Yoga for Abdominal Strength

Seated Twist: Strengthening the Oblique Muscles

by Shari and Nina

We had a request from one of our readers for a post about yoga poses for abdominal strength, so I decided to ask Shari Ser, Yoga for Healthy Aging's physical therapist/yoga teacher for her thoughts on the subject.

Nina: Why is it important to include abdominal strengthening poses in your practice?

Shari: The abdominal area is such an important area of stability! The area carries a lot of emotional baggage for many of us (we feel a lot of frank emotional responses in our abdominal areas). And we need the abdominals to support our vital organs and to assist in supporting our spines. When the abdominals are weak, people may develop an overly arched lumbar spine, and when the abdomen is pendulous due to overweight or pregnancy, the abdominal muscles are in a constant stretch and in a weakened state. However, while many diverse health and alternative health practitioners agree that we need strong abdominals to be able to support our bodies in space and to move efficiently and safely, abdominal strength it not about how many crunches you can do or how flat your belly is, and hardness is not a reflection of strength.

Many abdominal strengtheners that people do are in essence hip flexor strengtheners, for example, raising and lowering the legs. But learning how to engage the deepest abdominal muscle, the transverse abdominus, is important. Yoga is valuable tool for developing abdominal strength and awareness because the way we move our bodies in various directions, often against gravity, allows us to develop both strength and flexibility.

Nina: What are some of your favorite abdominal strengthening poses and why?

Shari: My favorite pose to develop abdominal strength is Plank pose (the classic version with straight legs that you enter into from Downward-Facing Dog pose). But I also think a variation of Plank that Loren Fishman recommends is quite challenging, and I like it a lot because of the hand and arm protection, as well as spinal protection, which it provides. You start on your belly and come up onto your elbows (almost like you were going to do Cobra pose). Keeping your legs straight, curl your toes under and lift up into a half Plank position, keeping your knees slightly bent and making sure you are not overly arched. Hold the pose for 20 seconds. 

Full Plank Pose

 Nina: Where should the poses go in a sequence?

Shari: In general, I include abdominal strengtheners near the beginning of a sequence, as part of the warm up. In addition to the poses I mentioned previously, I also like pelvic tilt and pelvic clock variations as a way to engage the deep transverse abdominus and oblique muscles. If I am adding strengtheners, I will do various twists, which I call “Gay White sit ups” (I first did them in her class). You start lying on your back, with your knees bent and your feet on floor. With your hands cradling your head, bring your legs off the floor so your thighs are perpendicular to your pelvis and shins are perpendicular to your thighs (a 90/90 position). Now slowly bring one knee to the opposite bent elbow. Repeat on the other side. Alternate between sides until you feel fatigued, and then add two or three more rounds. If this is too difficult, then just assume the 90/90 position and hold it.

Another good option is to sit at edge of chair and do “let backs,” which allow you to engage the abdominals without having to get on the floor. Sit in an erect position and hinge back over your hip joints without moving your spine, keeping your torso stable as you move in your hip joints. Or, if you are comfortable on the floor, you can start in Boat pose (Navasana) and move your torso slightly toward the floor as you maintain spinal elongation.

You can also incorporate abdominal strengtheners throughout your sequence. I include abdominal awareness when doing balance poses like Tree pose because drawing up your pelvic floor with an inhalation engages the transverse abdominus, and I encourage people to engage the lower abdominals in Half Downward-Dog pose at the wall.

When you are doing Bridge pose, to work your deep core muscles, you can lift one leg at a time just a bit off of the ground without losing your core stability, as if you are marching in place. Seated twists (on the floor or in a chair), such as Bharadvajasana variations, work the oblique muscles, especially with an emphasis on spinal elongation.