Hey Yogis! Are you ready to build a strong foundation? This Yoga for Strong Legs and Glutes yoga class is the perfect vinyasa class to tone and shape the lower body. It’s a 40-minute class that targets the thighs, hamstrings, and glutes with poses like chair pose, warrior 3, warrior 2, high lunge, and goddess pose. We’ll spend quite a bit of time in balancing postures during this practice, so it might be a good idea to practice with a chair or wall or railing toward the front of your mat.
This Yoga for Strong Legs and Glutes yoga class contains the following poses and sequences:
This class is the perfect yoga class if you’re looking for:
Half Sun Salutation
We’ll start our yoga class with Half Sun Salutations (mountain, upward salute, forward fold, halfway lift, forward fold, upward salute, mountain) to warm up the body, increase body and breath awareness, and provide a gentle stretch for our legs and back.
Chair Pose / Chair Pose Airplane Arms
Once the legs and glutes are slightly warm, we’ll activate and engage them further with chair pose. While in chair, we’ll undulate from traditional chair pose with the heels planted and arms overhead to airplane chair (with lifted heels and arms stretched out behind the body), targeting slightly different muscles in the legs, glutes, and back as we move between poses
Warrior 3
We’ll be in Warrior 3 pose quite a bit during the practice which strengthens the whole body and mind and is particularly good for the glute muscles. You’ll feel the burn not only in your lifted leg but also in your standing leg as you contract the muscles to keep balance.
High Lunge / High Lunge Airplane Arms
We’ll make our way to high lunge, strengthening the legs and glutes, particularly the quadriceps and hip flexors. We’ll shift our weight forward to our bent leg and add airplane arms for an extra challenge for the front quadricep.
Warrior 2 / Warrior 2 (Straight Legs with Upward Salute)
In our second sequence, we’ll make our way to Warrior 2 pose to target the quadriceps and outer thighs, building strength and stability in the legs. By straightening the legs with an upward salute in this pose, we’ll not only engage the inner thighs as we lift up, but we’ll also encourage a deeper stretch as we sink back down to Warrior 2.
Goddess Pose / Five Pointed Star
Our final sequence involves undulating between Goddess Pose and Five Pointed Star. Goddess Pose is an excellent pose for strengthening the inner thighs and glutes while also stretching the groin and hips. But adding Five Pointed Star, we engage the inner thighs further and also work to improve balance and mind, body, connection.
Spider Pose
Our final strength pose of the practice is Spider Pose. While in Goddess Pose, we’ll lift the heels to come onto the toes and fold the upper body down and forward toward the mat. The hands are crossed in front, resting the outer palms on the ground, resembling the shape of a spider.
Restorative Poses