Techniques for Strength Building with Yoga

by Nina

Bob Kubik, Age 79

As you might have been able to tell, Baxter and I have been delving into the topic of strength building lately (see Strength Building: How Long to Hold Poses and Static versus Dynamic Poses). And now I’m excited to announce that after a couple of weeks of research, discussion, and debate, we’ve finally come up with a basic set of guidelines for how you can use your yoga practice for strength building! So I thought I’d share them today. 

All poses, except restorative poses, are weight bearing (even if you’re bearing weight on some body part besides your feet), and all active poses require muscle contraction in some form, so any active yoga pose will strengthen both your bones and muscles. A well-rounded active yoga practice that includes a good mix of standing poses, backbends, twists, and forward bends will provide all-around muscle and bone strength building. But if you’d like to focus on strengthening a particular area, for example, if you have knee arthritis and want to work on leg strength, you can choose the corresponding categories to emphasize in your practice. 

Poses for Leg and Hip Strength. Any poses where you stand on one or both legs, especially with one or both knees bent, are strengthening for legs and hips. Also strengthening for hips and legs are poses where you lift your leg or legs away from the ground, for example, in Locust pose (Salabasana) or Boat pose (Navasana).

Poses for Arm and Shoulder Strength. Any pose where you bear weight on hands or forearms will strengthen your arms and shoulders. (To strengthen your wrists, you need to bear weigh on your hands.) Also strengthening for arms and shoulders are any poses where you lift your arms away from the floor, either out to the sides (Warrior 2), overhead (Warrior 1), forward or behind your back (Locust pose).

Poses for Core Strength. Any poses where you lift your leg or legs away from the floor, such as Hunting Dog pose, Locust pose, and Boat pose. Any poses where you tip your torso to the front, side, or back, such as Triangle pose, Half Standing Forward Bend, or Standing Backbend. And any pose where you lift your hips away from the floor, such as Plank pose, Side Plank pose, and Upward Plank pose. 

Poses for Back and Spinal Strength. Both standing and seated twists help strengthen spinal bones and the muscles of your back that support your spine. Standing, prone, and reclined backbends will strengthen overall back muscles.

How Long to Hold the Poses

For muscle strength in static poses, you can either work on muscle strength or endurance. To work on muscle strength alone, hold the pose at least 8 to 10 seconds and consider repeating the pose several times. To work on endurance, hold the pose as long as you safely can, gradually working up to longer and longer holds. For bone strength in static poses, we recommend holding the pose for 30 seconds or more. 

If you’re too weak or fatigued to stay in a pose for the recommended timings, hold the pose for as long as you safely can and then come out. Gradually over the next several weeks work your way up to longer and longer holds. 

For muscle strength in dynamic poses, you can either move in and out of the pose with your breath or hold the full pose within the vinyasa for at least 8 to 10 seconds to enhance strength building. For bone strength in dynamic poses, based on what we know about weight-bearing movement, such as walking and running, we recommend practicing poses dynamically for bone strength in sets of six repetitions.

How Often to Do the Poses

Muscles need a day of rest between exercise sessions when you are working on strength building. So generally you shouldn’t exercise the same muscle group on consecutive days. However, you can do muscle strength-building yoga poses every day if you focus on different areas of your body on each day, for example, alternating between upper body, lower body and core strength. Or, you can alternate strength building practice days with gentle stretching restorative yoga, or sessions of breath work and/or meditation. If you are practicing for bone strength, follow the same recommendations.

Other Tips

Balancing Your Practice. To balance your strength building, make sure your practice includes poses of all the basic types: standing poses, backbends, forward bends, and twists, as long as they are safe for you. Of course you don’t need to do all these basic types within a single practice; just try to get to them sometime each week. Also, try to include poses where you bear weight on your hands as well as sitting bones, shins, and so on, such as Downward-Facing Dog pose, Side Plank pose, Hunting Dog pose, and Boat pose.

Stretching. Because your body’s response to stretching and strengthening is similar in promoting muscle growth, poses that you might think of as “just stretching” actually also enhance strength (see Just Stretching is Not Just Stretching). So when practicing for flexibility you’ll be increasing strength. You can enhance your strength building in a stretch (and improve the stretch) by adding in muscle activation for stretching as described in Why and How to Activate Your Muscles in Yoga Poses.

Muscle Activation for Strengthening. Although a weight-bearing pose on its own will strengthen bones that are actually bearing your weight, if you consciously contract the muscles holding you up by firming them toward the bones, you will enhance the bone strengthening effects of the pose. For example, if you’re standing in Tree pose (Vrksasana), firming your leg muscles will enhance bone building in the standing leg. 

For strengthening muscles, you can strengthen more than just the obviously active muscles by consciously contracting other muscles as you work in the pose. For example, in Downward-Facing Dog pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana), firm all your arm muscles and shoulder muscles toward the bone. When you want to strengthen your hip area, in a standing pose, for example, you can slowly engage the muscles all around your hip joints, while ensuring that this action does not pull you out of good alignment. 

To achieve these benefits, contract your muscles gently rather than strongly. Strongly contracting a muscle noticeably shortens the muscle, which seems to prevent you from moving as freely in the pose. On the other hand, gently firming a muscle toward the bone provides muscular support without interfering as much with movement. If you’re not used to working this way, it may take some practice. Take it in two steps: 

1. Consciously relax the muscle, allowing it to lengthen. 
2. Gently firm the muscle toward the bone. 

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