Put a Little Explosion in Your Strength Practice

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Have you heard about "explosive" exercises?

explosive exercises don't really involve exploding

If you're not familiar with this term, you're not alone!

In the yoga world specifically, we hardly ever learn about explosive exercises. These types of movements are pretty much nonexistent in typical yoga classes.

This is because in yoga, we tend to move through our poses slowly and with control.

And "slow and controlled" is practically the opposite of what makes explosive exercises explosive!

Explosive exercises use power

explosive, powerful exercises utilize speed

As members of our Strength for Yoga community, you're certainly familiar with strength (the ability to produce force).

Power is a different (but related!) quality from strength.

Power is the ability to produce force quickly.

We all know how valuable working on our strength is. It turns out that working on our power is also valuable!

a jump as an example of a power-based exercise

Power is certainly important in athletic endeavors, but it also impacts our function as we grow older.

In fact, as we age, power declines even more quickly than strength.

Being able to produce force quickly enables us to do things like stand up from the sofa and avoid falling if we trip.

These abilities help us maintain independence as we age!

How do we improve our power?

You guessed it: through explosive exercises!

Explosive exercises involve moving our body very quickly, which naturally means that they use and improve power!

Common examples of explosive exercises include marching, skipping, and jumping.

3 OF OUR Favorite Strength for Yoga Explosive Exercises

1) Explosive Squat to Toes

This is a precursor to a full squat jump. We lift our arms up and then we squat down, throw our arms back, and stand up fast and tall – so fast that we lift up onto our toes at the top.

We repeat continually for several repetitions.

2) Clean + Squat (2 separate steps)

Rapidly pick the kettlebell up from the floor to a goblet position in front of your chest. (This is called a "clean.")

Then squat down, lift back up, return the kettlebell to the floor, and repeat.

explosive exercise example of a squat clean

3) Squat Clean (1 fluid motion)

In this exercise, we blend the two movements from the previous exercise into one continuous motion.

Clean the kettlebell up off the floor and simultaneously squat down while "receiving" the weight. Lift back up, lower the kettlebell to the floor, and repeat.

These 3 explosive exercises are excellent for working on our all-important power!