In this deep stretch, the yogi lays on their stomach with their thighs turned out and flat against the ground, resembling a frog shape. In this pose, the knees are rotated so that the feet come up along the sides of the hips, and the hands push down on the feet.
"Because frog pose requires deep external rotation of both hip joints at once, it can be a pretty intense shape. It also is a deep groin opener—especially for the adductors—an area that most of us aren't used to stretching very frequently," she says.
Frog Pose is a yoga pose that's also known as Mandukasana in Sanskrit. It's an intermediate- to expert-level position. Frog is hard. It's a “hip opener,” which means it can help you develop mobility in your hips and inner thighs.
The crow (also known as frog stand) is a great bang-for-your-buck exercise that'll help you strengthen your wrists and shoulders, improve overall body control and balance, and set you up for all sorts of cool (and useful!) skills down the line.
Bring your hips in line with your knees and rest either on your elbows or chest flat on the mat, arms extended or under your forehead. You are looking for 'nagging' sensations in the inner thighs. Hold this pose for 1 to 3 minutes and eventually up to 5 minutes.
Frog pose is generally safe for most fitness levels. However, if you have any knee, groin, or hip injuries or discomfort, you may want to avoid this posture. After the first trimester, pregnant women should avoid this pose and take a seated hip opener like the cobbler's pose (Baddha Konasana) instead.
The frog stretch targets the hip flexors, thighs, groin, and lower back through external rotation. Start off by getting on all fours with elbows on the ground, and spreading the knees farther than hip distance keeping shins parallel to the body.
Who Should Try (and Avoid) Frog Pose. Frog pose is generally a safe one for most people, Bhanote says. But know that it will yield a pretty intense stretch for the groin, inner thigh muscles, and hips. Start slowly and don't go deeper in the pose if you start to feel pain.
Savasana is believed to be the hardest yoga asana. Some would question why such a simple, motionless asana would qualify as being difficult, compared to more advanced asanas such as the headstand (Sirsasana), the king of asanas.
Like most major phasic muscles, to stimulate them fully requires a variety of loading and volume," Luke says. "Frog pumps are an awesome high volume, low load glute exercise that can be used as activation at the start of a lower body session, or as a 'finisher' at the end.
Supported Half Frog Pose (Ardha Bhekasana)
Lie on your belly, flat on the bed or with pillows under your belly. Extend one leg out to the side and bend it at a 90-degree angle with your knee level with your hip, whilst your other leg remains straight and extended behind you.
Frog movements help restore internal rotation to tight hips. The trick to frog pose is to have adequate padding for your knees, so grab a blanket or an extra yoga mat. From an all-fours position, spread your knees as wide as you can, shins and feet in line with your knees.
The frog hip thrust can help reduce the risk of injury by strengthening the muscles around the hips and lower body. Stronger gluteal muscles can help support the hips and prevent common lower-body injuries.
Supported Frog pose (Salamba Mandukasana) releases hip tension, stretching the inner thighs, groin, hips, and pelvis. It also releases the lower back, upper back, and shoulders, while providing a gentle stretch to the knees.
If the frog stretch itself feels too intense, James suggests modifying it by making small adjustments to a child's pose. Move into child's pose but widen your legs and don't fold as far forward. This helps keep your hips back, sitting closer to your heels, but also encourages your pelvis to open wider.
Hip osteoarthritis may make it particularly difficult to spread the legs apart, extend the leg straight back, or to point toes inward and move the entire leg in that direction (internal rotation).
A muscle or muscles will never become stretched if you give into the body's natural tendency to bend/buckle when you pull on it. So when you're stretching, remember, shrinking and bending is not lengthening your muscles, it's shortening them - the absolute opposite effect you want to have.
Frog Pose opens up the hips and adductors. The emotions within the adductors, or inner thigh muscles, are all around intimacy, sensual/sexual contact, and shame. Psychologically, they're responsible not only for containing high energy like sensual and sexual energy, but also the ability to enjoy intimacy.
To exit the pose, release the feet one at a time, bringing arms back to sphinx pose.
Since the pigeon pose targets the hip flexors, glutes, and piriformis muscles, it helps improve the range of motion in the hips. It may also strengthen the muscles that support the hips and lower back. Pigeon pose may also help relieve lower back pain by stretching the muscles and tendons around the spine.