Teddy McDonald's "Class 288 - Yoga for Athletes - Hamstrings Hips & Shoulders" is a little over an hour long, published in late July 2021, and aimed at a specific reader: the endurance athlete whose body is built around repetition. McDonald describes himself as an endurance athlete and yoga teacher, and he is the creator of Conscious Endurance, a community he frames around staying active and healthy for a 100-plus-year life. The title tells you the session targets three areas that tend to set the limits for runners, cyclists and other distance athletes: the hamstrings, the hips and the shoulders. No transcript is available for the video, so this piece does not attempt to recount what he says minute by minute. Instead, it explains why those three regions matter for endurance training, what yoga-based mobility work is generally meant to do for them, and how to approach a session like this with clear expectations.
The hamstrings are a group of muscles running along the back of the thigh. They cross two joints, the hip and the knee, which is why they show up in almost every stride. A runner uses them to pull the leg back and to bend the knee during the swing phase. A cyclist uses them through the pedal stroke, particularly on the pull at the bottom and back of the rotation. Because they work across two joints, they are sensitive to posture: a pelvis that tilts forward or back changes how much stretch the hamstrings can tolerate, and that in turn changes how the stride or stroke feels.
For endurance athletes, the practical concern is less about touching the toes and more about range that can be used under load. A hamstring that cannot lengthen enough may pull the pelvis into a different position, shifting work onto the lower back or the knee. Yoga-based work typically addresses this through slow, sustained positions that let the tissue adapt to length without bouncing or forcing. The emphasis is usually on control, breath and gradual change, rather than the deep end-range stretch a sprinter might chase.
The hip joint sits where the trunk meets the leg, and it governs how the pelvis sits during almost every cycle of running or riding. The hip flexors, which lift the knee toward the chest, can become short and tight in athletes who spend long hours seated on a bike or in a car. The glutes, which extend the hip and stabilize the pelvis, can become underused when the rest of the body takes over. When hip range is limited in one direction or the other, the stride often compensates somewhere else, and the knee or low back takes on extra stress.
That is why hip work appears so often in mobility-focused yoga. The aim is generally to restore a balanced range of motion in the joint, which supports a stride that is more efficient and a pedal stroke that does not twist the pelvis. The hips are also where a lot of the stored tension from long training blocks tends to accumulate, which makes them a common focus for athletes who feel stiff without a clear injury.
It can seem odd to find the shoulders in a class about the legs, but the upper body shapes how an endurance athlete moves. Cyclists hold a forward position on the handlebars for hours, which tends to round the upper back and pull the shoulders forward. Runners use an arm swing that counterbalances the legs, and swimmers depend on a wide and mobile shoulder girdle. When the shoulders are restricted, the chest and neck can become tight, breathing can get shallower, and the trunk loses some of the stability it needs to transfer force down through the hips and legs.
Shoulder mobility in a yoga session usually involves opening the front of the chest, lengthening the muscles along the side of the torso, and encouraging the shoulder blades to move freely on the back of the ribcage. For an athlete, the value is less about flexibility for its own sake and more about maintaining a posture that supports breath and power over a long event.
A class of this length rewards a steady, unhurried approach. Some practical principles apply to almost any mobility session built around these areas:
- Breathe through each position rather than holding your breath to push deeper.
- Stop at the first sensation of sharp or pinching discomfort, and ease off to a comfortable edge instead.
- Expect change over weeks, not a single session. Tissue adapts slowly, and consistency matters more than intensity.
- If you are recovering from an injury or managing a condition, check with a qualified clinician before adding new stretching to your routine.
Many endurance athletes find that short, regular sessions fit better into a training week than one long block, so an hour-long class is best treated as a resource to return to, with specific positions pulled out and practiced when time allows.
The description places this class inside a larger project. McDonald points viewers to a newsletter and to Conscious Endurance, a membership community he describes as made up of like-minded people who want to stay active and healthy into their hundreds. He also lists several meditation courses, and the description includes affiliate links for bloodwork testing, genetic testing and nutrition products. Those links are worth noting. Readers who are considering any of those services should evaluate them on their own terms and not assume an endorsement from the class itself. The class, as titled, is about the body's mobility; the broader community, as described, is about a longer and more active life.
If the hamstrings, hips and shoulders are areas you feel restricted in, start by watching the original video on your own schedule and noting which positions feel most useful. Use the links in the video description to explore McDonald's newsletter and community if you want more of his teaching. Then build a short practice of two or three sessions a week, focusing on one area at a time, and pay attention to how your stride, pedal stroke or stroke mechanics change over the following month. Mobility is a long game, and the most useful measure is how your training feels after a few months of steady work.
