- The Durafoam mat is quite useful when stretching. Lie on your back and bring your knees to your chest to stretch your lower back. Your spine will be protected on your Durafoam mat. You can also extend your legs straight and pull your right leg up toward you to stretch your hamstrings. Hold for 30 seconds and then stretch your left leg. Kneel on the mat and put your hands behind you. Sit on the mat with your ankles at your sides. Walk your hands back until you put your elbows on the floor to stretch your quads. Lie all the way down if you have the flexibility. Hold at your range of motion for 30 seconds.
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Yoga at home or in a class can often involve rolling exercises or poses like Table that put your knees on the ground. Putting a Durafoam mat under your sticky yoga mat or buy a ribbed Durafoam mat. This will make yoga much more comfortable without adding too much challenge to balance exercises such as Tree pose or Spiral Dancer. You can wrap your yoga mat and Durafoam mat together and secure them with the velcro straps. You'll definitely appreciate the mat when doing shoulder stands, plows or anything that puts weight on your neck. Other poses like Cat and Cow that are done on your hands are knees will feel better on a Durafoam mat.
The best exercise to do on your mat is a roll. Lie on your back, cross your ankles and roll side to side to release lower back tension. Then roll forward and backward from your neck to a seated position. - Pilates and other core exercises will be more comfortable on a mat. Sometimes, Durafoam mats are called Pilates mats. A good exercise to do on the mat is a side-lying leg lift. Without the mat., your hip bone may dig uncomfortably into the floor. So lie sideways on your mat on your right side. Straighten your legs. You can do this with bent knees to make it easier. Lift your left leg a few inches into the air. Do 12 to 20 lifts on one leg and then roll over and do the other side.
