Half Frog Pose
अर्ध भेकासन
Ardha Bhekāsana — an intermediate backbend that works the quadriceps, hip flexors, chest.
How to do Half Frog Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie face down and come up onto both forearms as in Sphinx.
Bend the right knee and reach the right hand back to take the top of the right foot.
Rotate the right hand so the fingers point forward, elbow lifting towards the ceiling.
Press the right foot gently towards the outside of the right hip while the left forearm holds the chest up.
Hold, release the foot slowly, then repeat on the left side.
Hold: 20–30 seconds each side. Keep the breath moving throughout — if you are holding it, the pose is too much for today.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Half Frog Pose does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Isolates one quadriceps and hip flexor in a deep stretch with the chest supported.
- Keeps the spine in a mild extension throughout via the forearm support.
- Works the obliques to stop the torso rolling towards the bent leg.
Half Frog Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Half Frog Pose, or change it
- Knee injury on the bent side — never force the heel down; use a strap around the foot instead.
- Pregnancy from the second trimester, since this is a prone pose.
- Shoulder or wrist injury on the reaching arm, which is in a strongly rotated position.
- Disc injury: keep the supporting forearm well forward so the arch stays shallow.
- Sacroiliac irritation from the uneven hip position.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Half Frog Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeThe hip on the bent-knee side lifting so the pelvis twists.
FixPress that hip down into the mat and reduce the foot pressure until it stays.
MistakeFlipping the grip before the shoulder is ready and forcing the elbow round.
FixHold the foot with the fingers pointing back at first, or use a strap, until the rotation comes freely.
What a practice like this costs in energy
Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values per style of practice, so Half Frog Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02150, yoga, Hatha, 2.5 MET — and the figures below are for a practice of that kind, not for holding this one pose.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
Calculated as MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 kcal per minute — the standard ACSM relationship, shown in full on the method page. Scale it to your own weight by multiplying by your weight in kilograms and dividing by 70. The whole activity dataset, including every non-yoga activity, is at BurnLab.
Questions
How do you do Half Frog Pose?
Lie face down and come up onto both forearms as in Sphinx. Bend the right knee and reach the right hand back to take the top of the right foot. Rotate the right hand so the fingers point forward, elbow lifting towards the ceiling. Press the right foot gently towards the outside of the right hip while the left forearm holds the chest up. Hold, release the foot slowly, then repeat on the left side. Hold for 20–30 seconds each side.
What does Half Frog Pose work?
Primarily the quadriceps, hip flexors, chest, with the shoulders, spinal erectors, obliques assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: isolates one quadriceps and hip flexor in a deep stretch with the chest supported.
Who should not do Half Frog Pose?
Knee injury on the bent side — never force the heel down; use a strap around the foot instead. Pregnancy from the second trimester, since this is a prone pose. Shoulder or wrist injury on the reaching arm, which is in a strongly rotated position. Disc injury: keep the supporting forearm well forward so the arch stays shallow. Sacroiliac irritation from the uneven hip position. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Half Frog Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Half Frog Pose is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the backbends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Half Frog Pose burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Half Frog Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
Related poses
More backbends — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written. Energy figures derive from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.