5 Yoga Poses for Full-Body Strength

Some of the most powerful strength exercises look a lot like yoga poses. If you’ve ever found yourself wobbling in a long-held Plank or Chair Pose, you likely know this to be true—and you’ve likely learned that creating these shapes with your own body can yield some seriously strengthening results.

Rather than focusing on building strength, these yoga poses position stillness as the goal. But to access that quiet, you’ll need to bring all of your many, many muscles online and stay here for time. Don’t forget to breathe deep.

5 Yoga Poses That Double as Strength Exercises

Practicing even one of these poses at some point throughout the day can help encourage finding power throughout your entire being.

1. Dolphin Pose

Who knew that something as simple as arm placement could transform Downward-Facing Dog from a still space to more of a muscle-quaking moment? Say hello to Dolphin Pose, a show of strength that is also a precursor to Forearm Stand and Headstand.

Dolphin opens your shoulders, but only with the help of power from your legs, core, and entire upper body. True strength here means not dumping into your forearms or your feet, but creating a triangle that distributes power to all three points.

2. Chair Pose

This yoga pose gets a bad rap, but that’s just because it requires so much of your body. Chair Pose calls for the cooperation of your legs, glutes, core, and ultimately your arms—and though the pose mimics the act of taking a seat in an imaginary chair, it’s anything but passive.

3. Chaturanga

Far from just a transitional movement, Chaturanga is an opportunity to use literally every muscle in your body. Sometimes referred to as a yogi push-up—particularly when you lower yourself into the shape and then push yourself back to your starting position—Chaturanga asks that you activate muscles in your front and back body to achieve proper alignment.

4. High Lunge

Finding stillness in High Lunge requires that you first find your footing. Creating a stable foundation in any variation of the pose means grounding through the muscles of your feet, legs, and glutes.

Then once your core is onboard, allowing your arms to float skyward should be a final punctuation of the pose rather than a guiding force. You’re so strong in your body that there’s nothing left to do but raise your hands in celebration!

5. Crow Pose

Arm balances pull your focus to, well, your arms. But popping up into this pose demands power from your entire person. Sure, you can muscle your way into Crow Pose using your jacked biceps and triceps alone. But a slightly more embodied expression of the pose asks that you fire up all of your muscles—from your toes to your core core to your upper back—before lifting your feet off the ground in flight.