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Yoga is a great way to grow more flexible, and it also helps build strength and muscle. Classical yoga texts don't talk about asanas for building muscles as a separate practice. This is because yoga as a whole, including relaxation and pranayama, has the most effect on muscles.
You don't have to do certain exercises to get stronger. Did you know that the "dead man pose" (Shavasana) in yoga is a good way to tone muscles? Besides Pranayama and Shavasana, there is a combination of well-known asanas that helps keep our muscles not only strong, but also toned, flexible, and elastic. This is why yogis don't have any problems when they get old.
People often look to yoga for ways to get a six-pack abs or a fit body. This is a relatively new trend. However, yoga is a whole-body practice that makes the body and brain as flexible and healthy as possible.
In yoga, you don't focus on just one part of your body at the expense of the others. This comes from the fact that yoga is meant to unite, not separate.
Patanjali's definition of Asana is "Sukham Sthiram Asanam," which means "happy steady pose." Owing to this, relaxation is also an important part of our muscle practice because it affects our nervous system, which is what makes our muscles work in the first place. Syncing your breath with your practice also helps a lot with toning, tightening, and burning fat and extra lactic acid in your visceral muscles.
Yoga in general is very effective for muscles. Most yoga asanas are also good for toning your body, whether you want to work on your biceps, triceps, hamstrings, serrated muscles, tendons or ligaments. When done with relaxed and synchronized breathing, the practice ensures that there is no damage to muscles, ligaments or tendons.
How can Yoga help Build Muscle?
Different types of yoga work the same way as lifting weights when it comes to building muscle. To encourage muscle growth, you should do more sets and reps. Some yoga myths say that yoga isn't good for building muscle, but studies show the opposite to be true.
In fact, in 2010, the European Journal of Applied Physiology published a study that revealed that people who use progressive overload in their workouts can build muscle and get stronger in their biceps. However, the main difference with yoga is that you don't add more weight to your barbells or make your resistance bands stronger. Instead, you use your own body weight to build muscles by moving from one pose to the next.
To make pose progression work well, try changing your yoga variations over time and steadily moving to more difficult ones. A 2014 study in the Journal of Complementary Therapies of Medicine says that each change will put tension on your muscles and cause them to stretch. This will cause your muscles to grow.
Start with a simple pose, and as your strength grows, add variations that are a little more difficult. Triangle pose or Warrior II are great places to start if you want to build muscle in your legs.
One way to build muscles is to work them mechanically, which usually happens when you lift weights. However, you can also get the same result by doing yoga.
A study published in 2014 in the European Journal of Applied Physiology states that lifting heavy weights puts stress on muscle fibers, leading to tiny tears. When these tears get better, the muscles get bigger.
In yoga, if you hold your poses for too long, you can hurt your body. This burns out the muscles and makes your body tired, which makes your muscle fibers stretch and your cells divide as they heal, which helps your muscles grow.
How does Yoga help with Belly Fat?
Let's start with the good news, which is, yoga does help with belly fat, but in ways you might not have thought of. Most of us know that stress can make us gain weight. The stress hormone cortisol has a direct effect on fat storage and weight gain in stressed people.
Further research shows that cortisol seems to be able to move fat cells deep into the abdomen as visceral fat, which is not only ugly but also very dangerous. Yoga helps you learn how to deal with stress and take care of yourself, whether that means eating well or getting enough sleep.
All of this helps lower your cortisol levels, which makes it easier for you to lose weight, especially tummy fat - which is often directly related to stress.
Another thing to remember is that yoga can't reduce weight in just one spot. With just a few yoga classes, your stomach might look flatter than it did before. First of all, yoga helps you get better posture by strengthening your core and making you move your whole body. This will make your stomach look thinner right away.
When you combine yoga with a fat loss or calorie deficit diet, you will see quicker results and will be able to see your overall fat percentage decrease, as well as your body get more toned.
Takeaway
It is generally understood that yoga is only good for flexibility. However, depending on the kind and number of yoga asanas you do, it can also help in building muscle, losing fat, and toning up your body.
The best thing about yoga is that it grounds you, unites your entire body, and relieves stress by promoting relaxation. This will automatically translate into your efforts to be fitter, healthier and more active. So what are you waiting for? Get that yoga mat and start practicing today!
