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Yoga Poses for Strength

Build strength through yoga poses that ask your muscles to support, stabilise and control your body. Browse poses for the core, legs, arms and upper body, and choose variations that suit your current level of practice.

Side view of Cobra Pose with the chest lifting gently, elbows bent, and legs resting long on the mat.

Cobra Pose

Bhujangasana

Cobra Pose is a gentle prone backbend that helps you practice lifting the chest with support from the back muscles, while keeping some weight light in the hands.

Side view of Bridge Pose with knees bent, feet grounded and pelvis lifted from the floor.

Bridge Pose

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Bridge Pose is a grounded backbend done on the floor. It strengthens the legs and glutes, asks the chest to broaden, and gives many learners a clear way to practise lifting the pelvis without the wrist load of stronger backbends.

Side view of Camel Pose with a kneeling practitioner lifting the chest and reaching the hands toward the heels.

Camel Pose

Ustrasana

Camel Pose is a kneeling backbend that asks for length through the front body as well as support from the legs. It can help you explore chest opening and spinal extension without dropping straight into the lower back.

Person practising Bound Half Moon Pose with one hand on the floor and the other holding the lifted foot from behind.

Bound Half Moon Pose

Baddha Ardha Chandrasana

Bound Half Moon Pose builds on Half Moon by adding a back-foot hold. It asks for balance, clear standing-leg work, shoulder opening and a controlled backbend, so it usually feels better when approached gradually rather than forced.

Practitioner in Bound Side Angle Pose with front knee bent, torso turned open, and hands clasped around the front thigh.

Bound Side Angle Pose

Baddha Utthita Parsvakonasana

Bound Side Angle Pose combines the legs of Side Angle with a shoulder bind around the front thigh. It asks for steadiness in the feet and legs, space through the chest, and enough hip and shoulder mobility to keep the shape broad rather than cramped.

Person practising Bow Pose from the side, lying on the belly and holding both ankles as chest and thighs lift.

Bow Pose

Dhanurasana

Bow Pose is a prone backbend where the hands hold the ankles as the chest and legs lift together. It asks for coordination through the front body, back body and shoulders more than raw height.

Person practising Bird of Paradise Pose standing on one leg with the other leg lifted and bound.

Bird of Paradise Pose

Svarga Dvijasana

Bird of Paradise is a strong standing balance built from a bound side-angle shape. It asks for steady footing, open hips and hamstrings, and enough shoulder mobility to keep the chest broad while the lifted leg rises.

Side view of Boat Pose with the practitioner balancing on the sitting bones, chest lifted and legs raised.

Boat Pose

Navasana

Boat Pose builds a clear, compact kind of core strength while asking you to balance on the sitting bones with an upright chest. The shape is usually more useful when it is a little smaller and steadier, rather than taken to the biggest version possible.

Side view of Bird Dog Pose with one arm reaching forward and the opposite leg extending back from hands and knees.

Bird Dog Pose

Dandayamana Bharmanasana

Bird Dog Pose is a simple hands-and-knees balance that trains the body to stay steady while one arm and the opposite leg reach away. It is often used to wake up the core, shoulders and hips without asking for a big range of motion.