These Yoga Pose Double as Arm Strength Exercises

(Photo: fizkes | Getty )

Arm strength exercises mean so much more than handstands and toned triceps. They’re about cultivating stability in any pose, exercise, or life situation that engages your arms, from grounding through your palms in Downward-Facing Dog to the control required in Chaturanga.

As your strength grows, so does your capacity to support yourself and balances effort with ease, stability with mobility. The following arm strength exercises can be incorporated into your yoga practice or after a workout to enhance the strength and stability of your arms with little additional time. Each pose dynamically challenges you and asks you to explore not only alignment but awareness and patience.

10-Minute Arm Strength Exercises

Building arm strength through yoga isn’t about just exercise. It’s about cultivating stability, confidence, and balance. Here’s how.

1. Chaturanga Push-Ups

Chaturanga is one of the most complex postures in yoga and demands awareness. Proper alignment of the shoulders, mobility in the wrists, and strong engagement of the biceps and triceps are necessary to practice it safely and powerfully.

How to:

1. From hands and knees or Plank Pose, stack your shoulders over your wrists and ground down strongly through your palms into the mat.

2. Slowly shift your body forward until your shoulders almost stack over your middle fingertips.

3. Slowly bend your elbows, keeping your upper arms close to but not necessarily touching your side body.

4. You don’t need to lower very far to feel the triceps engage, but as your explore lowering more, remember to stop when your elbows reach your ribcage. You can use a yoga block under the sternum to remind yourself not to drop too low.

5. Press up again to Tabletop or Plank and repeat 5-10 times for Chaturanga Push-Ups. Take your time.

2. Side Plank

The triceps, serratus anterior, and triceps muscles are all strengthened in Side Plank, which lets you work on your arms one at a time.

How to:

1. Face the long end of your mat with the bottom knee down and the top leg extended. Another option is to extend both legs in a full side plank.

2. Place your bottom hand directly under your shoulder and reach your top arm toward the sky.

3. Press down into your bottom hand to engage the triceps, serratus, and latissimus muscles.

4. Slightly lift and lower your hips 5-10 times.

Another option:

1. Begin in a Half Slide Plank with your bottom knee on the mat and your top leg straight.

2. Exhale and press down through the bottom hand and contact the side body as you lift your bottom knee off the mat. Look down.

3. Inhale and release the knee back to the mat, as you lift the top straight leg toward the sky and look up.

4, Repeat 5-10 times.

3. Reverse Tabletop Dips

In a world where so much of our day is forward focused, this pose activates the entire back line of the body bringing balance and harmony. It opens the chest muscles, stretches the fronts of the shoulders, and strengthens the triceps and biceps.

How to:

1. Sit on your mat with your knees bent and hands behind you on the mat, fingers pointing toward your hips or slightly outward toward the front corners of your mat.

2. Press into your hands and feet as you squeeze the glutes and lift your hips toward the sky into a Reverse Tabletop position.

3. Exhale and bend your elbows slightly, lowering toward the mat.

4. Inhale and straighten your arms, lifting back up into a strong tabletop.

5. Repeat 5-10 times.

4. Downward-Facing Dog

One of the most iconic yoga poses, Downward-Facing Dog balances stability and flexibility. When practiced with intention, this pose strengthens the arms and shoulders while decompressing the spine and opening the backs of the legs.

How to:

1. Come onto your mat in a hands and knees position.

2. Exhale, as you straighten your legs and reach your hips toward the sky.

3. Press your hands and feet into the mat, as if you could stretch your mat longer in both directions. Actively press your hands into the mat, spreading your fingers and pushing downward as you pull your shoulder blades away from your ears and reach your sitting bones toward the sky.

4. Hold for 3-5 breaths.

5. Chair Pose Forearm Squeeze

Chair Pose builds heat in the legs, glutes, and core, and incorporating forearm squeezes brings power into the pectoralis and bicep muscles while stretching the upper back and shoulders.

How to:

1. Stand on your mat with the feet together and big toes touching.

2. Sit your hips back and down into Chair Pose, sinking your weight into your heels and squeeze your thighs together strongly.

3. Bring your arms in front of your face, bend your elbows 90 degrees, and bring your forearms and palms together to touch. Press together strongly.

4. Inhale as you lift your elbows toward the sky a few inches, keeping your forearms straight up and down.

5. Exhale as you lower your elbows back to starting position in front of the chest.

6. Repeat 5-10 times.

Another option:

1. Bring your palms back together.

2. Open your arms out into a cactus shape on an inhalation as you squeeze your shoulder blades together, broaden your chest, and lift your chin.

3. Exhale and bring your palms back together in front of your face, squeezing your forearms and elbows together.

4. Repeat 5-10 times.

6. Warrior 2

If you find yourself zoning out while in Warrior 2, you’re not alone. To come back into your body and quiet your mind, get your arms involved.

How to:

1. From Warrior 2, float your arms toward the sky.

2. Bring your hands back down to shoulder height and parallel to the mat, flex your wrists by drawing the backs of your hands toward you, and push through your palms, as if you’re pushing the walls away from you.

3. Inhale to bring your arms back up toward the sky.

4. Repeat 5-10 times.

Another option:

1. Start with your arms in traditional Warrior 2, extended and parallel to the ground.

2. Keep your palms facing flat toward the mat and start to rotate your arms in tiny circles. Keep your shoulder blades still so all of the movement is in your arms. Keep the circles slow and small.

3. Rotate 5-10 times, then reverse.

4. For an extra challenge for your body and brain, try rotating each arm in the opposite direction.

7. Standing Forward Bend Arm Stretch

Stretching your arms after strengthening them helps restore balance, lengthen tight muscles, and support healthy mobility.

How to:

1. From standing, clasp your hands behind your back or hold onto a yoga strap or hand towel.

2. Straighten your arms behind you and broaden across your chest.

3. Exhale as you slowly fold forward, taking a slight bend in your knees as your arms reach behind you or overhead.

4. Inhale as you slowly roll back up to standing, pulling your arms down and behind you toward the mat.

5. Repeat 3-5 times.