6 Poses for Lower-Body Strength and Balance| Well+Good

Yoga won’t be the very first thing that involves thoughts for difficult leg exercises, however belief us, it is a game-changer. “The apply does not simply construct bodily energy, however psychological energy as effectively,” says Paige Willis, RYT-200, licensed yoga teacher and founding father of Undone, a pop-up yoga expertise.

“Whereas it is completely different out of your typical leg day, constructing energy in yoga requires you to have interaction a number of muscle teams at a time and transfer with a variety of movement,” she says. “Consider standing poses like chair pose and crescent lunge, the place you must have interaction the muscle mass in your decrease physique to search out stability. If you happen to maintain these poses for a number of rounds of breath, you invite endurance into the equation, together with energy.”

For April 2024, we’ve requested her to host our Motion of the Month Membership, specializing in yoga. And in Week 2, we’re specializing in lower-body yoga poses. Under, Willis demonstrates six poses that not solely strengthen key lower-body muscle mass (glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves) but additionally improve your stability in ways in which conventional exercises would possibly miss.

Be a part of the Motion

If you happen to’re following together with our Movement of the Month Club, you’ll do one pose every day, Monday by way of Saturday. Then on Sunday, you’ll mix all of the asanas collectively right into a full 5-minute move.

Do every pose for 50 seconds (25 seconds on either side, the place vital) earlier than transferring on to the following one, for a complete of 5 minutes. If you happen to’re feeling particularly tight or if in case you have extra time, be happy to do every transfer for so long as feels good.

Associated Tales

1. Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

This pose strengthens your decrease physique (significantly your quadriceps and glutes) and challenges your stability, stability, and focus, whereas serving to enhance knee and ankle mobility.

1. Start standing tall together with your ft collectively and arms by your sides.
2. On an inhale, increase your arms overhead, reaching up towards the sky together with your palms going through one another or touching, relying in your shoulder mobility.
3. Exhale as you bend your knees and decrease your hips again and down as should you had been sitting into an imaginary chair.
4. Shift your weight again into your heels, protecting your ft grounded and your toes gentle.
5. Maintain your chest lifted and your backbone lengthy, avoiding rounding or collapsing ahead.
6. Attempt to hold your biceps by your ears with out elevating your shoulders.

2. Energy Lunge (Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana)

Similar to lunges you might do on the fitness center, this yoga lunge variation helps strengthen your decrease physique (glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings), in addition to your stomach muscle mass.

1. Start in downward going through canine, arms shoulder-width aside and ft hip-width aside.
2. On an inhale, step your proper foot ahead between your arms, putting it close to your proper thumb.
3. Maintain your left leg prolonged behind you, urgent by way of the ball of your foot and lifting your heel off the ground.
4. Bend your proper knee to 90-degrees, stacking it instantly over your ankle.
5. As you inhale, raise your torso and let your arms grasp by your sides.
6. Exhale as you attain your arms behind you and fold your torso over your proper thigh.
7. Inhale to come back again to upright.
8. Alternate forwards and backwards together with your breath.

3. Crescent Lunge (Ashta Chandrasana)

One other yoga lunge variation, this one additionally strengthens your decrease physique and stomach muscle mass and can assist boost your mood and power.

1. Start in downward going through canine, together with your arms shoulder-width aside and your ft hip-width aside.
2. On an inhale, step your proper foot ahead between your arms, putting it close to your proper thumb.
3. Maintain your left leg prolonged behind you, urgent by way of the ball of your foot and lifting your heel off the bottom.
4. Bend your proper knee to 90-degrees, making certain it’s stacked instantly over your ankle.
5. As you inhale, increase your arms overhead, reaching up towards the sky together with your palms going through one another or touching.

4. One-Legged Mountain (Eka Pada Tadasana)

Balancing on one leg at a time, as you do on this pose, develops energy and stability in that leg, whereas enhancing your stability and practising your mind-body connection.

1. Start standing tall together with your ft hip-width aside and arms by your sides.
2. Shift your weight onto your proper foot and raise your left foot off the bottom.
3. Bend your left knee till your thigh is parallel to the ground.
4. Interact your core muscle mass to keep up your stability and stabilize your pelvis.
5. Maintain your standing leg sturdy and regular, urgent firmly into the bottom.
6. Gently decrease your left foot again right down to the bottom and repeat on the opposite leg.

5. Standing Determine 4 (Eka Pada Utkatasana)

Maintain a wall close by in case you lose stability on this pose, which may be difficult. Standing determine 4 (a.okay.a. single-leg chair) turns up the extent of issue for one-legged mountain, making your standing leg stronger and stretching the hips and glutes of your raised leg.

1. Start standing together with your ft hip-width aside and arms by your sides.
2. Shift your weight onto your proper foot and bend your left knee, lifting your left foot off the bottom.
3. Cross your left ankle over your proper thigh, making a “4” form together with your legs.
4. Sit again into an imaginary chair by bending your proper knee and decreasing your hips down and again.
5. Launch, stand again up, and repeat on the opposite leg.

6. Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

Because the final single-leg pose on this collection, tree pose additionally improves stability, stability, and focus, whereas gently opening the hips and stretching the inner thighs.

1. Stand tall together with your ft hip-width aside and arms by your sides.
2. Shift your weight onto your proper foot and raise your left foot off the bottom.
3. Bend your left knee and convey the only real of your left foot to relaxation in opposition to the interior thigh or calf of your proper leg. Keep away from putting it instantly on the knee.
4. Lengthen by way of your backbone and raise your chest, drawing your shoulders again and down.
5. Deliver your arms collectively at coronary heart middle in a prayer place or lengthen your arms overhead together with your palms going through one another.