Wide-Legged Plough Pose
सुप्त कोणासन
Supta Koṇāsana — an intermediate inversion that works the hamstrings, hip adductors, spinal erectors.
How to do Wide-Legged Plough Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Set up on folded blankets and come into Plough Pose with the toes on the floor or on a chair.
Walk the feet apart until the legs are as wide as they comfortably go.
Keep the legs straight and press the toes down evenly on both sides.
Take hold of the big toes with the fingers if they reach, otherwise keep the hands on the back.
Hold, walk the feet back together, and roll down slowly to the floor.
Hold: 30–60 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 Wide-Legged Plough 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.
- Lengthens the hamstrings and inner thighs at once, with the spine already flexed.
- Loads the shoulders in extension behind the body throughout the hold.
- Widens the base of the shape, which asks more of the trunk to stay stacked.
Wide-Legged Plough Pose is one of 20 inversions in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses where the head sits below the heart. The group that needs the most care and the most teaching.
Who should skip Wide-Legged Plough Pose, or change it
- Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure.
- Neck or cervical spine injury: the neck is flexed under load, so the blanket stack is essential.
- Pregnancy — not a shape to begin in pregnancy; continuing an established inversion practice is a decision for you and your doctor.
- Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions then, which is a personal choice rather than a medical rule.
- Recent ear infection, groin or hamstring strain, and any disc injury.
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 Wide-Legged Plough Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeTaking the legs so wide that the hips slide back off vertical.
FixNarrow the legs until the hips stack over the shoulders again.
MistakeReaching for the toes by rounding further and loading the neck.
FixLeave the hands on the back; the toe grip is optional and always last.
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 Wide-Legged Plough Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02175, yoga, Power, 4 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 | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
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 Wide-Legged Plough Pose?
Set up on folded blankets and come into Plough Pose with the toes on the floor or on a chair. Walk the feet apart until the legs are as wide as they comfortably go. Keep the legs straight and press the toes down evenly on both sides. Take hold of the big toes with the fingers if they reach, otherwise keep the hands on the back. Hold, walk the feet back together, and roll down slowly to the floor. Hold for 30–60 seconds.
What does Wide-Legged Plough Pose work?
Primarily the hamstrings, hip adductors, spinal erectors, with the shoulders, abdominals, calves assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lengthens the hamstrings and inner thighs at once, with the spine already flexed.
Who should not do Wide-Legged Plough Pose?
Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure. Neck or cervical spine injury: the neck is flexed under load, so the blanket stack is essential. Pregnancy — not a shape to begin in pregnancy; continuing an established inversion practice is a decision for you and your doctor. Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions then, which is a personal choice rather than a medical rule. Recent ear infection, groin or hamstring strain, and any disc injury. 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 Wide-Legged Plough Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Wide-Legged Plough 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 inversions poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Wide-Legged Plough 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. Wide-Legged Plough Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02175, yoga, Power, at 4 MET — about 147 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 inversions — 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.