Hamstrings exercise
Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)How to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Hamstrings, Obliques
- Also works
- Adductors, Glutes
- Equipment
- Yoga mat
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Triangle Pose?
- Step your feet about a leg-length apart; turn your left foot forward and your right foot in slightly.
- Raise your arms to shoulder height and reach your body forward over your left leg.
- Tip your body down, resting your left hand on your shin below the knee.
- Lift your right arm straight up and turn your chest open to the side.
- Hold for 5 breaths, come up on a breath in and repeat on the other side.
Cues
- Long through both sides of your waist.
- Arms in one line, chest open.
- Legs straight and strong; knees soft.
Common mistakes
- Leaning on the knee: move the hand lower on the shin or onto a block.
- Turning the chest towards the floor: open the top shoulder back.
- Bending sideways from the waist only: reach out from the hip first, then tip down.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
The version in our demo
Utthita Trikonasana with the bottom hand on the shin below the knee, the version Yoga Journal gives for most people (hand on the shin, the ankle, a block or the floor, whichever keeps both sides of the waist long). Shown with the left leg forward; the app tells the client to repeat on the right.
Starting position
Mountain pose; step the feet about 1.1 m apart along the mat, arms out at shoulder height.
The position
Turn the front (left) foot to point to the front of the mat and the back foot in about 15°. Keeping both legs straight (not locked), reach the trunk out over the front leg, hinging at the front hip, then tip it down; rest the bottom hand lightly on the front shin and raise the top arm straight up so both arms make one line. The chest stays open to the long side of the mat (no leaning forward over the leg), both sides of the waist long. Head in line with the spine, turned to look up towards the top hand (or forward if the neck prefers).
Breathing
Lengthen through the crown and the top fingertips on each in-breath.
Tempo
A held pose through one slow breath, 6 s: in-breath 2.5 s, the trunk lengthens (about 1° less side bend) and the top arm reaches about 1 cm higher; out-breath 3.5 s, back. Feet and the bottom hand stay put. Real practice: 5 breaths each side.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
- Both knees straight but soft (5–7°).
- Pelvis tipped over the front leg about 45°, the spine bending sideways about 28° more: front hip flexion about 93°, back hip only about 17° abducted.
- Bottom hand on the front of the shin, its wrist about two thirds to three quarters of the way up from the ankle (below the knee, never on it); bottom elbow soft (about 25°).
- Top arm vertical (within 3°); arms in one line within about 5° (m) to 15° (f); shoulders stacked.
- Head turned about 45° to look up.
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Triangle Pose is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- Yoga Journal pose library, "Extended Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana)"
- B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga (1966), Utthita Trikonasana.
- American Council on Exercise (ACE) exercise library, "Triangle Pose".
