Many assume that yoga is only meant to make our body flexible, lose weight, and have mental and emotional balance. However, there are numerous yoga poses for strength building that will make your body strong, fit, and also flexible.
Yoga will not only bring strength in particular muscles, but it will build the core strength of the body and will also enhancing mental power. If you want a beautiful and strong body in the comfort of your home, you should practice these yoga poses for strength and mental will.
List of Yoga Poses For Strength
Practicing yoga for strength exercises the deepest muscle in the body, making the inner core strong and maintaining flexibility. Here are the best yoga poses to build core body strength.
Commonly known as the “Boat Pose,” Paripurna Navasana requires you to sit on your sitting bone and tail bone and balance on the tripod. This puts pressure on the core and helps to strengthen it.
Benefits:
- Strengthens the abdominal muscle, hip flexors, and spine
- Stimulates the kidneys, thyroid and prostate glands, and intestines
- It helps relieve stress and fatigue
- Improves digestion and other gastrointestinal problems like constipation
2. Dolphin Plank Pose – Makara Adho Mukha Svanasana
This pose is just like a normal plank; hence the name dolphin plank pose is given. It is an intermediate-level rejuvenating yoga posture that helps tone the abdominal muscles.
Benefits:
- Strengthens the biceps, triceps, hamstrings, calves, abs- giving you a fully toned body
- It calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
- It helps to prevent osteoporosis
- Stretches the shoulder and strengthens it as well
3. Chair Pose – Utkatasana
Utkatasana is known as the ‘Chair pose,’ as you are required to flex your knee and hip to stay in a pose that looks as if you were sitting on a chair. This pose is simple but very effective. It is a perfect yoga pose for building endurance capacity as well.
Benefits:
- Strengthens the ankles, thighs, calves, and spine
- Increases your stamina and persistence
- Stretches and strengthens shoulders and chest
- Reduces flat feet that could be caused due to tore tendon, or rheumatoid arthritis
4. Garland Pose – Malasana
This pose is also known as ‘Garland Pose’ and is similar to a squat, but unlike squat, you need to hold the pose for some time. This is a popular asana with newcomers, as it is relatively simple to perform. However, it is also used extensively by more experienced yogis.
Benefits:
- Strengthens the pelvic floor and pelvic muscle
- It can help to get rid of hemorrhoids
- Stretches the ankles, groins, and back torso
- Tones the belly
5. Locust Pose – Salabhasana
Commonly known as the ‘Locust Pose,’ this posture helps prep beginners before starting some intense yoga. This pose is also very beneficial to get rid of the lower back pain and helps to strengthen the back as a whole.
Benefits:
- Improves body posture
- Maintains spinal stability and a strong back
- Strengthens the muscles of the spine, buttocks, and backs of the arms and legs
Stretches the shoulders, chest, belly, and thighs - Helps relieve stress
6. Warrior Pose – Virabhadrasana
Famously known as the ‘Warrior pose,’ Virabhadrasana has five variations, and among them, the first three are very beneficial when it comes to gaining core strength.
The name of this posture literally translates to “brave-friend.” Thus, it is believed that practicing these sets of postures will evoke vigor like a warrior.
i. Warrior Pose 1 – Virabhadrasana I
- Stretches the chest and lungs, shoulders and neck, belly, groins (psoas)
- Strengthens the shoulders and arms, the muscles of the back, and the legs
ii. Warrior Pose 2 – Virabhadrasana II
- Strengthens and stretches the legs and ankles
- Reliever back pain, mostly during pregnancy in the second trimester
- Therapeutic for carpal tunnel syndrome, flat feet, infertility, osteoporosis, and sciatica
- Increases stamina
iii. Warrior Pose 3 – Virabhadrasana III
- Tones the abdomen
- Improves balance and posture
- Strengthens arms and legs
7. Wide-Legged Forward Bend – Prasarita Padottanasana I
‘Prasarita Padottanasana’ is a simple yet highly effective pose for multiple purposes. This pose tests your core strength and helps to stretch your legs to the fullest. As the name goes, “Wide-Legged Forward Bend” poses challenges to your torso and the muscles of your legs.
Benefits:
- Strengthens and stretches the inner and back legs and the spine
- Tones the abdominal muscles
- It calms the brain and creates a soothing effect
- Relieves mild backache
8. Handstand – Adho Mukha Vrksasana
Mostly known as the handstand, this pose is one of the most advanced stages of yoga that requires balance, strength, and, most importantly, focus. Definitely, it’s not an easy posture to execute but doing one would strengthen and whole body.
Benefits:
- Strengthens the shoulders, arms, wrist, and upper part of the body in general
- It stretches the belly and also reduces belly fat
- Improves sense of balance
- It calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mental fatigue
How Does Yoga For Strength Works?
Yoga poses could range from mild movements of the body to intensive balances, and all these practices surely engage your core muscles. The main purpose of yoga is not to give you a visible set of abs but a much deeper strengthen.
In different inversions and arm balances, yoga assists you to raise your heartbeat, strengthen your muscles, and lengthen them out slowly or all at once.
Moreover, the best benefit of yoga is that it energizes the body instead of making it fatigue, and as you are required to take long breathes in between different postures. Thus the chance of lactic acid formation in muscle decreases, due to which you are less likely to get muscle soreness or cramps.
As yoga focus on making your body from within rather than giving some bumpy muscles, it will slowly but surely improve your strength.
Why Do You Need Core Strength?
Our muscles and our bones provide us all the strength we need, so why should we even strive so hard to build up our core strength? If you have these kinds of questions in your mind, you need to go through the following benefits:
- Core strength helps to bring inner strength balance your body
- It helps to maintain a good posture
- Required for spinal stability
- Trains the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips, and abdomen to work in harmony, which in turn helps you to do any physical activity efficiently and well
In Conclusion
Be it for getting a good body or increasing your strength, yoga helps to achieve all the factors; however, for people with severe back problems or serious health conditions, getting medical advice is essential before trying various yoga postures.
Nonetheless, yoga helps to improve your core strength and makes you both physically and mentally strong for sure.
Reference: Yogapedia | Shape | Twist-Yoga
