Low Lunge

A low lunge you stop holding up. The deepest the front of the hip goes in this method, and the direct answer to hours spent bent at it.

· 2 min read

yoga · hip flexor · psoas · groin · quad · kneeling

The lesson

  1. 1

    Back knee down, front foot forward

    From kneeling, step one foot forward outside your hands and let the back knee rest on the floor. Pad it with a folded towel — this is a long hold and the floor gets hard.

  2. 2

    Walk the front foot out

    Slide the front foot forward until the shin is vertical or leaning past it. The further forward it goes, the more the back hip opens.

  3. 3

    Hands inside the front foot

    Bring both hands to the inside of the front foot. This is what lets the hips drop between the legs instead of hovering above them.

  4. 4

    Go down to your forearms — or don't

    Lower onto the forearms if the floor is close enough. If it isn't, stack two books or use a chair seat under the hands. Propped and settled beats unpropped and braced.

  5. 5

    Sink and stop holding

    Let the hips drop down and forward and let the weight of your body do the work. Nothing here should feel like effort — the moment you are holding yourself up you have stopped doing the pose.

  6. 6

    The test

    A deep, broad opening across the front of the back hip and down into the front of that thigh. Sharpness in the front knee or the groin means come up and take less depth.

Low Lunge

How to do it

From kneeling, step one foot forward outside your hands and lower the back knee to the floor, with a folded towel under it. Walk the front foot forward until the shin is vertical or angled slightly past it. Bring both hands to the inside of the front foot, then let the hips sink down and forward. If the floor is within reach, come down onto the forearms; if it is not, stack a couple of books or use the seat of a chair under your hands. Then stop working. Let the weight of your own body take you down over the minutes, and change sides.

Why it's good for runners

An hour of running is an hour of hip flexion that never fully extends. The tissue at the front of the hip — the psoas and the muscles either side of it — shortens because nothing in the day ever asks it to be long, and a short front hip is what stops the stride opening up behind you. The low lunge is the deepest place in this method that tissue is taken, and it is the only one that takes it for minutes rather than breaths.

That length is where the real change happens. A shape held for twenty-five seconds lengthens muscle, which springs back. A shape held for three minutes starts reaching the connective tissue underneath, which is what actually holds a range once you have it.

Common mistakes

Don't hold yourself up. Hovering above the shape on straight arms with the hips high is the most common version of this pose and it does almost nothing — the point is to hand your weight over to the floor and let time do the rest. Don't chase the forearms; propped hands and a settled body beat forearms on the floor and a body that is fighting. Don't let the back knee take the pressure bare on a hard floor. And don't bail the moment it gets uncomfortable — deep and dull is the pose working, but anything sharp, especially in the front knee, means back off now.

Related

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Hero

Kneel with the tops of the feet flat, toes pointing back, and sit between the heels. Quads, shins, and the front of the ankles.

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Butterfly

Seated, soles of the feet together, knees falling wide. The inner thigh and the deep hip, with nothing holding you up.

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Puppy

Hips high over the knees, chest melting toward the floor, arms reaching long. Chest, lats and shoulders.

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