This side stretch and lunge strengthens your core, hips, and back, while making your spine, shoulders, and hips more mobile. It’s useful for improving your posture, increasing power and range of motion for twisting or swinging motions, and helping prevent back pain and injury by strengthening the entire core.
Side Angle Pose Target Areas
- core
- spine
- hips
- shoulders
Side Angle Pose Benefits
- Stretches chest muscles to improve posture
- Strengthens middle back, spine, hips, and knees
- Improves spinal mobility
How to Do Side Angle
– click images to enlarge –
- Start in Warrior 2 (see p48) with your feet 4 to 5ft (1.25–1.5m) apart, your right foot perpendicular to the left, and front knee bent directly over the ankle. Extend arms outward, parallel to the floor and palms facing down. Square hips to the middle.
- Bend at the waist to move the torso over your bent leg. Reach your left arm toward the ceiling, palm facing forward, and extend right arm toward the ground. Tighten the left side of your body, lengthen your torso, and use your core to roll back the top shoulder and open chest. Turn your head to look up at hand. Hold the posture, inhaling as you lengthen the torso, and exhaling as you deepen the twist. Repeat on the other side.
Cues for Side Angle
- Lift ribs away from hips
- Keep knee over ankle
- Extend arms in opposite directions
- Engage core and obliques
- Keep weight in hips
- Keep both legs engaged
- Press into right heel
WHAT YOU SHOULD FEEL
- Stretch in groin, chest, shoulders, biceps, and back
- Intense engagement of core and thighs
WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T FEEL
- Lowered arm forcing the rotation; use core to twist
- Strain in neck; if you do, create more length in spine
PRO TIP: To challenge your core and get a deeper stretch, firmly engage the muscles on the exposed side of your body, drawing ribs toward your core to firmly engage obliques and strengthen core.
SIDE ANGLE MODIFICATION
To help maintain balance and stability, rest your hand on a block placed just inside the front foot.
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.
