Intermediate Balance

Warrior IIIवीरभद्रासन तृतीय

Vīrabhadrāsana III — an intermediate balance pose that works the hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors.

20–45SECONDS HELD · EACH SIDE

One line on the timetable. Warrior III is held 20–45 seconds each side, with the breath moving throughout — and it takes its place inside 2 of the practices posted on this site.

ਸਰੋਤ·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026

The arc draws over 20 seconds — the short end of the hold, at 1:1 in time. One tick per breath at ≈ 5 s.

Sanskritवीरभद्रासन तृतीयVīrabhadrāsana III

ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀWarrior III

ਹਿੰਦੀवीरभद्रासन तृतीयHindi uses the Sanskrit name

DifficultyIntermediatebalance pose

Hold for20–45 seconds each sideper side where the pose has sides

Energy, 30 min147 kcal4 MET, 70 kg adult

Workshamstringsplus 5 more muscle groups

Balance · 02 / 31

How to do Warrior III

Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.

Start in a short lunge with the hands at the chest and the front knee bent.
Shift your weight forward onto the front foot until the back foot is light.
Lift the back leg and lower the torso together until both are roughly level with the floor.
Straighten the standing leg without locking it, and keep the lifted hip level with the standing hip.
Reach the arms back alongside the body, forward past the ears, or keep them at the chest — hold, then change sides.

Hold: 20–45 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.

hamstringsprimary

glutesprimary

spinal erectorsprimary

abdominalssecondary

calvessecondary

shoulderssecondary

What Warrior III 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 standing hamstring and glute in a long lever position.
Trains the spinal erectors to hold a horizontal torso against gravity.
Demands constant ankle correction on the standing foot.

Warrior III is one of 31 balance poses in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses held on a reduced base — one foot, two hands, or the forearms.

Who should skip Warrior III, or change it

Hamstring strain on the standing side.
Low blood pressure or dizziness with the head at hip height.
Low back injury — keep the torso higher and the lifted leg lower.
Second and third trimester pregnancy: not a practical shape.

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 III

What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".

MistakeLifted hip rolling open towards the ceiling.

FixTurn the lifted toes down to the floor and level the hips before lifting higher.

MistakeTorso dropping much lower than the lifted leg.

FixThink of the body as one straight line hinging at the standing hip.

How the energy figure on a yoga timetable is reached

Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart, so no per-pose figure is published here — not by this site and not by anyone.
The pose is matched to the nearest style of practice in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Warrior III sits at code 02175, yoga, Power, 4 MET.
That MET value is put through the standard ACSM relationship for a stated reference adult of 70 kg.
The result is the cost of a practice of that kind for as long as you practise — not the cost of holding this one shape.
Scale it to yourself: the relationship is linear in body mass, so multiply by your own weight in kilograms and divide by 70.

kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200
         = 4 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
         = 4.90 kcal per minute

The whole method, including what it cannot tell you →

The same practice, hour by hour

Read it the way you would read a timetable: pick the length of session you actually sit down for, and that is the figure.

Energy cost of a yoga, Power practice at 4 MET, for a 70 kg adult. Compendium 02175 · JUL 2026
Time practising	10 ਮਿੰਟ	20 ਮਿੰਟ	30 ਮਿੰਟ	45 ਮਿੰਟ	60 ਮਿੰਟ
Calories	49	98	147	221	294

ਸਰੋਤ·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02175 · 4 MET · 70 kg reference adult·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026

The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.

Asked before class

How do you do Warrior III?

Start in a short lunge with the hands at the chest and the front knee bent. Shift your weight forward onto the front foot until the back foot is light. Lift the back leg and lower the torso together until both are roughly level with the floor. Straighten the standing leg without locking it, and keep the lifted hip level with the standing hip. Reach the arms back alongside the body, forward past the ears, or keep them at the chest — hold, then change sides. Hold for 20–45 seconds each side.

What does Warrior III work?

Primarily the hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, with the abdominals, calves, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: loads the standing hamstring and glute in a long lever position.

Who should not do Warrior III?

Hamstring strain on the standing side. Low blood pressure or dizziness with the head at hip height. Low back injury — keep the torso higher and the lifted leg lower. Second and third trimester pregnancy: not a practical shape. 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 III suitable for beginners?

Not as a first pose. Warrior III 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 balance poses marked beginner first.

How many calories does Warrior III 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 III 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.

Sequences that use Warrior III

Balance9 poses · about 20 minutes Higher-effort flow11 poses · about 40 minutes

The rest of the balance poses on the wall

More balance poses — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.

Tree Pose● Vṛkṣāsana Beginner · balance · 20–45 seconds each side Half Moon Pose ਅਰਧ ਚੰਦਰਾਸਨ Intermediate · balance · 20–45 seconds each side ਗਰੁੜ ਆਸਨ Garuḍāsana Intermediate · balance · 20–45 seconds each side Side Plank Pose (Feet Stacked) Pārśva Phalakāsana Intermediate · balance · 20–40 seconds each side Side Plank with Lifted Leg Vasiṣṭhāsana Intermediate · balance · 15–30 seconds each side Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose ਉੱਥਿਤ ਹਸਤ ਪਾਦਾਂਗੁਸ਼ਠਾਸਨ ਐਡਵਾਂਸਡ · ਸੰਤੁਲਨ · 5–15 ਸਕਿੰਟ Lord of the Dance Pose ਨਟਰਾਜਾਸਨ ਐਡਵਾਂਸਡ · ਸੰਤੁਲਨ · 5–15 ਸਕਿੰਟ Plank Pose Phalakāsana Beginner · balance · 20–45 seconds

All 31 balance poses All intermediate poses Posture and upright sitting Hips Hamstrings The full library

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 ਅਤੇ what it is written from. 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.

ਸਰੋਤ·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026

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