Skip Nav
Love It. Save Your Favorites Now.
This 13-Pose Sequence Makes It Easy to Build Up to Bound Side Angle

How to Do Bound Side Angle

This 13-Pose Sequence Makes It Easy to Build Up to Bound Side Angle

How to Do Bound Side Angle
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson

This pose looks so simple, bold, and fierce, but it's not exactly the easiest pose. You need strong legs, open shoulders, and a flexible spine in order to feel confident in Bound Side Angle, and here's a 13-pose sequence designed to do just that. You'll not only be closer to mastering this pose, but your butt and thighs will become stronger and more toned.

Tipover Tuck

Tipover Tuck
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • Stand with your feet hip-distance apart. Interlace your fingers behind you, pressing the heels of the palms together in a double fist. Actively pull your hands away from your shoulders to increase the stretch in your chest.
  • Take a breath in and as you exhale, lean your chest forward and lift your hands up overhead as you fold your torso toward your thighs. Lengthen through the spine by reaching the top of your head toward the floor.
  • Lean your weight into the toes. After five breaths, actively press into your feet, engage your thighs, and slowly lift your torso back up to a standing position.
1 / 13

Wide Squat

Wide Squat
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • Widen your stance slightly, bend your knees, and lower your hips toward the ground. If your heels don't touch the floor, roll up a towel or the back of your mat and place it under your heels for support.
  • Bring your palms together and shift weight into your heels, lengthening the crown of your head toward the ceiling.
  • Stay here for five deep breaths.
2 / 13

Half-Bound Squat Prep

Half-Bound Squat Prep
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Wide Squat, bring your right arm between your knees, placing your right palm flat on the floor. Lower your right shoulder as far as you can underneath your right shin, reaching your fingers out to the side.
  • Put some weight into your right palm, so you can shift weight back into your heels and balance equally on both feet.
  • Reach your left arm into the air, gazing toward your lifted hand to encourage your spine to twist a little more.
  • Stay like this for five deep breaths.
3 / 13

Half-Bound Squat

Half-Bound Squat
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Half-Bound Squat Prep, bring your right hand up toward your lower back, hugging your armpit around that right knee.
  • Lower your left arm around the lower back, trying to touch the fingers together. If they're close enough, hold your left wrist with your right hand, with the left palm facing behind you.
  • Stay here for five deep breaths.
4 / 13

Lizard

Lizard
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Half-Bound Squat, lower your hands to the floor and step your left foot back in a low lunge, keeping the knee lifted off the mat.
  • Stay on the hands, or to deepen the stretch, release your elbows to the floor.
  • Continue to squeeze your right knee toward your body, pressing the back heel away from you. Keep your gaze in front of you to encourage your hips to open.
  • Enjoy this pose for five breaths.
5 / 13

Open Lunge

Open Lunge
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Lizard, lower your back knee to the mat and plant your left palm on the floor unerneath your shoulder.
  • Raise your right arm into the air and reach it behind you to open the chest and shoulders.
  • Hold here for five breaths.
6 / 13

Extended Side Angle Prep

Extended Side Angle Prep
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Open Lunge, plant your right hand on the little-toe side of your right foot and extend your left arm behind you to open the chest in the other direction.
  • Breath deeply for five breaths.
7 / 13

Straight Arm Side Angle

Straight Arm Side Angle
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Extended Side Angle Prep, bring the right hand in front of your right foot.
  • Raise the left knee off the floor and extend your left hand straight into the air.
  • Gaze at your upper hand, keeping the body strong for five breaths.
8 / 13

Extended Side Angle

Extended Side Angle
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Straight Arm Side Angle, deepen the stretch on the left side of the body even more by extending your left arm over your ear, creating a straight line between the left toes and left fingertips.
  • Hold here for five breaths.
9 / 13

Twisting Side Angle

Twisting Side Angle
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Extended Side Angle, raise the torso enough so you can rest your right forearm on your right thigh.
  • Place your left hand on your left hip or wrap it around your lower back to bind on the top of your right thigh.
  • Gaze over your left shoulder, enjoying this twist for five deep breaths.
10 / 13

Half-Bound Side Angle

Half-Bound Side Angle
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Twisting Side Angle, lower the right hand to the floor in front of yoru right foot, continuing to open the chest and hips.
  • Keep your gaze lifted as you stay here for five breaths.
11 / 13

Bound Extended Side Angle Prep

Bound Extended Side Angle Prep
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Half-Bound Side Angle, lower your bottom knee for stability.
  • Drop your right shoulder as much as you can in order to take your right elbow underneath your right thigh.
  • If you can, touch your fingertips together. If your hands are close enough, the right hand holds the left wrist.
  • Stay here for five breaths.
12 / 13

Bound Side Angle

Bound Side Angle
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Louisa Larson
  • From Bound Extended Side Angle Prep, just raise your left knee off the floor.
  • Try to stack the shoulders over that right thigh, keeping your right knee directly over your ankle.
  • After five breaths, release the hands to the floor.
  • Step your right foot back and work your way back to Down Dog.
  • Hop your feet forward and repeat this sequence again on the other side.
13 / 13
Padel Is the Newest Cool-Girl Sport
Athletes
Is Padel the Newest "It" Sport? I Tried It to Find Out
by Chandler Plante 5/06
Lindsay Arnold Shares Her Workout Routine
Dancing with the Stars
"DWTS"'s Lindsay Arnold Gets Candid About Fitness as a Mom
by Chandler Plante 4/21
I Cozy-fied My Winter Wellness Routine
Workouts
How I Cozy-fied My Wellness Routine For a Week
by Chandler Plante 2/26
I Turned a Music Festival Into a Wellness Experience
Workouts
How I Turned a Music Festival Into a Wellness Excursion
by Chandler Plante 2/24
Keke Palmer's Workout Routine
Keke Palmer
Keke Palmer Is Officially in Her Pilates Girl Era
by Chandler Plante 2/18
Popsugar x Audible Temp Check Wellness Day Recap
Workouts
Inside Our “Temp Check” Wellness Experience in Partnership With Audible
by Naomi Parris 2/11

From Our Partners

Now You Know

Love Is Blind: Where Do Those Engagement Rings Come From?

Fashion

Everything to Know About the "Love Is Blind" Engagement Rings

by Sarah Wasilak 2/19

shopping

Oprah's Favorite Things List Has Major Gems, Including an Under-$100 Air Fryer

by Balim Tezel 11/06/25

Fitness

Paralympians Earn the Same Pay For Medals as Olympians, but Is It Enough?

by Karenna Meredith 8/29/24

health

How Often Should We Be Getting COVID Vaccines?

by Alexis Jones 8/23/24

Food

Pumpkin Spice Season Is Back Aug. 22

by Lauren Mazzo 8/21/24

Beauty

The Exact Red Lipstick Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Swears By

by Alaina Demopoulos 8/20/24

health

What to Know About the Latest Mpox Outbreak, According to MDs

by Alexis Jones 8/16/24

health

Céline Dion Promised Her Children She’d Live: “They Already Lost a Parent.”

by Sara Youngblood Gregory 6/11/24

Latest Fitness
We're Hiring! Write For Us Advertise With Us Accessibility Contact Archives
Power Your Happy
Terms Privacy Policy
©2026 Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.