The best yoga poses for rounded buttocks

If it exists “lots of postures that strengthen the glutes” in yoga as Emma Beaulieu explains to us, yoga teacher for the sports club L’Usine, they are not all accessible nor all “safe” she recalls. The coach wishes to warn us against the risks of adopting bad postures because “a lot of people get hurt” trying to take poses that are too high a level of yoga when trying to maintain their figure. Even if it’s a gentle sport, stay vigilant.

But the yoga teacher reassures us, it is possible to make some to make our buttocks firmer without risk so that they display the pretty curve that we dream of so much. She also presents the 5 best ones, those which are the simplest and the most effective to have pretty buttocks. But above all, she invites us to do a sun salutation for the start of concentration and breathing before moving on to muscle strengthening exercises for the glutes on the floor and standing.

Upward Plank Pose

What are we working on? This posture also works the abdominal muscles, arms and back.

posture
Get into a plank position, hands under your shoulders, pull your ears away from your shoulders, stretch your spine. Do not bend your head towards the bust or backwards, do not tense your neck and open your rib cage well. The hands are placed fingers towards the feet. Shoulders, pelvis and legs should be aligned.

Coach’s advice
Contract the glutes and hold the posture then release gently, controlling the descent.
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The grasshopper pose

What are we working on? This posture also intensely works the most fleshy portion of the buttocks.

posture
Lie down on the floor on your stomach, let your arms slide along your body, inhale then straighten your legs in line with the hips, lifting your legs a few centimeters off the floor. Inhale then exhale by squeezing the glutes hard during an expiration of 30 seconds ideally.

Repeat the movement 3 times for only 20 seconds because the posture is quite energy intensive.

Coach’s advice
If you find it difficult to breathe out for 30 seconds, adopt a soft and conscious breath for the required time.
“On the exhale, we can squeeze the belly to 50% to suck in the belly for more sheathing” says the expert.
Is the exercise too easy for you? You can “Alternately extend your right leg and your left leg to contract the gluteus maximus”. Then kick your legs, putting good muscle tension on the entire thigh. Do 10 reps.

To switch to the “beautiful buttocks” positions which are performed standing, Emma Beaulieu advises you to get on all fours and do the round back (cat’s back) then the hollow back 3 times in a row to relieve the back, before moving on. downward dog position (upside down V) before standing up.

The yoga squat or the garland position

What are we working on? It allows you to work well on the opening of the hips and thighs, and if you control the muscles of your buttocks, it is even more beneficial for the body.

posture
Squat down keeping your feet flat. If you don’t get it right away, try several times facing a coffee table to hold on to. Once you have the right position, let go of the table and maintain balance by contracting your legs. Then join the hands palm to palm in front of the plexus, and place your elbows inside the knees.

Coach’s advice
Hold by contracting the lower body as much as possible.

The half-bridge pose

What are we working on? It is a posture that will strengthen the muscles of the buttocks as a whole, and solicit even more the gluteus maximus (that is to say the roundest part of the buttocks).

posture
Lie on your back, bend your knees, making sure to align them with the width of the pelvis and, knees bent, place your hands below your back before taking an inspiration to start lifting your pelvis thanks to your supports. Squeeze your glutes “70% not 100% to protect your lower back” and hold the position for 30 seconds to sculpt your buttocks. Then, lower your buttocks by unrolling the pelvis. Then unroll your back to put yourself in the counter posture, putting your knees on your chest, to recover for 30 seconds.
Repeat the movement 3 times.

Coach’s advice
If you feel pain in your lower back once in position, do not hesitate to open the space between your two feet so as not to hurt yourself.
If you easily hold the posture for 30 seconds, you can try to hold 45 seconds. Finally, if the exercise is easy enough for you, you can make it more difficult by alternately stretching your right and left leg and resting on one foot to strengthen each buttock a little more separately.

The coach recommends moving on to the next pose, still staying on the floor, flat on your stomach, and letting yourself slide gently to the side and interlace your palms on your forehead, palms down, to release your upper back. , and in line with the hips, straighten your legs.

Warrior Pose I

What are we working on? Always the whole buttocks.

posture
Standing, open the space between your 2 feet to hip width and then take a big step forward with your right leg. Bend the knee so as to create a 90° angle between the ankle, the knee and the hip. Put your left leg back, in extension, “but with the heel off the ground otherwise you damage the knee ligaments when you put your foot down and you have fragile knees” warns the yoga teacher. “You can then tighten the left gluteus at 50% to solicit it in depth if you can do it” adds the coach of L’Usine. Once the position is stabilized, still straight, take an inspiration then, on an expiration, bend the knee a little more to come and extend your arms towards the sky and hold the position.

Repeat the movement 3 times for 30 seconds.

Coach’s advice
Emma Beaulieu specifies that she voluntarily passes the position of the warrior I because it requires an advanced level in yoga to be able to be carried out without risk of injury. To change posture and go to the next one, she recommends this procedure: start from the position of warrior I, the heel still off and making sure you have good support at the level of the toes. Arms up, inhale then exhale. Come down with your arms stretched out in front of you. You should feel tension in your arms as if you want to lower your shoulders. Inhale, then draw in your navel on the exhale, resting on your front leg.

Warrior Pose II

What are we working on? Otherwise called “Virabhadra”, this posture mobilizes the buttocks and thighs well as soon as one tries to descend and hold on to the position.

posture
Standing, step one foot back and bend the front leg so that the knee is above the ankle, not in front. Straighten the back leg and turn the foot 90 degrees, but keep it flat.
Extend your arms, parallel to the ground, keeping your shoulders well away from your ears and open your rib cage.

Coach’s advice
By trying to position the thigh of the bent leg parallel to the ground (and to keep the knee above the front foot, you must step back with the back foot), you will mobilize your glutes. Keep your chest straight. Look ahead.

Warrior Stance III

What are we working on? This posture will make it possible to strengthen the buttocks even more in depth.

posture
Then come and create a T with your whole body keeping one leg back in extension and try to extend your arms horizontally, straight in front of you, to form a horizontal straight line with your hands (which are in front) and your leg which is is behind you lift. Help yourself to a chair placed in front of you if necessary to maintain a good horizontality because it is essential to isolate the gluteus muscle and strengthen it correctly.

Repeat the posture 3 times for 15 to 20 seconds balancing on each leg, alternating right and left legs.

Coach’s advice
To get out of the position and be able to change the support leg, you must not “don’t hesitate to stand against a wall or the chair in order to do the change of legs” recalls the yoga coach.

Low lunge or crescent moon pose

What are we working on? As we told you just above, the further down you go, the more you mobilize your lower body muscles. And this is the case here, especially if you want to keep your balance, you have to contract your legs, chest and buttocks.

The posture
We generally start from the position of the dog head down, then we advance the right foot between the hands, and we put it in the same axis as the left. We put the left knee and stretching the leg backwards and putting the kick on the ground. The pelvis tilts but remains in line with the legs, as if pulling the coccyx down and trying to lift the pubis towards the navel. Open the rib cage while pulling the shoulder blades back.

Coach’s advice
When you have found your balance, spread your arms out and join your shoulders with your hands against each other, your index fingers pointing towards the sky. Look at your hands without tucking your head in the back of your neck. And hold the balance by squeezing your body.

The posture of the chair

What are we working on? It is a posture that resembles a squat (the “beautiful buttocks” exercise par excellence), which is easy to do and “good for concluding or starting standing positions”.

posture
Start with your feet apart and aligned on the width of your pelvis or your shoulders as desired. Stand up straight then try to find the “neutral”, that is to say the happy medium for your pelvis, by putting it neither too forward nor too far back. Inhale and exhale trying to grow yourself. To do this, imagine that a thread is pulling you up from the top of your head. To work the abdominals, draw in your navel to 30% before coming to push your buttocks back, as if to sit down, while putting your arms well in front of you (by putting your hands well parallel), to feel a tension in the arms. . Above all, stay well sheathed and make sure that the action of the buttocks that descend and the arms that stretch are in synergy to create a leverage effect. Contract the glutes, hold the position for 30 to 45 seconds, then come back up, aligning your shoulders.

Repeat this squat 3 times, being careful to keep your knees and feet parallel.

Coach’s advice
If you have the amplitude and you can go lower to work a little more the glutes which stabilize the chair, you can but be careful not to force your knees. Also pay attention to how you position them during the exercise, “the common mistake is to have the knees go inwards” warns the coach, before specifying that we can help ourselves with a “pillow or a ball placed between the 2 knees” to more easily adopt the correct posture.

Good to know

In yoga, breathing plays a very important role and allows you to progress. We oxygenate our muscles, we focus on our breath and we forget about muscle pain. It is not a question of forcing but of concentrating on something other than the only muscular sensations. These are also the beginnings of meditation! So remember to inhale and exhale deeply.