How long should I hold Chair Pose?

Start with about 5 slow breaths and build toward 10 breaths, roughly a minute, as your legs adapt. Several shorter holds with your knees and back in line are more useful than one long hold where the position sags.

Is Chair Pose the same as a squat or a wall sit?

Not quite. A Bodyweight Squat is moved through for reps, while Chair Pose is held with the torso leaning forward and the arms overhead, so the back and shoulders work too. A Bodyweight Wall Squat is also a hold, but the wall supports your back, which makes it a good stepping stone.

Should my feet be together or hip-width apart?

The traditional version keeps the feet and knees together, which also works the inner thighs to hold the legs in line. Taking the feet hip-width apart makes the pose easier to balance and is often more comfortable for the knees and hips, so use it while you build up.

Does Chair Pose build leg strength?

Yes, especially in the quadriceps. In a lab study of 11 yoga instructors holding five standing poses, Chair Pose done with the feet hip-width apart drew the highest rectus femoris activity and about four times the knee extensor demand of the front leg in Warrior I and Warrior II. As a body-weight hold it builds endurance more than maximal strength, so keep progressing with longer holds or a lower position.

Where does Chair Pose fit in a yoga practice?

It opens Sun Salutation B in Ashtanga practice and appears in most standing sequences as a heat-building pose. It is also the base for revolved chair and for balancing poses such as Eagle Pose.

Chair Pose

What Is the Chair Pose?

Chair Pose is a compound exercise that primarily targets the quadriceps and also engages the glutes, the back extensors and the shoulders. It is a beginner-level movement, held rather than repeated, in which you stand with the feet together, sit the hips back as if lowering onto a chair and reach the arms overhead. Its Sanskrit name is Utkatasana, often translated as Fierce Pose.

The pose builds endurance in the thighs while the back holds the torso at a forward lean and the shoulders keep the arms lifted, so a short hold works much of the body at once. In yoga it opens Sun Salutation B in Ashtanga practice and serves as the base for twisting and balancing poses such as revolved chair and Eagle Pose. Outside a yoga class it fits well as a warm-up hold or as a no-equipment leg finisher.

How you shape the pose changes where the work goes. Sitting deeper with more forward lean asks more of the glutes and back extensors, while a more upright torso with the knees further forward puts more of the load on the quadriceps. The traditional version keeps the feet and knees together, which also asks the inner thighs to hold the legs in line; the hip-width version is easier to balance and often more comfortable for the knees and hips. Bringing the hands to the chest instead of overhead takes most of the demand off the shoulders.

Chair Pose suits beginners, people new to yoga who want stronger legs, and anyone looking for leg work that needs no equipment. If holding it is too hard, start with your back supported in a Bodyweight Wall Squat, which removes the balance and back demand, or practice the sit-back pattern with a Bodyweight Squat before working toward longer holds.

Muscles Worked

MuscleActivation

Rectus Femoris: Primary
Vastus Lateralis: Primary
Vastus Medialis: Primary
Gluteus Maximus: High
Deltoid: Medium
Erector Spinae: Medium
Adductor Longus: Low
Lower Trapezius: Low
Rectus Abdominis: Low
Soleus: Low

Instructions

Stand in Mountain Pose with your feet together, big toes touching, and your arms by your sides.
Inhale and sweep your arms overhead, about shoulder-width apart, with your palms facing each other.
Exhale and bend your knees, sending your hips back as if sitting onto a chair behind you.
Keep your knees and inner thighs pressed together so the knees point straight ahead.
Lean your torso forward until your arms and back form one long line, keeping your back flat rather than rounded or arched.
Draw your lower ribs in and keep your weight in your heels, so you could lift your toes if you tried.
Sink only as low as you can while holding that position, working toward thighs that are close to parallel with the floor.
Keep your neck long and your gaze on the floor a little ahead of your feet.
Breathe slowly and steadily and hold for 5 to 10 breaths.
To come out, press through your feet to straighten your legs, then lower your arms back to your sides.

Common Mistakes

Weight in the toes
Driving the knees forward instead of sitting the hips back shifts the weight into the balls of the feet and loads the front of the knees instead of the thighs.
Arching the lower back
Pushing the backside out and flaring the ribs to lift the arms higher compresses the lower back instead of keeping the torso long.
Knees drifting apart
Letting the knees splay or one knee slip ahead of the other in the feet-together version takes the inner thighs out of the pose and pulls the knees out of line with the feet.
Collapsing into a fold
Letting the chest sink onto the thighs and the arms drop toward the floor turns the hold into a forward fold and takes the work off the back and shoulders.
Gripping the neck
Tensing the neck and jamming the shoulders into the ears to keep the arms up creates neck strain, so reach through the fingertips with a long neck instead.
Holding the breath
Bracing by holding the breath during the hold raises tension and makes the pose harder to sustain, so keep breathing slowly and steadily.

Injuries

Chair Pose is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. It carries no external load and you can stand up out of it at any moment, so the main concerns are the front of the knees, the lower back and the shoulders.

The knees take the most strain when the weight drifts into the toes and the knees drive forward instead of the hips sitting back, or when you sink deeper than you can hold with good alignment. The lower back can feel compressed if you arch it to push the backside out and lift the arms higher, and the shoulders can pinch if they are stiff and you force the arms beside the ears. Keep the weight in your heels, the ribs drawn in and the arms only as high as your shoulders allow comfortably.

To make it easier, hold a higher position, take the feet hip-width apart, bring the hands to the chest or the hips, or slide down a wall into a Bodyweight Wall Squat. To progress, sink lower, hold longer, squeeze a block between the thighs, lift the heels, or move on to twisting and balancing variations such as Eagle Pose.

A strong burn in the thighs is expected. Stop if you feel sharp pain in or around the knee, pain in the lower back, pinching in the shoulders, or dizziness, and come back up to standing.

Overview

Primary Focus: Quads
Equipment: Body weight
Modality: Yoga
Difficulty: Beginner

Alternative Exercises

Other Names for the Chair Pose

The Chair Pose is also known as:

Utkatasana
Fierce Pose

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long should I hold Chair Pose?: Start with about 5 slow breaths and build toward 10 breaths, roughly a minute, as your legs adapt. Several shorter holds with your knees and back in line are more useful than one long hold where the position sags.
Q: Is Chair Pose the same as a squat or a wall sit?: Not quite. A Bodyweight Squat is moved through for reps, while Chair Pose is held with the torso leaning forward and the arms overhead, so the back and shoulders work too. A Bodyweight Wall Squat is also a hold, but the wall supports your back, which makes it a good stepping stone.
Q: Should my feet be together or hip-width apart?: The traditional version keeps the feet and knees together, which also works the inner thighs to hold the legs in line. Taking the feet hip-width apart makes the pose easier to balance and is often more comfortable for the knees and hips, so use it while you build up.
Q: Does Chair Pose build leg strength?: Yes, especially in the quadriceps. In a lab study of 11 yoga instructors holding five standing poses, Chair Pose done with the feet hip-width apart drew the highest rectus femoris activity and about four times the knee extensor demand of the front leg in Warrior I and Warrior II. As a body-weight hold it builds endurance more than maximal strength, so keep progressing with longer holds or a lower position.
Q: Where does Chair Pose fit in a yoga practice?: It opens Sun Salutation B in Ashtanga practice and appears in most standing sequences as a heat-building pose. It is also the base for revolved chair and for balancing poses such as Eagle Pose.