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 follow does not simply construct bodily energy, however psychological energy as nicely,” says Paige Willis, RYT-200, licensed yoga teacher and founding father of Undone, a pop-up yoga expertise.

“Whereas it is totally different out of your typical leg day, constructing energy 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 you need to interact the muscle tissue in your decrease physique to search out stability. When you 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. Beneath, Willis demonstrates six poses that not solely strengthen key lower-body muscle tissue (glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves) but additionally enhance your stability in ways in which conventional exercises would possibly miss.

Be a part of the Motion

When you’re following together with our Motion of the Month Membership, you’ll do one pose every day, Monday by Saturday. Then on Sunday, you’ll mix all of the asanas collectively right into a full 5-minute stream.

Do every pose for 50 seconds (25 seconds on all sides, the place essential) earlier than shifting on to the subsequent one, for a complete of 5 minutes. When you’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 along with your toes collectively and arms by your sides.
2. On an inhale, increase your arms overhead, reaching up towards the sky along with your palms dealing with one another or touching, relying in your shoulder mobility.
3. Exhale as you bend your knees and decrease your hips again and down as for those who have been sitting into an imaginary chair.
4. Shift your weight again into your heels, preserving your toes grounded and your toes mild.
5. Preserve 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)

Similar to lunges chances are 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 tissue.

1. Start in downward dealing with canine, palms shoulder-width aside and toes hip-width aside.
2. On an inhale, step your proper foot ahead between your palms, inserting it close to your proper thumb.
3. Preserve your left leg prolonged behind you, urgent by the ball of your foot and lifting your heel off the ground.
4. Bend your proper knee to 90-degrees, stacking it straight over your ankle.
5. As you inhale, carry your torso and let your arms cling 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 backwards and forwards along with your breath.

3. Crescent Lunge (Ashta Chandrasana)

One other yoga lunge variation, this one additionally strengthens your decrease physique and stomach muscle tissue and may help increase your temper and power.

1. Start in downward dealing with canine, along with your palms shoulder-width aside and your toes hip-width aside.
2. On an inhale, step your proper foot ahead between your palms, inserting it close to your proper thumb.
3. Preserve your left leg prolonged behind you, urgent by 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 straight over your ankle.
5. As you inhale, increase your arms overhead, reaching up towards the sky along with your palms dealing with 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 training your mind-body connection.

1. Start standing tall along with your toes hip-width aside and arms by your sides.
2. Shift your weight onto your proper foot and carry your left foot off the bottom.
3. Bend your left knee till your thigh is parallel to the ground.
4. Interact your core muscle tissue to keep up your stability and stabilize your pelvis.
5. Preserve 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)

Preserve a wall close by in case you lose stability on this pose, which may be difficult. Standing determine 4 (a.ok.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 along with your toes 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 inside thighs.

1. Stand tall along with your toes hip-width aside and arms by your sides.
2. Shift your weight onto your proper foot and carry 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 inside thigh or calf of your proper leg. Keep away from inserting it straight on the knee.
4. Lengthen by your backbone and carry your chest, drawing your shoulders again and down.
5. Deliver your palms collectively at coronary heart middle in a prayer place or lengthen your arms overhead along with your palms dealing with one another.