You don’t have to do sit ups to see progress in your core strength.
We’ve covered the importance of ab strength, but how do you go about strengthening those muscles? We know that ab strength includes far more muscles than you may have first thought and that these muscles have many integral functions. Unsurprisingly, these many muscles can also be strengthened in many ways. The traditional options like sit ups or planks have their place for sure, but if you really want to strengthen your abs to the fullest extent and so that they are as functional as possible, you’ll likely want to expand your repertoire of ab workouts. That’s why we offer specialty classes like Hot Power Core and Hot Corelates.
While these classes are an important tool in your ab strength toolbox, we encourage you not to reserve your ab strength training for these targeted classes. Ab strength affects us all the time. Whether you’re balancing on one foot in tree pose or kicking up into a handstand, you’ll need your abs engaged. In fact, even when you’re standing or laying down, you’re likely to some extent using your core. Your core is important beyond its strengthening capacities in yoga too – you’ll feel it as you focus on your breath and as you stretch through cobra. As the center of our bodies, it plays an integral part in finding our center, physically and mentally through class. So the next time you step onto the yoga mat, try these six poses to focus in on your core strength.
- Triangle Pose
Triangle pose is, like it sounds, an opportunity to make a triangle with your body. It’s a pose that requires balance, and any pose that requires balance will ask you to engage your core to stay steady. To practice triangle pose, you’ll start with your feet around leg distance apart facing the side of your mat. In this position, you’ll notice one triangle already – between your legs and the floor. But to complete the pose, you’ll add another. You’ll reach forward over your front leg, placing your hand near your foot either on your leg or the floor and in doing so create another triangle with your torso, arm, and front leg. Once you try this pose you’ll likely find balancing at this angle is more challenging than you might initially think, which is why it’s a great chance to utilize your core and practice engaging your abdominal muscles to improve your stability.
- Locust Pose
When practicing locust pose, there’s really no way around having to engage your abs. In fact, unlike some of the more stealthy core workouts in this list, odds are you’ve thought about engaging your abs every time. To practice locust pose, you’re going to start laying face down with your entire body flat on the floor. Then, by engaging your core, you’ll lift your chest, arms, and legs up off the floor, performing a sort of mini-backbend into the air. This pose is especially great for core strength because of how many parts of your core you have to engage. You’re not only lifting your upper abs up, but also engaging your lower core to raise your legs and the sides of your body to keep it all steady.
- High Lunge
This pose is a great entryway into yoga focused core work if you’re coming to the yoga studio from another form of exercise as lunges are likely an exercise you’re already familiar with. The high lunge is a specific lunge with your front leg bent and both legs facing forwards and with your hands raised by your ears pointing directly to the sky. Holding your core during this pose will allow you to move further into your lunge, to hold your hands up in the air, and generally to stretch your body into this pose to your fullest capacity. Try focusing on how your core moves through your legs and your arms in this position and then once you gain this awareness see how you can carry it with you throughout the rest of your practice.
- Boat Pose
One of the incredible things about core strength is how varied its uses are. For example, boat pose could almost be seen as the inverse of locust pose, higher up on this list. But if that doesn’t clarify what you’re doing in this position, imagine your boat as a body with your butt and hip bones at the bottom and your legs and torso creating a v position while you reach your arms over. You may have done ab exercises starting in this position before, but sometimes staying still in a position is the hardest part of all. Test your core’s endurance by seeing what it’s like to balance in this position.
- Dancer’s Pose
Dancer’s Pose might look like a stretch, but like many stretches it also requires a fair bit of strength. To practice this pose, you’ll take the ball of your foot in one hand and then kick into said hand, creating a triangle of space between your leg, arm, and back. You’ll need to hold your core tight to keep from tipping over, to keep your leg up, to keep your arm up, and just generally to avoid toppling onto the floor. But once you figure out how to engage your body to hold this pose, you may be surprised by how relaxing and graceful it can feel.
Practicing each of these poses gives you a focused opportunity to think about your core strength, but everything you ever do in yoga will also use your core. Pay attention to how your core muscles are engaging in these positions and then carry that skill of engaging these muscles throughout the rest of your practice. For a full list of options of classes to strengthen your core, check out our class offerings here.