Virabhadrasana III

Notes

Keeping the pelvis level in this action requires the standing leg abductors to lengthen while they are active—gravity draws the unsupported side of the pelvis toward the floor. If the abductors instead shorten, they tilt the pelvis so that the opposite hip lifts away from the floor.

It can also be challenging to keep the lifted leg parallel, and using muscles that are extensors and internal rotators such as the medial hamstrings and adductor magnus balance the action of the gluteus maximus, which is both a powerful hip extensor and an external rotator.

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