Phase 2 · Strength and Stability

Part of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Knee Mobility, Strength and Function

Fifteen Minutes of Leg Strength

Chair, squat and lunge, for a day the long session will not fit

Five standing poses and two on the floor, in fifteen minutes. Unlike the ten minute floor practice, this one asks for effort. It is the short version of the middle of the program: the hinge, the squat, the step, and the back of the leg. Everything here is done at a depth you choose, and the rule is the same as in the long practice. The knee goes over the middle of the foot, and it never travels inwards.

15 min · Level 1

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Wann hilfreich

Somewhere in weeks five to eight, on a day when forty minutes is not available and you would rather keep the strength work going than skip it. Fifteen minutes. A chair or a wall nearby, a block for the squat.

Physical effect

The quadriceps and the glutes under load, in the four patterns a normal day uses: standing up, squatting, stepping forward and pushing through the back of the leg.

Function

Short enough to actually happen on a working day, which is the only property that matters for the practice you do between the long ones.

Mental effect

Fifteen minutes of controlled load is a better answer to a stiff knee than another day of being careful with it.

Five standing, two down

Knee over the middle of the foot in every pose. Depth is yours to choose.

Tadasana

30 sec

Berghaltung

Feet hip width, weight even. Check whether you are favouring one leg.

Thirty seconds of noticing which leg you are standing on, which after months of a sore knee is rarely the answer you expect.

Mehr über Tadasana erfahren

Ardha Uttanasana

45 sec

Halbe stehende Vorbeuge

Hands to the shins, back long, knees soft.

The hinge, without depth. Folding from the hip is what keeps load off the knee in daily life.

Mehr über Ardha Uttanasana erfahren

Virabhadrasana II

45 sec per side

Krieger 2

Front knee only as deep as it stays over the ankle.

Warrior II trains the alignment that everything else here depends on.

Mehr über Virabhadrasana II erfahren

Utkatasana

3 sets of 8 breaths

Stuhl

Hips back, and only as low as you could stand up from without your hands.

Chair is standing up out of a chair, practised on purpose. It is the movement that goes first.

Mehr über Utkatasana erfahren

Malasana

1 min

Squad

Heels supported, sitting on a block if needed.

The squat keeps the bottom of the range available. Losing it is what makes the floor feel far away.

Mehr über Malasana erfahren

Anjaneyasana

45 sec per side

Hoher Ausfallschritt

Back heel lifted, front knee over the ankle.

A lunge is a step held still. One leg carries you, which is what walking actually is.

Mehr über Anjaneyasana erfahren

Shalabhasana

2 sets of 6 breaths

Heuschrecke

On your front, chest and legs lifting a small amount.

Locust for the back of the leg, which is usually the weaker half.

Mehr über Shalabhasana erfahren

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

2 sets of 8 breaths

Schulterbrücke

Lift, hold, lower slowly.

Bridge for the hips. What the hips carry, the knee does not have to.

Mehr über Setu Bandha Sarvangasana erfahren

Apanasana

1 min

Knie zur Brust

Knees in, hands behind the thighs.

Back to the middle of the range before you get up.

Mehr über Apanasana erfahren

Savasana

2 min

Totenstellung

Legs long, palms up.

Two minutes so the effort registers as something the body handled.

Mehr über Savasana erfahren

Phase 2 · Weeks 5 to 8

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Strength and Stability, the second phase of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Knee Mobility, Strength and Function. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

See the whole program →

Integration

Once or twice a week alongside the long practice in weeks five to eight. Thigh soreness the next day is expected. Joint swelling is not.

Der Mensch hinter dieser Sequenz

Manish Rana

Gründer & Autor

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