Backbending for Beginners: Activate Your Hip Extensors for Stronger Backbends

Most yoga practitioners stretch their hamstrings constantly. Far fewer ever strengthen them. That imbalance matters more than it might seem. Hamstrings and the gluteus maximus work together as hip extensors — the muscles that drive safe, powerful backbending. When they're chronically lengthened but never loaded, the body finds other ways to create the shapes you're asking for. Often, that means compression at the low back or strain at the SI joints. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) can build exactly the strength you're missing — but only when the right muscles are doing the work.

Backbending for Beginners: Start With Learning to Engage the Right Muscles

The key distinction in this practice is subtle but important. Squeezing the glutes hard and pressing the thighs together might feel like effort, but it can also create unwanted external rotation in the legs. That rotation compresses the low back and the SI joints — the opposite of what backbends should feel like. Julie Gudmestad teaches you to activate the inner hamstrings instead. This creates neutral leg alignment. It builds strength without the tightness that causes problems over time.

The sequence builds that skill progressively. Prone leg lifts, similar to Shalabhasana (Locust Pose), teach the hip extensors to fire without any load from standing. Hands-and-knees variations add a different angle, isolating each side and building awareness of how each leg responds. Wall-supported Warrior Three (Virabhadrasana III) preparation brings the work upright, asking the hip extensors to engage against gravity. Blocks provide support and feedback throughout — not to simplify the work, but to help you feel what correct engagement actually is. From there, both supported and full Bridge Pose give you the chance to apply everything you've built.

By the time you arrive at Bridge Pose, you're not guessing at the shape. You know what it feels like when the right muscles are working. That knowledge changes how every backbend feels — and how your body holds up over the long term.

Watch Julie Gudmestad guide you through the full tutorial below.

For more anatomy-informed practices that build strength and protect your joints, subscribe to the YogaUOnline YouTube channel. Your backbends — and your low back — will feel the difference.