Through hip and chest openers, back stretches, and twisting postures, you’ll give your entire body the calming stretch it needs. Improving movement efficiency, increasing endurance, and reducing your risk of injury can also supercharge sports performance and functional movement.Yoga Stretch and Relax is a 20-minute yoga stretch video that uses slow stretching movements to help your muscles release after a workout or stretch your body after a long day. Working through all planes of motion – like side-to-side movement, rotation, and bending forwards and backward – mimics your typical day-to-day pattern and strengthens all aspects of your core.Īccording to the Mayo Clinic (opens in new tab), a strong core trains muscles to work harmoniously and improves balance, stability, and posture. For example, your obliques help you bend forwards and sideways and assist with side-to-side rotation and lower back protection, while your transverse abdominis keep your torso, spine, and pelvis upright. While it’s reasonable to dream about building a sinewed six-pack, working every core muscle group maximizes the benefits for your body.Įach of your core muscles has a job. Even your glutes and lats play a role in core strength, too. Your core consists of the famous rectus abdominis (your abs) and lesser-known muscles like your diaphragm, internal and external obliques, erector spinae, pelvic floor, transverse abdominis (inner abs), and multifidus (along the spine). (Image credit: Mariel Witmond) Why are core muscles important? “If you build each pose from its foundation, you will find you are always working your core in yoga, and you can take the benefits with you when you step off the mat.” Fire breath (kapalabhati) “Though your core is seen as the center of balance and strength, it is also an energetic space and powerhouse where we explore our sense of confidence in the world,” adds Witmond. This core yoga sequence for building stronger abs can be done anywhere and at any yogi level.
“The following sequence will help to activate all of the core muscles from your pelvic floor (which often gets neglected) to your diaphragm,” explains Witmond. Folding poses are equally as impressive as they engage your rectus abdominis, and pranayama (breathwork) strengthens your diaphragm for calmer breathing.įind the best abs workouts and core workouts for beginners to get your inspiration fired up, or read on for Witmond’s strengthening and balancing 9-move core yoga sequence. For example, a seated twist engages your obliques as you rotate, while standing postures like Warrior Two work your obliques and transverse abdominis to keep your torso stable. In turn, this strengthens and stabilizes your core and helps you progress. It also becomes a powerhouse center for lifting weights.”īecause core yoga taps into all planes of motion, it demands core engagement to practice safely. Through the correct use of core contraction with the inhale and exhale, the practitioner can meet asana in a gentler way, even holding a pose for longer. “Knots (pockets of tension), and times when less productive muscles are being recruited in a pose, can stilt breathing. “Focusing on core stability (isolation exercises) and core training (the abdomen as a whole) helps with inversions like handstand and shoulder stand, and improves stamina in poses like plank,” she says. Top of the spine and core – Jalandhara bandha.Main trunk and abdomen – Uddiyana bandha.Lorna Bailey, yoga teacher and founder of Anavrin (opens in new tab) says core work (in yogic terms) journeys through three diaphragms becoming energy locks, called Bandha’s. Unlike exercises such as traditional crunches, yoga practice will get you working every muscle in the core through twists, inversions, standing and balancing postures, and probably the best core strengthener – plank.”
“As much as it encourages the need for engagement, yoga is great for building your core, too.
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