How Well Does Yoga Really Strengthen the Quads?
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The quads certainly work in yoga, but do they get strong?
A typical yoga practice includes a plethora of poses that work our quadriceps muscles, or "quads."
The quads are a collection of four muscles that run along the front of our thigh. All four of these muscles cross our knee joint (and one of them also crosses our hip joint).
In yoga, our standing poses are the most obvious family of poses that target our quads. Consider warrior 1, chair pose, and warrior 2. In all of these poses, we're standing on our feet with one or both knees bent:
Our quads are working to keep us upright in these poses; if these muscles suddenly stopped working, we would sink down to the floor.
Because yoga includes so many standing poses like these that target our quads, it's easy to conclude that yoga is a good practice for quad strengthening. Right??
But did you know that just because a muscle is working, this doesn’t automatically mean that muscle is strengthening? That's because in order to be truly strengthening, a muscle needs to
work hard enough to get close to momentary muscular failure
be progressively overloaded over time
And these qualities generally aren't present in yoga!
If we're interested in truly strengthening our quads, we should understand that yoga poses as they're traditionally practiced won't do a great job of that.
With that said, here are a few Strength for Yoga ideas that do have the potential to achieve a quad-strengthening goal – and you can do them right on your yoga mat!
Skater/Shrimp Squat
This challenging squat variation is excellent for strengthening the quads!
We double the load on the standing leg by lifting one leg off the floor, and we repeat the squats multiple times in a row until we reach momentary muscular failure (or get close to it).
Bear to Down Dog
We start in bear pose with our knees hovering just off the floor, and we straighten our knees against gravity as we press back to down dog.
We repeat multiple times in a row until failure (or close to it!).
(Note: The resistance band is optional.)
Single-Leg Squat
We might think of these as a dynamic, single-leg version of chair pose. We hover one leg straight out in front of us as we squat down into chair pose and lift back up again.
(Kettlebell is optional.)
Single-Leg Wall Sit
Wall sits are a great isometric exercise that can strengthen the quads – and this single-leg version doubles the load on the standing leg for even more work!
As it just so happens, all of the above are Strength for Yoga exercises included in either our book or various phases of our ongoing Remote Group Training program.
If you're interested in cultivating not only quad strength, but also well-rounded, full-body strength in a one-of-a-kind program designed specifically for yogis, order our book Strength Training for Yoga or start your free trial of Remote Group Training.
We'd be excited to support you on your strength journey!
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