Way of the Warrior

Protect your knees and build strength and stability with this crucial standing pose.

By Julie Gudmestad

You'll probably never need to lunge forward, thighs burning, to desperately thrust a sword at a charging enemy. But the thigh and hip strength that ancient Indian warriors relied on is still useful in all sorts of everyday activities: climbing stairs, swooping to snag a wayward toddler, or bending your knees to lift a load of laundry without straining your back. Just as important, strong thighs and hips can help protect your knees from arthritis, injury, and chronic wear and tear.

Few poses beat Virabhadrasana II (Warrior Pose II) at strengthening your hips and thighs. As you might guess from the way your legs burn in a long Warrior II, the pose strongly works your quadriceps muscles, which make up the front of your thighs.

But Warrior II is not just about strength: It can also correct a common misalignment that can lead to many knee problems. To see if you have this misalignment, stand barelegged in front of a mirror. If your alignment is healthy, your kneecaps will point straight out over the midline of your feet. But you may find that your thighbone rotates inward in relation to your shinbone and that your kneecap points slightly inward, too. This position is bad news: It torques your knee, putting uneven pressure on the cartilage and straining the supporting ligaments and tendons every time you bend it.

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