One of the more common hip, hamstring and glute flexibility poses in yoga is Lizard Lunge. While poses like mermaid, warrior 3 and compass are extremely difficult for athletic men, it seems to be the case that Lizard Lunge is easy for males; especially those that ran track or competed in a sport in which the legs were necessary. If you are a guy and Lizard Lunge is difficult for you, it is best to start with your breathing. As with all yoga poses that are challenging, it comes down to the breathe. If you tense up and start taking short breathes, Lizard Lunge is going to be quite difficult. Tensing up or breathing quicker has never worked to make yoga poses easier.
Something that may help you increase your flexibility when it comes to Lizard Lunge is to lean back similar to Crescent Lunge and use your arm or hand to move your forward leg away from the hip. You may even want to go on the side of the outside of the foot to increase depth. Most yoga instructors encourage students to get into Lizard Lunge and then put the arms on blocks by leaning forward or lean all the way forward and put the forehead on the ground. Once again, if you have a lack of flexibility in the hips, hamstrings and glutes, that is going to make Lizard Lunge difficult.
One of the most interesting aspects of Lizard Lunge is those with very strong legs can do this pose with brute strength. If you have strong quads and hamstrings, you can push your leg into the position and continue to use the strength of the legs to increase the position. Obviously, this is not the way to do yoga. Breathing, going slow and understanding that getting into a pose is not brute strength is what makes Yoga so great for the body. Even if you are a guy with strong legs, try to breathe into the right hip and get depth with your breathing and concentration.
As a man with strong legs, it can feel very, very good to get depth in Lizard Lunge. As stated in the video above, it would be wise to stay in Lizard Lunge pose for a lengthy period of time to get the full stretch of the leg muscles. If you are brand new to yoga, as a guy, and you hear Lizard Lunge, you should feel good because it is a pose that you can likely do and even become quite good at.