Frog Pose
मण्डूकासन
Maṇḍūkāsana — an intermediate seated pose that works the hip adductors, quadriceps, abdominals.
How to do Frog Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel in Vajrasana with the knees together and the seat resting back on the heels.
Make a fist with each hand and place the thumb inside the fingers.
Press the fists into the front of the abdomen, just below the navel, one either side of the midline.
Inhale to lengthen the spine, then exhale and fold the chest forward over the fists.
Look forward or down as the neck prefers, hold for a few slow breaths, then rise on an inhale.
Hold: 20–40 seconds. 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 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.
- Compresses the front of the trunk while lengthening the whole back line of the spine.
- Holds the quadriceps and ankles in the deep flexion of a kneeling seat throughout.
- Loads the abdominal wall isometrically against the pressure of the fists.
Frog Pose is one of 29 seated poses in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses taken on the floor, where the pelvis is the base and the spine works above it.
Who should skip Frog Pose, or change it
- Recent abdominal surgery, hernia or any abdominal wall repair — skip entirely.
- Pregnancy at any stage, since the pose presses directly into the abdomen.
- Knee injury or knee replacement, because the base is a deep kneel.
- Low back or disc injury: fold far less and keep the spine long.
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 Frog Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeDriving the fists in hard and holding the breath.
FixUse firm but comfortable pressure and keep breathing throughout.
MistakeRounding from the mid-back so the chest collapses.
FixLengthen forward from the sternum and fold from the hip crease.
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 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 Frog Pose?
Kneel in Vajrasana with the knees together and the seat resting back on the heels. Make a fist with each hand and place the thumb inside the fingers. Press the fists into the front of the abdomen, just below the navel, one either side of the midline. Inhale to lengthen the spine, then exhale and fold the chest forward over the fists. Look forward or down as the neck prefers, hold for a few slow breaths, then rise on an inhale. Hold for 20–40 seconds.
What does Frog Pose work?
Primarily the hip adductors, quadriceps, abdominals, with the spinal erectors, ankles, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: compresses the front of the trunk while lengthening the whole back line of the spine.
Who should not do Frog Pose?
Recent abdominal surgery, hernia or any abdominal wall repair — skip entirely. Pregnancy at any stage, since the pose presses directly into the abdomen. Knee injury or knee replacement, because the base is a deep kneel. Low back or disc injury: fold far less and keep the spine long. 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 Frog Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. 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 seated poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does 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. 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 seated poses — 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.