“Yoga improves my flexibility and mental health, but strength training could help me build muscles and look toned. So, what do I choose?” – As a yogi, if this has been your forever dilemma, then we’re here to tell you that you can get the best of both worlds and live a life where self-realization and fitness converge effortlessly.
Yoga and Weight Training – Is It a Good Combination?
At first, you may feel that the comparison between yoga and strength training is moot. If one feels like a long, calming spa session, the other feels like climbing on large boulders with all your might. One involves stretching your muscles and deploying them at peak extension, while the other damages your muscles and deploys them at peak contraction. But this is exactly why, strength training and yoga complement each other – where one lacks, the other one shines! Imagine a yogic body that’s aesthetic as well as healthy. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?
Benefits of Yoga Vs. Benefits of Strength Training
Exercising helps improve mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. We all have our favorite exercises but mixing them up can challenge our body by preventing it to get used to any single routine and slacking during a workout. Speaking of which, yoga and strength training are a match offering heavenly benefits.
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How Yoga and Strength Training Go Hand in Hand
Strength and Flexibility
Yoga can help improve your mobility and flexibility after the weight training WOD at the gym that makes your body stiff and sore at times. Whereas yoga is great at building natural strength with your bodyweight, the fact is that it can only get you so far. Therefore, when you add extra resistance through weights, it helps you put on muscle mass which in turn can improve your yoga poses.
Endurance and Explosiveness
While yoga helps tone your muscles and build endurance through slow-moving poses, strength training can boost your speed and power. Doing explosive movements like squats and plyometrics strengthens your core and develops muscle fibers. A strong core will reinforce your yoga poses by giving you more control over your body.
Aggression Control and Relaxation
While performing strength training exercises, we tend to mount up controlled aggression to fuel lifting heavier weights which makes us go terribly wrong with our breathing techniques. That’s where practicing yoga can help.
Yoga workout routines teach us controlled breathing and being calm even while doing challenging exercises. This not only helps us feel relaxed and control the aggression but also doubles up the muscle-building benefits.
Mind, Body, and Soul Workout
When you get on the yoga mat, you know that you are in for instilling a sense of calmness while giving yourself a toned and leaner physique. It helps you listen to your body and the voice inside your head. Ultimately, when yoga and weight training are combined, they can create a balanced routine that harmonizes your mind, body, and soul. This ensures a holistic approach towards your wellbeing.
Balanced Aesthetic
We all want to look good. Why? Because it boosts our self-confidence by making us feel good about ourselves which is completely A-okay! When yoga and weight lifting are combined, you can upgrade your strong and lean body to an aspirational muscular body. Also, while you might be fulfilling the #fitspiration trend with snaps of dumbbells and gym selfies, yoga can give you the benefits of glowing skin that are unbelievably good.
How To Foster Strength Training Through Your Yoga Routine?
Does yoga build muscles? The answer is yes. While considering different types of exercises, yoga strength training is a type of exercise that can offer a full-body, strength training workout using your bodyweight if done correctly. There are many strength-training exercises in yoga – take your pick from boat pose, warrior II, half-moon pose, or the cobra pose! This is how you can foster strength training through your regular yoga workout:
- Holding The Poses Longer – It takes a lot of strength to hold a pose for a longer duration. You’ll feel the burn as your muscles begin to work.
- Increasing Repetitions – Choose which muscle groups to work on, select a few poses for it, and repeat them several times to build strength.
- Adding Weights – If you find it easier with bodyweight, then add wrist or ankle weights, or hold a weight in your hand while doing poses like Warrior I, chair pose, boat pose, etc.
- Including Power Yoga – Constructed on breath-based movements and flowing between fast-paced poses, power yoga helps build strength, stamina, flexibility, and focus.
- Modifying Poses – Implementing modified versions of the yoga poses is an easy way to level up. For example, adding shoulder presses to the downward dog or adding push-ups to Chaturanga ensures a sweet sweat sesh.
- Incorporating Multi-purpose Yoga Poses – Practice yoga poses that work on all muscle groups like thighs, back, shoulders, arms, and glutes.
The Best Yoga Poses for Strength Training
Whatever your problem is, yoga seems to have the solution. All you need to do is hop on a yoga mat and follow the below yoga poses with the above tips for strength training:
Cobra Pose
Works: Back, glutes, core, arms
How to: Lie down on your stomach with arms placed next to your chest on either side. Inhale and lift your torso. Hold for a few seconds, exhale and lower yourself down in tandem.
Bridge Pose
Works: Legs, glutes, lower back, core
How to: Lie supine on the floor with your knees bent. Inhale and lift from your lower back gradually off the floor keeping your buttocks firm. Hold the pose for a few seconds before lowering down as you exhale.
Warrior II Pose
Works: Thighs, hips, shoulders
How to: Stand up straight and take one leg back. Raise your arms so that they are parallel to the floor and bend the front knee while looking forward.
Boat Pose
Works: Hip flexors, core, abs
How to: Begin in a seated position. Now lift your feet off the floor at a 45-degree angle while leaning backward with your back straight. Raise your arms so that they are parallel to the floor and hold the pose while engaging your core.
Tree Pose
Works: Ankle, knee, hips
How to: Stand up straight and lift your right leg off the floor and place the sole on the inner thigh of the left leg. Keep your hands in namaskara mudra in front of your chest or above your head. Now repeat the same on with the other leg.
Crow Pose
Works: Arms, abs, wrist, upper back
How to: Begin in mountain pose. Now, bend your knees slightly and bring them closer to your arms. Touch your knees on your upper arms, and try to lift your feet off the ground while you keep your elbows slightly bent.
Plank Pose
Works: Core, forearms
How to: Begin in all fours position. Tuck your toes in and step back with your feet, bringing your body and head in one straight line. Hold the pose while engaging your core and breathing continuously.
Half-moon Pose
Works: Thighs, ankles, core, glutes
How to: Begin in a triangle pose with your right leg forward. Raise your left leg off the floor. Your right palm should be touching the ground and your left arm should be raised straight up. Hold, then come down, and repeat the same on the other side.
Chair Pose
Works: Legs, glutes, core, lower back
How to: Stand straight on your feet. Inhale and lift your arms straight up. Now exhale as you bend your knees as if you are sitting on a chair while keeping your back straight. Ensure that your knees do not come ahead of your ankles. Hold and repeat.
The Bottom Line
Yoga teaches us to be open to trying new forms of body movements and challenge ourselves every day. So, why not use that philosophy to build muscles and body strength by blending your daily yoga routine with some strength training exercises to tone your body like no other!
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