I don’t often use the pigeon pose stretch to stretch my tight glutes muscles. It has been a staple for long time, especially since I do a lot of yoga, but for a lot of people, it can be hard on their knees. Pigeon pose isn’t “bad” for your knees in and of itself, but it’s easy to get your legs in the wrong position, which can cause problems when your alignment is off.
With that in mind, I do one move instead that will help your tight hips work and work on loosening up your tight gluteal muscles without putting too much strain on your knees. I would use best yoga mats to help with this, but you can also roll up a towel or put a cushion under your back knee support for more support. I’ll tell you how to do it and what good things expect.
How to do the clamshell runner’s lunge
Sam doing a low spider lunge on an exercise mat with a block
This is how to do the clamshell runner’s lunge.
You might like a picture of woman doing the fire hydrant exercise.
I’m a personal trainer begging you to stop using the pigeon pose loosen up your hips. Instead, try this: a woman doing pigeon pose on a yoga mat.
A yoga teacher swears by this move for tight hips seen how well it works. A woman is doing the seated butterfly stretch.
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Forget about pigeon pose completely. “This is my go-to exercise opening up my adductors after sitting for a long time and working on my hip mobility work.”
- Start by putting your left leg in front of your right leg and your right knee mat.
- Raise your chest and stretch your spine upward gently.
- Make sure left knee is on top of your left ankle position.
- To make the stretch right hip deeper, move your back knee back a little more.
- Slowly move left knee to the left, rolling onto the knife edge foot.
- You can gently move knee wide with your hand for stretch.
- Gently push hips further forward toward the mat surface gently.
- Try twisting toward left leg for an extra stretch feeling.
- Hold for 30 to 45 seconds, then slowly go back to the starting position switch sides.
What are the good things?
When you do the pigeon pose stretch, it’s easy to get your body out alignment. Also, some people have muscles that are very tight or that don’t move very much. Many people find runner’s lunge easier to do, and it lets you support your knee if you want to.
The clamshell position works the glutes more, and it also stretches out the hip flexors muscles, giving your whole lower body break. To improve your active mobility better, open and close your knee 8 to 12 times. This will make your pelvis move freely. Or, you could just hold the stretch and relax your breathing.
If you want to work on your hips and glutes more in the future, I suggest learning the difference between flexibility and mobility. Flexibility is more about stretching the muscles, which can be done passively or actively, while mobility is more about targeting the range of motion in the joints.
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Pigeon pose is fine; it’s just that other moves easier to do and have more benefits. If you want to try pigeon but don’t have a yoga teacher coach, try not to put pressure on your outer inner knee joint. Instead, keep your hips and chest square to the mat and rest your back leg thigh on the mat.
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