Fave poses for core/upper body strength

[afriske 141]

Hi!

What are your favorite or most effective poses that you would recommend for core and/or upper body strength? I do quite a few poses in my practice already but just want to know if anyone had any that really helped them or were really beneficial. I dislike doing upper body in general so to make it fun, I do arm balances. 

Thanks! 

[afriske 141]

I appreciate your response. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to make this happen but thanks for the recommendation!  

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[Jasmine 363]

I like planks  

[Anahata 382]

If you like arm balances those can be done many times during a practice. But not specifically doing a pose. During Surya Namaskara instead of jumping back to Chaturanga lift up into Lolasana first then jump back. For seated postures don't just switch to the next one or the other side. Vinyasa through to the next. Pick up from seated then jump back. And from downdog jump through to seated for the next. I didn't just make this up, it is from the Ashtanga practice and done in others as well. Do that 40 - 100 times during a practice and you will get stronger very quickly, yes it will be very effective.

 

 

[afriske 141]

Thanks! 

[YogaByCandace 1,515]

Zombie press ups are a fave of mine for upper body and core: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mffUmIguoo0

[RachelPotter 15]

Dolphin planks really strengthened my shoulders and core for forearm balances.   And I love the zombie press headstand too, nothing better than having a little fun with core work!

[Hildegard 181]

I like doing mini push ups on wheel pose. I read somewhere that it's good for upper body strength, so I decided to give it a go. So far it feels fun and demanding. I haven't been doing them long enough to feel a huge difference just yet, but my lats (or whatever the muscle group on my sides, right under my scapulae are might be) do feel stronger. 

[scottcraft 188]

I'm fairly new to yoga so I'm not able to do any advanced moves yet, but so far planks and downward facing dog seems to get my core pretty well and downward facing dog works my arms and shoulders by pressing into the mat. 

[yogafire 562]

You mentioned you already do arm balances, but what does your inversion practice look like? If you can't do zombie press ups (that's me!), I've been focusing on pikes / planks on a towel and downward dog / dolphin plank against the wall to get there.

Forrest abs are not necessarily fun, but highly effective and relatively short compared to other core exercises. They've forced me to engage different parts of my core and made all parts of my abs, including the top part under my rib cage, sore the next day, and we only did 3-4 rounds of reps.  This page shows a good amount of variations - frog lifting through is a killer for me.  Abs with a mat (or block) is demonstrated here from Ana Forrest herself - the cues and timing are most important. I usually strain my neck when trying to do crunches, but the cues make me remember to engage my core instead.

Lastly, my quads are also weak, so I found that engaging a block between my shins during a wall sit works on both core and quads for me.  I like two for one deals!

[afriske 141]

Thanks everyone!

I'm fairly new to yoga so I'm not able to do any advanced moves yet, but so far planks and downward facing dog seems to get my core pretty well and downward facing dog works my arms and shoulders by pressing into the mat. 

Yeah, those seem like basic poses, but they are super beneficial when building up strength. You can also do downward dog push-ups to add pizazz

You mentioned you already do arm balances, but what does your inversion practice look like? If you can't do zombie press ups (that's me!), I've been focusing on pikes / planks on a towel and downward dog / dolphin plank against the wall to get there.

Forrest abs are not necessarily fun, but highly effective and relatively short compared to other core exercises. They've forced me to engage different parts of my core and made all parts of my abs, including the top part under my rib cage, sore the next day, and we only did 3-4 rounds of reps.  This page shows a good amount of variations - frog lifting through is a killer for me.  Abs with a mat (or block) is demonstrated here from Ana Forrest herself - the cues and timing are most important. I usually strain my neck when trying to do crunches, but the cues make me remember to engage my core instead.

Lastly, my quads are also weak, so I found that engaging a block between my shins during a wall sit works on both core and quads for me.  I like two for one deals!

Thank you! This looks like great information. Yeah, I can't do zombie press-ups-I'm not quite strong enough yet. Actually I mostly posted this topic so that I could work on my upper body for more arm balances and inversions!