Hatha yoga strengthens and stretches all of the muscles in the body including the abdominals. Uddiyana bandha or the "upward flying lock" improves the tone of the deepest abdominal muscle, the transverse abdominis. Specific asanas or poses exercise different groups of stomach muscles: plank and boat focus on the rectus abdominis or six-pack, while side plank strengthens the waist. The pendant pose is a challenging but effective complete ab workout.
Uddiyana Bandha
Bandhas are muscular-locking techniques that help to brace different sections of your body during yoga. The "upward flying lock" or uddiyana bandha is a strong inward and upward contraction of the transverse abdominis, your deepest abdominal muscle that runs in a horizontal band across the front of your torso. Maintaining this bandha in and of itself tones and tightens your belly, protects your lower back during movement and can make other abdominal exercises more effective.
Plank: Chataranga Dandasana
The traditional yoga plank, known as chataranga dandasana, trains your abdominals to work against gravity in order to stabilize your core. Although the complete asana with your elbows bent to right angles and tucked in toward your ribcage can be extremely challenging, variations are also effective at strengthening the stomach muscles. You can try hovering on your forearms and toes with your knees straight, legs extended and together. Or balance at the top of a modified push-up, with your knees down and your spine in a long, straight diagonal line.
Boat: Navasana
Sitting in navasana or the boat is a true core challenge as you are leaning back and holding your legs off the floor with the strength of your stomach muscles. Modifications of navasasa include keeping your hands on the floor or under your legs for extra support. You can also sit with your knees bent and try holding one leg up at time to build abdominal strength.
Side Plank: Vasisthasana
As in regular plank, side plank uses static, continuous muscular contraction against gravity to strengthen and tone the abdominals, specifically the internal and external obliques which define your waist. Balancing on one hand and one foot in vasisthasana can be practiced up against a wall for greater control. You can also practice by keeping one knee down on the ground.
Pendant: Lolasana
Full lolasana or the pendant has you seated with legs crossed in lotus and lifting your entire lower body off the floor, supporting all of your weight on the palms of your hands. The entire abdominal panel must contract to lift the pelvis from the floor. Beginners should try sitting on the floor with crossed legs, leaning forward slightly, pressing their palms firmly into the floor and then attempting to hover just their buttocks off the floor.
Recommendations
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that strength training be performed a minimum of twice weekly on non-consecutive days. Different yoga traditions vary in terms of the number of times a pose is repeated, but for maximum results start with with two repetitions of each asana, holding the final position for three slow, controlled breaths. Gradually build your way up to six repetitions of each asana.
References
- "Total Astanga"; Tara Fraser; 2007
- "The American College of Sports Medicine's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription"; ACSM; 2006
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