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

Yoga may not be the very first thing that involves thoughts for difficult leg exercises, however belief us, it is a game-changer. “The apply would not simply construct bodily power, however psychological power as nicely,” 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 power in yoga requires you to interact 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 it’s a must to interact the muscle tissues in your decrease physique to seek out stability. When you maintain these poses for a number of rounds of breath, you invite endurance into the equation, together with power.”

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 tissues (glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves) but additionally improve your stability in ways in which conventional exercises may miss.

Be part of the Motion

When you’re following together with our Movement of the Month Club, you’ll do one pose every day, Monday via 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. When you’re feeling particularly tight or when you have extra time, be at liberty to do every transfer for so long as feels good.

1. Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

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

1. Start standing tall along with your ft collectively and arms by your sides.
2. On an inhale, increase your arms overhead, reaching up towards the sky along 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 have been sitting into an imaginary chair.
4. Shift your weight again into your heels, preserving your ft grounded and your toes gentle.
5. Maintain your chest lifted and your backbone lengthy, avoiding rounding or collapsing ahead.
6. Attempt to preserve your biceps by your ears with out elevating your shoulders.

2. Energy Lunge (Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana)

Identical to lunges it’s possible you’ll do on the gymnasium, this yoga lunge variation helps strengthen your decrease physique (glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings), in addition to your stomach muscle tissues.

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 via the ball of your foot and lifting your heel off the ground.
4. Bend your proper knee to 90-degrees, stacking it immediately over your ankle.
5. As you inhale, raise your torso and let your arms dangle by your sides.
6. Exhale as you attain your arms behind you and fold your torso over your proper thigh.
7. Inhale to return again to upright.
8. Alternate forwards and backwards along with your breath.

3. Crescent Lunge (Ashta Chandrasana)

One other yoga lunge variation, this one additionally strengthens your decrease physique and stomach muscle tissues and may also help boost your mood and power.

1. Start in downward going through canine, along 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 via the ball of your foot and lifting your heel off the bottom.
4. Bend your proper knee to 90-degrees, guaranteeing it’s stacked immediately over your ankle.
5. As you inhale, increase your arms overhead, reaching up towards the sky along 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 power and stability in that leg, whereas enhancing your stability and working towards your mind-body connection.

1. Start standing tall along 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. Have interaction your core muscle tissues to keep up your stability and stabilize your pelvis.
5. Maintain your standing leg robust 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 could be difficult. Standing determine 4 (a.ok.a. single-leg chair) turns up the extent of problem for one-legged mountain, making your standing leg stronger and stretching the hips and glutes of your raised leg.

1. Start standing along 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 along with your legs.
4. Sit again into an imaginary chair by bending your proper knee and reducing 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 sequence, tree pose additionally improves stability, stability, and focus, whereas gently opening the hips and stretching the inner thighs.

1. Stand tall along 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 towards the inside thigh or calf of your proper leg. Keep away from putting it immediately on the knee.
4. Lengthen via your backbone and raise your chest, drawing your shoulders again and down.
5. Convey your arms collectively at coronary heart heart in a prayer place or prolong your arms overhead along with your palms going through one another.