Pigeon stretches your glutes for faster muscle recovery, releases the lower back, and improves hip mobility. This stretch is one of the most important you can do for your back and your hips, leading to better jumps, sprints, and squats, and helping your back feel great throughout the day.
Pigeon Pose Target Muscles
- Glutes
- Hips
- Lower-back
Pigeon Pose Benefits
- Improves lower-body strength potential
- Relieves lower-back pain
- Prevents knee, hip, and spinal injury
- Speeds up glute and hip recovery and muscle growth
How to do Pigeon Pose for Beginners
- Start on all fours with shoulders over your wrists and knees under your hips. Untuck your feet.
- Slide your left knee up to your left hand, and bring the left foot across your body to rest between your right hand and right knee. Turn the left hip outward so the inner thigh faces up, and outer thigh faces down. Extend toes of right foot back as far as possible, releasing hips toward the floor as you do so. Rest hands a few inches in front of the bent leg, using your upper body to help square the hips straight forward. Hold the posture, inhaling as you lengthen the chest forward, and exhaling as you sink the hips closer to the floor. Repeat on the other side.
- Notice how the inner thigh of the front leg faces up, and the outside of the shin touches the floor. This external hip rotation helps you increase hip flexibility by stretching the glutes more effectively.
Cues for Pigeon Pose
- Square hips and shoulders straight forward
- Keep hips square to floor
- Keep spine neutral
- Right leg is straight back, not angled out to side
- Rest on outside of leg, with inside of leg facing up
YOU SHOULD FEEL
- Stretch in hip flexors, outer hip, and glutes
- Slight engagement of inner thighs and core
- Weight centered in hips; shift hips back, or use hands to help center your weight
YOU SHOULDN’T FEEL
- Pain in front knee; if so, flex knee to bring front foot closer to groin
Pigeon Pose Pro Tip
For an added mobility element, squeeze your knees toward each other and actively engage the glutes. To increase the intensity of the stretch, bring your front shin more parallel to the top of the mat.
Pigeon Pose Modification
If the stretch is too intense or hips aren’t level, place a block under front thigh, near the groin.
About Dean Pohlman, Founder & CEO of Man Flow Yoga, Author of Yoga Fitness for Men, Expert on Yoga Fitness for Men.
Dean Pohlman is making yoga more accessible to fitness-minded men. A former collegiate lacrosse player, Dean discovered yoga while recovering from injuries and quickly realized its potential to boost strength, mobility, and overall performance.
Since launching Man Flow Yoga in 2013, Dean Pohlman has built a global community that speaks for itself:
- 195,000+ customers
- 42+ million YouTube views
- 200,000+ followers across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok
Dean’s book Yoga Fitness for Men has sold over 50,000 copies, while his Body by Yoga DVD series has surpassed 120,000 units sold, earning him consistent #1 rankings on Amazon and thousands of five-star reviews. He’s also been featured in Men’s Health, Muscle & Fitness, GQ Magazine, Fox Tampa Bay, The Chicago Sun, and on influential podcasts like The Ready State and Ben Greenfield Fitness.
With a focus on real results, community, and technique-focused instruction, Dean Pohlman continues to change the conversation around yoga. He’s not just teaching poses—he’s helping people build stronger, more capable bodies for life.
