🧱 Use yoga blocks for strength

Try This In Low Lunge

Most yoga students see blocks as beginner tools. Something you use when you can't reach the floor.

But you can also use them to make a pose harder instead of easier 💪

In low lunge for example, squeezing a block behind your back between your palms completely changes the experience of the pose. Your hip flexors take a back seat and your upper body suddenly becomes the main event.

Squeezing the block fires up:

• Rhomboids (squeeze shoulder blades together)

• Trapezius (stabilize and retract scapulae)

• Posterior deltoids (hold arms in extension)

• Pectoralis major (even though your arms are behind you)

• Triceps (keeping elbows straight under load)

The activation of the pec is the surprising one. Your chest muscles engage even though your arms are behind your back. Try it for just a few seconds and you'll feel exactly what I mean.

For students working toward deeper backbends like Wheel, Camel, or Dancer, this variation serves as effective preparation. You're contracting and engaging many of the same muscles those poses require—building both the strength and the neural pathways you need.

Takeaway

Blocks aren't just modifications for accessibility. They're tools you can use for creating challenge and building strength in unexpected ways.