Warrior III Pose – How to Do it, Plus Modifications

Warrior III is a yoga pose that challenges your glutes, core, and leg muscles as well as your ability to balance. Work on this pose if you want to improve strength, correct an imbalance one side of the body, or improve balance. 

What is Warrior III? 

Warrior III  is a popular yoga pose, or asana. The asanas are a serious of postures or poses that make up just a portion of traditional yoga. In our modern, western practice, however, most people focus entirely on the asanas, like warrior III. 

Practicing asanas is good for overall fitness, but particularly for building strength and flexibility with a focus on breathing and concentration. 

Warrior III is a pose also known as Virabhadrasana III or Warrior 3 pose. It requires balancing on one leg with the other outstretched. It’s not an easy pose, but most people can work up to it or modify it to get some of the same benefits of the full pose. 

What Are the Benefits of Warrior III Pose? 

Like all asanas, Warrior III has multiple benefits, from improving balance and muscle strength to connecting the mind and body through a focus on breath and stillness. 

Warrior III Pose Strengthens Leg Muscles

For anyone doing yoga for fitness, Warrior III is useful for strengthening certain muscles. This pose requires that you stand on one leg and hold the pose. This works the muscles of the standing leg: hamstrings, glutes, calves, and muscles around the ankles. 

Several yoga poses activate the glutes. Here are more yoga pose ideas for using yoga to build a stronger behind. 

It Also Builds Core Strength

The legs and glutes are the obvious recipients of holding this pose, but it also requires a strong core to stay in place. If you can balance on one leg, you are working your core. The more you do this pose, the stronger your abs and lower back will get. 

Warrior III Improves Balance 

It almost goes without saying that this pose will also improve your balance. Standing on one leg while extending the other is difficult for beginners but do it more often and you’ll begin to improve and be able to hold it longer. 

Balance is often overlooked in fitness, but it is so important. It improves your functional movements in daily life as well as during sports and workouts, reducing the risk of injury. For older clients, poses that improve balance reduce fall risks. 

A regular yoga practice also benefits your joints. Find out how, here. 

How to Do Warrior III – Step-by-Step

When done without any variations, this is what Warrior III looks like. One leg is straight but not locked at the knee, foot rooted firmly on the floor. The opposite leg is extended back, and the torso forward bent at the hips, arms extended straight ahead. The arms, torso, and extended leg make a straight line perpendicular to the standing leg. 

It sounds simple, but getting into and holding this pose requires flexibility, strength, and balance. Get yourself or a client into the position with these steps: 

1. Begin in a high lunge, or Warrior I pose. The right foot is forward, knee bent at 90 degrees. The left foot is extended back. The chest is upright, arms extended straight over your head and aligned with your ears. Try to keep your shoulders down, as they tend to bunch up. 

2. Slowly lean forward over the right foot and begin to place all your weight in that foot as the left foot lifts slightly off the ground. 

3. Straighten the right leg as you continue leaning forward, trying to bring your chest and arms parallel to the floor. Keep the neck neutral but straight, gaze down at the floor. 

4. At the same time, lift and straighten your left leg, slowly, allowing the chest and left leg to balance each other. 

5. Focus on completely straightening the left leg behind you while keeping both hips level with each other and directly over the ground with no tilt. 

6. There is a tendency for the left hip to lift up higher than the right hip, so pay attention to whether or not they feel level. 

7. Flex the left foot and focus on making a straight line from your fingertips to your toes. 

When you’re ready to exit the position, slowly pivot the hips back up as the left leg bends and comes back down to the ground. Aim for smooth, slow movement. 

Variations on Warrior III

You can vary Warrior III in several ways, both to make it easier and more challenging: 

• Modify this pose for beginners by beginning in cat pose on hands and knees. Practice balancing on one knee while extending the other foot out. You can also add one arm extension at a time to start building more core strength, 

• Beginners or people with limitations can also use props to make holding the position easier. A chair at the right level, for instance, can support the hands or foot. 

• Practice holding the leg extended before adding extended arms. 

• To make it more challenging, try holding this pose with your eyes closed. It’s always more difficult to balance this way. 

• Try doing the pose with the standing foot on a yoga block for an additional balance challenge, or simply hold the pose longer. 

A well-rounded yoga practice is so great for fitness and overall wellness. The more you get to know the poses, the easier it is to pick out specific asanas for clients who could benefit or for their particular benefits. Use Warrior III to build leg and core strength and as a challenging balance exercise. 

ISSA’s Yoga 200, a certified yoga instructor course, is a great way to take your passion for yoga to the next level. Get certified and start teaching classes and coaching individuals.