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Here’s how the tool may (or may not) work for you.Squats and lunges will never not be part of leg day, but if you need a fresh way to work your lower-body, it’s time for us to introduce you to something that challenges your muscles and your mindset in equal measure—yoga for legs.

Yoga might not be the first thing that comes to mind for challenging leg workouts, but trust us, it’s a game-changer. “The practice doesn’t just build physical strength, but mental strength as well,” says Paige Willis, RYT-200, certified yoga instructor and founder of Undone, a pop-up yoga experience.

“While it’s different from your typical leg day, building strength in yoga requires you to engage multiple muscle groups at a time and move with a wide range of motion,” she says. “Think of standing poses like chair pose and crescent lunge, where you have to engage the muscles in your lower body to find stability. If you hold these poses for several rounds of breath, you invite endurance into the equation, along with strength.”

For April 2024, we’ve asked her to host our Movement of the Month Club, focusing on yoga. And in Week 2, we’re focusing on lower-body yoga poses. Below, Willis demonstrates six poses that not only strengthen key lower-body muscles (glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves) but also improve your stability in ways that traditional workouts might miss.

Join the Movement

If you’re following along with our Movement of the Month Club, you’ll do one pose each day, Monday through Saturday. Then on Sunday, you’ll combine all the asanas together into a full 5-minute flow.

Do each pose for 50 seconds (25 seconds on each side, where necessary) before moving on to the next one, for a total of 5 minutes. If you’re feeling especially tight or if you have more time, feel free to do each move for as long as feels good.

1. Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

This pose strengthens your lower body (particularly your quadriceps and glutes) and challenges your balance, stability, and focus, while helping improve knee and ankle mobility.

1. Begin standing tall with your feet together and arms by your sides.
2. On an inhale, raise your arms overhead, reaching up toward the sky with your palms facing each other or touching, depending on your shoulder mobility.
3. Exhale as you bend your knees and lower your hips back and down as if you were sitting into an imaginary chair.
4. Shift your weight back into your heels, keeping your feet grounded and your toes light.
5. Keep your chest lifted and your spine long, avoiding rounding or collapsing forward.
6. Try to keep your biceps by your ears without raising your shoulders.

2. Power Lunge (Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana)

Just like lunges you may do at the gym, this yoga lunge variation helps strengthen your lower body (glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings), as well as your abdominal muscles.

1. Begin in downward facing dog, hands shoulder-width apart and feet hip-width apart.
2. On an inhale, step your right foot forward between your hands, placing it near your right thumb.
3. Keep your left leg extended behind you, pressing through the ball of your foot and lifting your heel off the floor.
4. Bend your right knee to 90-degrees, stacking it directly over your ankle.
5. As you inhale, lift your torso and let your arms hang by your sides.
6. Exhale as you reach your arms behind you and fold your torso over your right thigh.
7. Inhale to come back to upright.
8. Alternate back and forth with your breath.

3. Crescent Lunge (Ashta Chandrasana)

Another yoga lunge variation, this one also strengthens your lower body and abdominal muscles and can help boost your mood and energy.

1. Begin in downward facing dog, with your hands shoulder-width apart and your feet hip-width apart.
2. On an inhale, step your right foot forward between your hands, placing it near your right thumb.
3. Keep your left leg extended behind you, pressing through the ball of your foot and lifting your heel off the ground.
4. Bend your right knee to 90-degree