Phase 2 · Strength and Control

Part of the 8 Week Yoga Program for Hip Mobility, Strength and Control

Yoga for Hip Strength and Control

Thirty-five minutes where the range you found starts carrying you

From week five the practice stands up. The reason runs through every effective programme in this research: the ones that worked were never only stretching. They combined movement with strength, control and balance. A hip that has more range but no more strength has gained something it cannot use, and by the second hour of a walk it is back where it started. So the standing poses come in, one leg carries you at a time, and the range from phase one gets a job.

35 min · Level 1

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When it helps

You have practised the floor sequence for about four weeks, the two sides feel less uneven, and moving the hip no longer feels like something to be careful about. Thirty-five minutes. A wall within reach for the balance work and a block for the squat.

Physical effect

The glutes, the hip flexors and the legs under load, in every direction the first phase opened: forward in the lunge, out to the side in the squat and Side Angle, and behind you in Locust and Bridge.

Function

Single leg positions are the point rather than a garnish. Walking is a series of single leg moments, and a hip that cannot hold one is the reason long walks get shorter.

Mental effect

Standing on one leg with a hip you have been careful with, and finding that it holds, changes what you expect of it.

Open first, briefly

Six minutes on the floor so nothing is cold. The work today is standing.

Sukhasana

2 min

Easy Pose

Sit cross legged on a folded blanket and take twenty slow breaths.

Two minutes to find out how the hips are sitting today, before you ask them to carry you.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Baddha Konasana

1 min 30 sec

Butterfly Pose

Soles together, cushions under the knees.

Bound Angle is the quickest way back into the external rotation that phase one built.

Learn more about Baddha Konasana

Marjaryasana

1 min

Cat Pose

On all fours, rounding with the breath.

Cat gets the pelvis tilting, which every lunge below depends on.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

1 min

Cow Pose

Belly drops, chest and tailbone lift.

Cow finds the extension the standing poses are about to ask for.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Utthan Pristhasana

1 min per side

Lizard Pose

Both hands inside the front foot, back knee on a blanket. Stay high if that is where it is comfortable.

Lizard is the deepest hip position in the program and it belongs here, warm, before the standing work rather than after it.

Learn more about Utthan Pristhasana

Adhomukha Shvanasana

1 min

Downward-Facing Dog

Knees bent as much as you need, walking the heels one at a time.

Downward Dog moves you onto your feet with the arms sharing the load, and alternating heels takes both hips through their range on the way.

Learn more about Adhomukha Shvanasana

Standing, one leg at a time

The half of the practice a stretching routine never has. It gets harder as the block goes on.

Tadasana

45 sec

Mountain Pose

Feet hip width, weight even. Notice whether you are standing more on one leg.

Mountain Pose is where you find out that you have been favouring one hip, which most people with one stiff side have.

Learn more about Tadasana

Virabhadrasana II

1 min per side

Warrior II

Front knee over the ankle, hips opening to the side, arms wide.

Warrior II is abduction and external rotation under load. Phase one opened that direction, this is where it starts working.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana II

Utthita Parsvakonasana

45 sec per side

Extended Side Angle Pose

Forearm on the thigh or hand on a block, top arm over the ear.

Side Angle lengthens the whole side of the body from the hip up. The muscles between ribs and pelvis are part of how a hip moves.

Learn more about Utthita Parsvakonasana

Trikonasana

45 sec per side

Triangle Pose

Front leg straight but not locked, hand to the shin or a block.

Triangle works the hip with the leg straight, a useful contrast to everything else standing.

Learn more about Trikonasana

Utkatasana

3 sets of 8 breaths

Chair Pose

Hips back as if towards a chair, weight in the heels.

Chair is the hinge, and it is what getting out of a low seat actually costs. Doing it in sets is what makes it strength work.

Learn more about Utkatasana

Malasana

1 min

Garland Pose

Feet a little wider than the hips, heels supported, chest lifted. Sit on a block if the full squat is not there.

A deep squat is flexion, abduction and rotation at once. Losing it is what makes the floor feel further away every year.

Learn more about Malasana

Vrkasana

1 min per side

Tree Pose

Foot to the ankle or the calf, never against the side of the knee. A wall nearby is fine.

Tree Pose asks the standing hip to hold you while the pelvis stays level. That is the control half of the program.

Learn more about Vrkasana

The two that ask most

Both open the front of the hip under load. That is the direction sitting takes away.

Anjaneyasana

1 min per side

High Lunge

Back heel lifted, hips square to the front, hands at the waist or on the front thigh.

A low lunge lengthens the hip flexors of the back leg while the front leg carries you. Sitting shortens exactly those, all day, for years.

Learn more about Anjaneyasana

Virabhadrasana 1

45 sec per side

Warrior I

Back heel down, hips facing forward, arms up.

Warrior I adds the back foot down and the pelvis staying level. It is the hardest thing here and it comes last.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana 1

Behind you, then down

Two strengthening poses for the back of the hip, then nothing that asks for effort.

Shalabhasana

3 sets of 6 breaths

Locust Pose

On your front, lift the chest and the legs a small amount. Small is fine.

Locust is active hip extension against gravity. It is the direction people lose first and never think to train.

Learn more about Shalabhasana

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

3 sets of 8 breaths

Bridge Pose

Lift, hold, lower slowly one vertebra at a time.

Bridge finishes the strength work on the glutes. Strong glutes are what let a hip extend when you walk, instead of the lower back doing it for you.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Jathara Parivartanasana

1 min 30 sec per side

Reclining Belly Twist

Knees to one side, cushion under the top knee.

The twist is the counter movement and the last thing the spine does.

Learn more about Jathara Parivartanasana

Apanasana

1 min

Knees to Chest Pose

Both knees in, arms loose.

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

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

5 min

Corpse Pose

Legs long, palms up.

After a practice that asked for effort, this is where the nervous system files it as safe.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 2 · Weeks 5 to 8

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Strength and Control, the second phase of the 8 Week Yoga Program for Hip Mobility, Strength and Control. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

See the whole program →

Integration

Three times a week through weeks five to eight, with the fifteen minute practice as one of them when the long one will not fit. Expect to feel this in the glutes the next day. That is muscle and it settles. Progression in this program runs through range, then control, then load, never through stretching further.

The teacher behind this sequence

Manish Rana

Founder & Author

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