Continue your cross-training late this winter with Half Moon Prep — one of our fave poses for building hip strengthen and stability. This shape forces you to work beyond your usual range of motion, which is key for keeping your hip muscles (not to mention your core) that aren't so intimately involved with walking/running/cycling/sitting awake. And, ultimately, keeping your hip stabilizers alert and strong will help you to prevent injuries and add power to your forward-oriented movement.

All that said, this pose is no joke... you'll instantly feel it deep in both your hips, which is why we like to hit up this variation before moving on to the more advanced full Half Moon pose.

Try it: Half Moon Prep

• Stand on your knees and extend your left leg out to the side like a kickstand, keeping your left toes pointing forward, and foot flat — we highly recommend padding your right knee with a blanket, sweatshirt, etc.

• Bring your torso down to the right and rest your right hand on the floor or a block — make sure you’re not straining to reach the floor.

• Extend your left arm up and reach through your fingers so that the arm feels active, as if someone is pulling it toward the ceiling.

• Your right hand/right knee/left foot should pretty much make a straight line.

• Now that you’ve got the set up, engage your core and see if you can lengthen your spine more, as if you're creating more space between your ribs and hips.

• Lift your left leg up, bringing it parallel to the floor.

• Feel the work happening deep in your hips and then engage your core even more — this will really help your hips keep that leg lifted.

• Once you’ve got all that, hold for 5+ deep breaths and feel your body taking an internal snapshot of the pose, which will help you when you progress to full Half Moon.

Just like we broke Triangle down last month, work this baby at least three times a week and stay tuned for the next step — Half Moon — later this month...