to the knees and mat when the shoulder asks for it.

"Good news is it hasn't gotten any worse. It is getting better."

Teddy McDonald, during the sun salutation sequence of the live-streamed class (2021).

There is a lesson in that for students who are working through their own injuries. The class does not pretend the shoulder is fine, and it does not abandon the flow. It keeps the sequence intact and changes the depth of the work. For athletes who are used to pushing through discomfort, that is a meaningful shift. The modifications are not a concession. They are the practice.

The vinyasa section that follows is paced with breath counts and cues: fold on the exhale, extend the spine on the inhale, step or hop back, lower, and then flow through upward-facing dog or cobra into downward dog. The rhythm keeps the heart rate moderate and the transitions smooth, which is a useful model for anyone trying to bring a steady breath into a long run or ride.

What is the role of pigeon and the closing hip work?

Later in the session, around the 47:36 mark, McDonald moves the class into pigeon, a deep external-rotation and hip-opening pose that many athletes find both rewarding and uncomfortable. The pattern of the whole class holds: enter gradually, use support if needed, and reserve the deepest variations for the hips that are ready. Earlier in the session he also makes an offhand but telling observation about his own body: "if you're tight like me, most likely," he says, before explaining why a particular variation may feel different from one student to the next. That candor is part of why the class reads as a teaching environment rather than a performance.

The transcript available for this write-up covers the first part of the class in detail, and it captures a lot of conversational asides: skiing plans, a question from a student, and a stretch of discussion about how the studio handled the 2020 closures and mask rules. Those moments are real texture in a live class, but they are not the core of the teaching, and this breakdown stays with the poses.

Why does a class for athletes emphasize longevity?

The video description frames McDonald's work under the name Conscious Endurance, a community he describes as "like minded people who want to live and maintain an active, healthy 100+ years." That ambition is visible in the class itself. Nothing in the sequence is about peak performance or a dramatic posture. It is about joints that keep moving, hamstrings that release without tearing, shoulders that heal without being abandoned, and breath that stays steady through the whole practice. For an athlete thinking about the next twenty or thirty years rather than the next race, that is the right frame.

Where to go from here

If you are an endurance athlete looking for a way to work on hips and hamstrings, the most useful takeaways from this class are practical. Set a clear intention before you start. Use props and sink into hip openers gradually. When you feel tightness in the back of the leg, test whether it is the calf and Achilles or the hamstring by using the micro-bend. And when an old injury is still tender, modify the depth of each pose rather than dropping the whole sequence.

To follow McDonald's ongoing work, his newsletter is at teddymcdonald.com/newsletter, and the Conscious Endurance community is at conscious-endurance.mn.co. Start with the basics, repeat them consistently, and let the practice tell you what your body needs next.