Picture a typical Patriots practice or workout session. Players run hill sprints on the 90-degree days of training camp and practice in thin shells on frozen ground in the winter. There are sled pulls on the field and dead lifts in the weight room.

No wonder some take a lighter approach when they work out on their own time.

During the offseason or when they have an extra couple days off — say, during a bye week — some Patriots jump at the opportunity to mix up their routine a bit. The chance to trade the Foxborough Fridge for a trendy fitness studio, swap their drill-sergeant position coach for a charismatic instructor, and do a low-impact activity like Pilates or yoga is appealing.

Sometimes, players get hooked. Take cornerback Logan Ryan, for example. He’s an avid yogi.

“I do a lot of yoga,’’ he said. “Yoga is a big part of what I do.’’

Ryan went to his first class two offseasons ago with safety and fellow Rutgers alum Duron Harmon. They tried out a studio called Firefly in Foxborough, looking for a nice, easy way to recover from a grueling season. They were surprised by how challenged they felt by the combination of heat and poses.

“We were, like, dying together,’’ Ryan said.

Ryan liked what the stretching did for his body, though, so he continued to practice regularly until he had offseason shoulder surgery last year. He had to take a break, but has since started up again.

“I got back to it during this year and [Harmon] said, ‘I can’t believe you still do that,’ and I’m like ‘Yeah, once a week!’ Ryan said. “I don’t go three times a week like I used to but once a week or twice a week I do. It just clears my head and it makes me a bit more flexible.’’

Ryan likes to practice yoga in a room heated to 80 or 85 degrees and prefers a practice that flows through poses instead of holding them for tens of seconds, or even minutes, at a time.

“I like the active, I like the flows because I’m not flexible,’’ Ryan said. “I can’t just sit there and hold it. Downward Dog is — that’s not resting to me. That’s, like, my calves.’’

Fellow yogis who spot Ryan tend to assume that his skills on the football field will translate better to yoga than they actually do.

“Oh I look bad in there,’’ Ryan said. “I look bad in there. People see me and they expect me to stand on my head and stuff and I see these women standing on their heads and doing all this stuff and I just can’t. My shoulders aren’t strong enough for that.’’

Ryan says yoga has opened up his hips, which is helpful for a cornerback who needs to swivel in order to cover a receiver’s route and while keeping track of the football.

“I’ve got a solid Warrior,’’ Ryan said. “My Warrior One has grown. It opened my hips up, so I’ve got a solid Warrior One. Downward Dog is my least favorite.’’

An informal poll of the locker room indicated that yoga is the most popular form of cross training among the Patriots. Receiver Chris Hogan, like Ryan, has tried it in the past. He’d like it to be a more regular part of his routine, he said, but just hasn’t committed to it. (Athletes — they’re just like us!)

“I try to,’’ he said. “It’s always a goal of mine. I never consistently do it.’’

Hogan, who was a Division 1 lacrosse player until his last year of college, has branched out even further. When he revealed that he’s been to a barre class — an exercise class based on the fundamentals of ballet — he seemed to already know the reaction that was coming.

“I’ve done a barre class before,’’ he said. “I swear.’’

Just as Ryan did at yoga, Hogan expected the workout — which combines the use of resistance balls, bands, and a person’s own body weight with tiny, repetitive movements — to be easier than it was, especially when he saw that the heaviest weights in the studio were only around 15 pounds.

“I thought it was going be a joke, and I was struggling,’’ Hogan said. “I thought it was going to be a joke and it ended up . . . not being a joke.’’

The lighter, less explosive movements are challenging because they’re different from what football players normally do, but that’s the crux of the appeal. Football players don’t need to practice collisions, and their backs and joints almost always can use a break from forms of exercise that put stress on them.

That change of pace is what led Martellus Bennett to Pilates — that and his short attention span. Bennett tried yoga, but couldn’t keep his mind from wandering all over the place. Pilates offered the same benefits for balancing his muscles, but kept him focused with a faster pace. He could always modify his routine if he was dealing with an injury.

Bennett can’t go to his favorite studio, TruCore Pilates, in suburban Chicago anymore, but said that he was such a regular that, sometimes, he was let up to the front of the class.

“I could teach Pilates,’’ he said. “I’m pretty good. I’ve been doing Pilates for nine years and I do barre every once in a while when I’m in there, too, and sometimes I get to teach the classes.’’

While yoga, Pilates, and barre seem to have quite a following, spinning has not caught on among the Patriots the way it has among the non-athlete public. You will never see Jimmy Garoppolo at SoulCycle, which he said sounds “horrible.’’

The Patriots will be back at practice early next week. Until then, keep eyes peeled for any sweaty, muscular classmates Downward Dogging it with the Lululemon crowd.

Nora Princiotti can be reached at nora.princiotti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @NoraPrinciotti.