Do you find your low back getting irritated in twisted lunges, or can’t get through an upward dog without it pulling on your spine? If your glutes aren’t powering your flow, it can put pressure on your lower back, meaning the simple solution to the common complaint of back pain during yoga is to get bum muscles that can withstand even the most intense of bends.

This workout is focused on just that. First, you’ll wake up the glutes with bridges that isolate the muscle. Then, you’ll be taking your squats into a wide sumo position that works the back half of the body rather than the quads, and keeping the focus there with single leg good mornings. Completing these exercises in a back-to-back circuit might set the glutes on fire, but it also improves endurance so you can hold tricky yoga poses for even longer.

Strength training for yogis no. 8: strengthen your glutes to reduce back pain