Blog
A yoga instructor says you’ll get a stronger core if you practice these three poses
Yoga requires strength, balance and flexibility to perform, and in turn, improves these traits the more you practice. For all but one or two poses, your core will be working to keep you upright and stable, and having a strong core allows you to access more complex and demanding yoga poses as your ability improves.
“Our core musculature wraps and protects the bones and vital organs of our center,” explains yoga teacher and owner of Auburn Yoga Studio, Gwenn Jones. “To remain erect when standing, balancing, walking and sitting, we need a capable body center, and yoga constantly engages our back, abs, hips and glutes.”
For a short challenge to your core, Jones recommends the following three holds.
1. Bird dog hold
Watch On
Sets: 3 Reps: 3 each side
How to do it:
- Get on your hands and knees with your back flat.
- Inhale and slowly stretch your right arm forward until it is parallel with the floor, then pause here.
- If you can hold your balance, extend your left leg behind you until it is parallel with the floor.
- Hold for three to five breaths, keeping your abs tight and your hips square to the floor. Focus on pulling your navel back towards your spine.
- Lower your limbs to the start slowly, then repeat on the other side.
- Continue, alternating sides with each rep.
Form tips: “To intensify core activation, press the rooted foot down into the ground,” says Jones. “To keep the raised leg active, flex your foot and reach your heel backward.”
Why Jones recommends it: This exercise engages muscles in the back, core and butt. It also challenges your balance and develops anti-rotation (resisting the pull of gravity on your raised limbs), and strengthens your posterior chain (the muscles that run down the back of the body).
2. Triangle pose
Watch On
Sets: 3 Reps: 3 each side
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, arms extended to the sides, and turn your right foot to the side.
- Activate the muscles in your legs, upper back and core, lengthen your spine, and lift your crown, then inhale as you reach to the right, moving from your hips. Pause here and feel your core activation.
- Exhale and keeping your arms in line, lower your right arm and raise your left arm.
- Hold for three to five breaths.
- Return to the start, then repeat on the other side.
- Continue, alternating sides with each rep.
Form tips: “Keep your hips in line with your body. If your buttocks drop backward, your side bend is likely too low. Raise your torso higher to pull your hips forward into alignment,” says Jones.
Why Jones recommends it: “This exercise works the muscles of the hamstrings, quads, glutes, abdominals, hip flexors, upper back, arms and shoulders,” says Jones.
3. Bear hold
Sets: 3 Reps: 10
How to do it:
- Get on your hands and knees with your back flat.
- Tuck your toes and push them down to raise your knees just off the mat. Keep your shoulders over your wrists, your biceps facing forward and your upper back engaged. Keep your glutes and legs engaged.
- Pause for five breaths (or to fatigue), then return your knees to the mat.
Form tips: “Resist the temptation to raise your knees any higher as this releases the core,” says Jones.
Why Jones recommends it: “This is a full-body exercise that works the core, hamstrings, shoulders, chest, quads and ankles.”
Jones has been a personal trainer for 25 years and is certified at four levels through the American Council on Exercise (ACE). For the past 17 years, as director and founder of Auburn Yoga & Fitness, she has covered several areas, including post-rehab training, yoga, senior strength and mobility, group fitness and functional training.
