Deadlifts aren’t the only way to strengthen your upper body.
Over the past couple of months, we’ve explored the importance of stretching and strengthening some different areas of your body. But now, let’s take it a step further. What yoga poses should you focus on if you want to stretch or strengthen this area? This week, we’ll be starting off with the upper body. While many yoga poses may on the surface look like they focus more on your legs or your core, don’t be fooled. There are plenty of ways to strengthen your arms, chest, and shoulders within your yoga practice. Whether you’re looking for something to accompany arm day at the gym or a way to strengthen your arms that you find more enjoyable or easy to work into your lifestyle, these poses might be just the thing you are looking for.
1. Downward Dog
While often referred to as a rest pose within yoga, as anyone who is new to yoga or arm strength training can attest, performing a proper downward dog requires arm strength. To achieve downward dog, you start with two feet rooted about hip distance apart and then reach your hands in front of you on the ground, far enough ahead that when you push your hips back you can create a triangle-like pose with your body. Your arms, neck, and shoulders being in alignment are an important part of this pose. This pose is also often a part of flows, such as sunset salutations, which will challenge you to push through the range of motion of these muscles.
2. Pike Push-Ups
If you want to further extend and push your strength from downward dog, you might want to continue into a pike pushup. The starting position for this pose is not unlike downward dog, if you raised onto the ball of your feet in this pose. Then, while holding the rest of your body in this pose, perform the arm motions of a typical push up. This variation on a typical downward dog or pushup will allow you to target different areas of your muscles and create a more well rounded strength throughout your upper body.
3. Side Plank
One pose that requires a strong collaboration between your upper body and core muscles is the side plank. To perform the side plank, one typical starting point is a regular plank pose and then lifting one arm off the ground and rotating to the side so that you have a triangle between your foot on the floor, your hand or forearm, and your shoulder. Side planks work your obliques, glutes, hips, and shoulders, and you’ll likely feel this pose in the arm and shoulder supporting your balance.
4. Handstand
A pose you’re probably familiar with, whether from the playground in childhood or from yoga class, you’ll probably find if you haven’t tried a handstand in a year or twenty, it might require many more muscles than you remember. Handstands strengthen deltoids, serratus anterior, traps, triceps, glutes, and abs. A tip for beginners, use the wall to handstand against for balance and slowly work up to taking your weight off the wall and into your arms.
5. Chair Pose
More so than any of the other poses on this list, chair pose is a hidden upper body exercise, or potentially even an upper body exercise yet to be uncovered. To accomplish the chair pose, you begin standing with your feet hip width apart and then sit back as if landing on an imaginary chair behind you. To do so, you’ll undoubtedly have to activate your core and your lower body muscles. But next time you’re practicing this pose, think about what your upper body is doing. As you’re leaning back into your imaginary chair, your upper body will be balancing you out. What are those muscles doing? Try lifting your arms up to be in alignment with each of your ears and you’ll find activating your upper body muscles can help give a more full and upper body focused workout to your pose.
Check out our full class offerings here and ask your instructor next class how to engage your upper body muscles in these poses.