Yoga classes are good for your mind. They encourage you to focus on your breathing and have you enter a meditative state during the hour or so-long class. The poses are a major part of the practice as you flow from one to another, paying attention to your instructor and the world around you the entire time. Your flexibility and overall feeling of wellness are key aspects that will improve with time as you become a yogi.
But will you build stronger muscles?Yoga isn’t designed specifically to help you build stronger muscles, although some people think of it as more of a fitness class than a mental wellness one. This doesn’t mean, however, that it won’t help you gain strength. Keep reading to learn more from the experts atMyFitFoods.
What Is Yoga?
Yoga is a form of bodyweight exercise that has ancient ties. It’s been around for thousands of years in India and has become increasingly popular in the United States over the past few decades.
Yoga combines meditation and breath control with a number of different moves or poses. It’s common to flow from one pose to another as a way to build strength and relieve stress.
Some of the most popular yoga poses that even those not familiar with the practice have probably heard of include Downward Facing Dog, Warrior, Child’s Pose, and Frog Pose. All of these poses are designed to help you increase your flexibility and improve your mental health at the same time. These poses engage multiple muscle groups, including your glutes, lower back, and quads.
In addition to those two benefits of yoga, it can help you build up your muscles as well. After all, some poses require you to balance your body in ways that work out your arm and leg muscles. It all comes down to the overall yoga class that you take and the poses that you focus on.
Types of Yoga
While there are around eleven different types of yoga, you’re likely to encounter some of these more popular forms.
Hatha
Hatha yoga is one of the most popular forms because it’s a catch-all practice that uses bits and pieces from other types of yoga.
You’ll find poses borrowed from Vinyasa and Ashtanga yoga and more. One thing to note is that Hatha yoga is good for people who are just starting out because it requires slow movements and pays close attention to form. However, it can still help you build lower and upper body strength at a reasonable pace.
Bikram
Practicing yoga in a hot room has created a bit of controversy, but there are people who swear by Bikram yoga. This type of yoga takes place in a very warm and humid room.
Kundalini
If you want to build up the muscular strength in your core (abdomen and back) using your own body weight, then Kundalini yoga is a great option. It’s as challenging as doing push-ups or reps with dumbbells, but it’s still a traditional form of yoga.
It focuses on muscle contraction using specific postures that are designed to clear the energies that have been trapped at the base of your spine so that you can use them elsewhere in your body. These are some of the most challenging poses in yoga, and they help you build muscle by putting metabolic stress on your body.
Vinyasa
Vinyasa yoga is known for being a bit more athletic than the others. This type of yoga (whose name means “to place in a certain way”) consists of plenty of poses that flow into each other. These poses aren’t held for as long as they are in other forms of yoga, making it more likely that you’ll get in quite a workout.
Ashtanga
This type of strength-building yoga isn’t designed for beginners. You need to know the sequence of poses in order to follow along properly. Plus, the poses tend to flow very quickly from one to another and tend to be a bit more complicated and physically demanding than others. Ashtanga yoga is good for muscle building for both of those reasons — no heavy weights are required.
Iyengar
Slow movements, holding poses for minutes at a time, and deep breathing exercises are the hallmarks of Iyengar yoga. Although this version is great for people who are overcoming an injury and are treating the practice as a type of physical therapy, Iyengar yoga is good for building up muscles as well, due to the strength required to hold the poses for a period of time.
How Are Muscles Built?
The process of building muscles requires them to be broken down a bit. When you work out (or in this case, practice yoga), you end up creating tiny, microscopic tears in your muscles.
Once your workout is finished, your muscles will begin to repair those tears, making them bigger and stronger as a result. As it turns out, just about any workout will help you build stronger muscles in this manner, particularly yoga, since holding those poses in place can be quite a workout.
The Advantage of Yoga Over Weightlifting
When you want to build muscle mass, the first thing that you think of is weightlifting. However, yoga might just be a better option. Some of the advantages of yoga are clear. Combining it with agood diet can help you build endurance and lose weight, just like standard cardio. In addition, you’re much less prone to injuries when you do yoga.
Look at it this way: weight training requires movements that aren’t quite natural. Yoga, unlike strength training, contains more natural movements, so you’re less likely to end up with sprains and strains. Doing a plank pose or chair pose strengthens your muscle fibers while still being low-risk.
On top of all of those advantages, there are two more. Yoga is something that you can practice just about anywhere. The only equipment that you need is a highly portable yoga mat. Those are lightweight and easy to carry around.
Also, with a yoga workout, you end up with a more well-rounded exercise routine. With regular yoga practice, you end up exercising all of the muscles in your body, not just certain ones.
Best Yoga Poses for Muscle Growth and Strength
Although allyoga poses can help you gain muscle strength, some do the job a little better than others. Here are some that you definitely want to add to your yoga practice.
Warrior Pose
Standing with the front knee bent and the foot straight, and the back leg at an angle, with a straight knee and the ankle at a diagonal, the warrior pose makes you feel confident and strong.
Once your legs are in the right positions, you stretch your arms out straight at your sides, matching the directions of your legs. Holding this position not only works out your trunk muscles but also your upper legs and your upper arms.
Tree Pose
Holding tree pose for any length of time requires not only a good sense of balance but also somestrong ab muscles.
This pose requires you to stand on one leg, with the other bent at the knee and the foot placed on the opposing thigh. Your hands start out in front of you, palms touching, and elbows bent, then they are raised to the sky, keeping them in the same position. As a result, your core will get a workout, as will your legs (especially the one that’s balanced on) and your arms.
Boat Pose
This pose is an interesting one, and it shouldn’t really be attempted by those new to yoga. To do boat pose, picture downward facing dog, only inverted. You’ll be balancing your entire body on your rear end, with your legs and trunk (and head and arms) facing upward at an angle so that your body forms a v-shape.
Keep your toes pointed inwards, towards your body, and hold your arms straight to your sides, up off of the floor. As you can imagine, holding this pose works your trunk muscles, arms, and legs to the point where you’ll end up pretty ripped.
Side Planks
Side planks are exactly as they sound. Get into a plank position, but hold your body to the side, so that you’re supporting yourself with one hand and one foot. Keep your body straight and hold the pose.
This one will help you build up your arm muscles since you’ll be supporting yourself with one straightened arm, and also your core muscles, since they’ll be elongated and also used for support.
Using Yoga To Grow Muscles
As you can see, it’s entirely possible to build strong muscles by practicing yoga. You don’t need to do any fancy workouts or create a complicated weightlifting regimen. Instead, you just need to practice yoga, which has been around for centuries for a reason: it works. Yoga is designed to improve both your mind and body, all at once.
Have any other questions?Contact us. Our team at MyFitFoods is happy to answer any questions you may have about supplementing your yoga journey with healthy foods.
Sources:
Does Yoga Build Muscle? | Live Science
7 Yoga Poses for Muscle Gain That Are Way Better than Lifting Weights | Health Shots