Six Ways to Use Yoga Blocks (Other than for Yoga)
My dirty, but still useful, yoga block collection
Have you ever thought about adding yoga blocks to your home gym? “But I don’t do yoga!” you may proclaim. Here’s a little secret…I don’t do a lot of yoga either, but I still own plenty o’ yoga blocks. Why? Because these lightweight blocks are actually pretty darn useful! And compared to other equipment, they’re relatively cheap too.
Need more convincing? Here are six things that you can do with yoga blocks outside of yoga….
1) Balance
If your yoga blocks are foam, then you’re in luck because you have an easy and effective balance tool right at your fingertips! It may look pretty sturdy, but simply balancing with one foot on a yoga block can be quite the challenge. Once you get the hang of standing on a block, you can try adding leg lifts to challenge yourself further. Or you can perform your upper body moves while standing on a yoga block to add balance and incorporate core work into your lifting routine!
2) Target
If you want to set a distance for an exercise, yoga blocks are a great way to do it. You can set two endpoints of a side to side shuffle, or below you can see that I set one yoga block as a target for my leg to swing to in this side plank move.
3) Obstacle
Similarly, you can set a yoga block as something you need to move your body around. Here I’m performing leg lifts over the block (which can be easier said than done!)
4) “Weight”
Okay, so unless you have the wooden blocks, yoga blocks don’t have a ton of heft to them. But yoga blocks can still be incorporated into bodyweight exercises and can even add unique challenges. For example, while performing this side bend I need to rotate my arm and wrist to make sure the yoga block stays balanced on my palm, which helps with wrist mobility.
Next, holding a yoga block between my feet activates my adductors and internal rotators while performing a v-sit (core) more.
Kneeling woodchopper can be a balance challenge for some, so practicing with a yoga block can help someone master the mechanics before adding weight.
5) Feedback
Sometimes you may not know whether or not you’re performing a move correctly. This is when having a yoga block can help you figure things out! For example, I love to use a yoga block when performing fire hydrants; many times, people rotate their hip out to achieve a higher range of motion. However, if I’m performing this move to increase hip mobility, shifting your hips is the LAST thing you want. So I like to place a yoga block along my spine to keep me honest; if I start to rotate the hip, the block will fall off. In general, keeping contact with a yoga block can provide propioceptive feedback you may have a difficult time noticing on your own.
6) Stretching
This is the last (and most yoga-y) item on the list. Yoga blocks can help deepen stretches to increase range of motion. For example, standing on yoga blocks while pressing my back into the wall helps with my hip flexibility. And I can increase my side splits by placing my feet on yoga blocks. (Ouch!)
Well, there you have it!
If you don’t have yoga blocks, I highly encourage you to go out and buy some. And if you already have blocks you’re in luck, because here are a few workouts you can do with them from my YouTube channel!