Warrior I
वीरभद्रासन प्रथम
Vīrabhadrāsana I — a beginner standing pose that works the quadriceps, glutes, hip flexors.
How to do Warrior I
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
From standing, step one foot back about a leg's length and turn the back foot out roughly 45 degrees.
Keep the front foot pointing straight ahead and the heels roughly in line, or wider if the balance is unsteady.
Bend the front knee towards a right angle, keeping it stacked over the ankle.
Turn the pelvis towards the front of the mat as far as the back hip allows without straining.
Raise the arms overhead, soften the front ribs, and hold before changing sides.
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 Warrior I 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.
- Loads the front thigh under a deep knee bend while the back leg stays long.
- Stretches the hip flexors and calf of the back leg.
- Takes the shoulders overhead while the legs are working, which is harder than it looks.
Warrior I is one of 18 standing poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses built on the feet, where the legs carry the work and the floor is the reference point.
Who should skip Warrior I, or change it
- Knee injury on the front leg — shorten the stance and reduce the bend.
- Shoulder injury: keep the hands at the chest instead of overhead.
- High blood pressure, where long holds with the arms up are uncomfortable.
- Sacroiliac irritation, which the square-hips instruction can aggravate — let the back hip open.
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 Warrior I
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeForcing the hips perfectly square, which twists the back knee.
FixLet the back hip open a little and turn the back foot out further instead.
MistakeFront knee collapsing inward.
FixPress the front big toe down and think of drawing the knee towards the little-toe side.
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 Warrior I 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 Warrior I?
From standing, step one foot back about a leg's length and turn the back foot out roughly 45 degrees. Keep the front foot pointing straight ahead and the heels roughly in line, or wider if the balance is unsteady. Bend the front knee towards a right angle, keeping it stacked over the ankle. Turn the pelvis towards the front of the mat as far as the back hip allows without straining. Raise the arms overhead, soften the front ribs, and hold before changing sides. Hold for 30–60 seconds.
What does Warrior I work?
Primarily the quadriceps, glutes, hip flexors, with the shoulders, spinal erectors, calves assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: loads the front thigh under a deep knee bend while the back leg stays long.
Who should not do Warrior I?
Knee injury on the front leg — shorten the stance and reduce the bend. Shoulder injury: keep the hands at the chest instead of overhead. High blood pressure, where long holds with the arms up are uncomfortable. Sacroiliac irritation, which the square-hips instruction can aggravate — let the back hip open. 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 Warrior I suitable for beginners?
Yes. Warrior I is a beginner-level pose on this site, which means it is learnable in a first class and has a version that works for most bodies. The cautions above still apply.
How many calories does Warrior I 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. Warrior I 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 standing 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.