What comes to your mind whenever you hear the word “physical endurance”? Completion of marathon and not going out of breath? Your capability to carry out limitless bench presses or being capable of finishing a spinning class without getting wiped out?
Strength training is one of the vital components of your complete fitness regime. When you find yourself constantly falling towards some activities like running, cycling or walking, you can supplement your cardio-intensive regime by carrying out resistance training exercises for a minimum of two or three consecutive days and enhance complete functional capacity.
Some yoga poses make use of body weight, and with support from props, you can increase muscular strength and endurance and enhance your dynamic balance. This is why many yoga schools in Rishikesh include strength increasing yoga poses in their yoga programs. Yoga enhances physical endurance as it enhances stamina on various levels, including physical, physiological, and mental, based on your specified requirements. For instance, one of the solutions to endurance is using your oxygen better. Your body depends on oxygen for generating energy while doing exercise. So a person with good stamina has a good capacity to provide oxygen to the functioning muscles that utilize oxygen at the time of exercise.
This is one of the primary reasons why any unfit person feels more fatigued quickly than others in better shape.
Have a look at some of the yoga poses that assist in maximizing physical endurance:
High to low Lunge variation
Stand straight, keeping your feet together on top of the yoga mat. Keep your hands on your hips step back your left foot to approximately 3-4 feet. Keep your left heel lifted on the ball of the foot and then bend your right knee while keeping it aligned with the second toe of your right foot when the thigh comes to a parallel position with the floor. Now start inhaling while sweeping your arms overhead and position the palms to face each other while maintaining a lunge position. Press the left heel towards the back wall. Start exhaling for connecting the palms overhead and lower your hands to the centre of the heart while pulling down the left knee till it hovers some inches off towards the mat. Start inhaling and then re-extend the left leg, sweeping your arms in an upward direction and going back to a high lunge position. Repeat this movement till the completion of three to five breath cycles. This pose is taught in 500 hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh.
Chair pose
Stand at the top of the mat keeping your feet joined and arms beside the body when you start inhaling, hinge in the forward direction at the hips and then bend your knees. Lower down into a squat position while keeping your thighs parallel to the floor. Now keep your feet rooted strongly into the floor by pressing your legs actively, start exhaling for leaning the torso in the forward direction, and bring the tailbone down towards the mat. By doing this, you can void excess arching in your lower back. Start inhaling once again while extending your arms in the direction of your ceiling with your palms facing one another and pinkies turning in. Hold on to this pose for a complete three to five complete cycles of breathing.
Warrior 1
Stand by keeping your feet together in front of your mat by keeping your hands on your hips. Step your left foot back to approx. 3 – 4 feet turning the left foot at an angle of 45- 60 degrees. Align your front right foot heel with the back left foot heel. By positioning both of your feet strongly in the mat, gradually bend your right knee. Make sure to keep aligned the right knee and the second toe of your right foot as your thigh becomes parallel with the floor. Slightly take the right shoulder along with the hip back while bringing in the left shoulder and hip a little forward, squaring your shoulders and hips as accessible as possible in the direction of the front edge of the mat. Start inhaling to extend your arms over your head with your palms facing each other and pinkies turning in little. Start exhaling for softening the shoulders away from your ears while maintaining a neutral spine and complete depth in the whole posture. Hold on to this position for a complete three to five breathing cycles before switching your sides and then repeating.
One leg up salute to aero plane pose
Stand straight on a mat keeping your feet together and arms inside your body. Start inhaling for sweeping the arms over your head, shifting the weight to the right foot to lift the left foot off the mat while positioning the knee in a bending position at a right angle and hips in line with each other. Right from this one-legged position with a little bend in the right knee, start exhaling for leaning the torso forward, extending your arms inside of your body. Bring your palms to face one another, slightly lifting through your chest for drawing the shoulder blades. Simultaneously allow your left leg to extend and make it parallel to the floor while putting pressure on the left heel. Inhale again for bending the left knee and then re-extend the arms over your head, returning to a one-legged balancing position. Repeat this movement for a complete three to four breathing cycles before changing sides and repeating and tapping the left foot down as required between your movements.
Locust pose
At first, lie down in a prone position on a mat keeping your arms extended alongside your body with your legs either together for touching or parted. Based on your comfort level, you can select to keep your palms to face one another or stay open in the direction of the ceiling. While maintaining the spine length, start inhaling for lifting your chest and the thighs off from the floor and stretching through fingertips as well as toes. When you exhale, maintain this lifting position while keeping your neck in a neutral position by gazing some inches out beyond your front edge. Hold on to this position for a 3-4 complete breathing cycle.
Boat pose variation
Think of a seated position on the mat with bend knees and flattened feet on the floor. Slightly hold on the back of the thighs with hands slowly lifting the chest and maintaining an extended spine. Now keep your core engaged, rest the torso back gradually without rounding up your spine. Start inhaling to slowly lift up your right foot off the floor and bring your right thigh in a position parallel to the mat. Inhale again for extending your arms migrating towards fingertips either in forwarding direction towards elevated feet or in the direction of ceiling based on your intensity level. Hold on to this position for a complete five breathing cycles.
So, these are all yoga pose that helps in obtaining maximum physical endurance. Please include it in your daily fitness regime and increase your body stamina.