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Want to get fit and lean with Yoga? Then what do you imagine Yoga to be?
Yes it’s a series of body extensions can be one aspect the other is that is develops the mind when you merge the two it becomes a very complete healthy routine. It is common knowledge yoga poses improves flexibility but some still question how does it improve fitness.
YOGA BODY AND MIND FITNESS (I like to call it Muscle Mind Link.)
There are many Yoga styles which can help you get in shape. One model is Ashtanga Yoga; it’s a style which supports dynamic movements and flowing transitions between postures. It can be conducted as a very powerful cardio workout and isometric body weight training. World famous Madonna practices Ashtanga yoga, she began to practice Ashtanga after the birth of her first daughter. That’s more than 12 years ago, now she has a great figure as a 51 year old. Boyer Coe (World Pro Grand Prix Champion) says about Yoga stretching; “it builds bigger, better-quality muscles.”
THE OBVIOUS BENEFITS ARE:
- Helps prevent postural problems. (after I do yoga I sit and stand straighter)
- Increases your range of motion. (especially after lifting weights)
- Enhances appearance of Muscle
- Lengthens muscles,
- Gives that lean, toned look
- Calms your mind and help you to focus.
THE NOT SO OBVIOUS BENEFITS ARE;
- After weight lifting it will minimise soreness, allowing for quicker recovery and improved muscle growth. It gets the blood flowing into those muscular areas that necessitate repair.
- It develops core strength (try a hand stand and feel those abs working)
- It stimulates the circulatory, respiratory and neuromuscular systems. (Heavy weight lifting damages the nervous system you will need to rest, Yoga aids greatly in this recovery).
PROOF IS IN THE YOGA PUDDING
In a analysis done at the University of California at Davis in the US, they studied the relationship between yoga and fitness. The researchers tested the muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and lung function of 10 college students before and after eight weeks of yoga training.
Each week, the students attended four sessions that included
- 10 minutes of pranayama (breath control),
- 15 minutes of warm-up exercises,
- 50 minutes of asanas (Yoga Poses),
- 10 minutes of meditation.
After eight weeks, the students:
- muscular strength had increased by as much as 31 percent,
- muscular endurance by 57 percent,
- flexibility by as much as 188 percent,
- and VO2max by 7 percent
A very respectable increase, given the brevity of the experiment.
MORE PUDDING?
A related study done at Ball State University offers further evidence for yoga and it’s fitness benefits. This research looked at how 15 weeks of twice-weekly yoga classes changed the lung capacity of 287 college students. All of the students involved, including athletes, asthmatics, and smokers,significantly improved lung capacity by the end of the semester.
Jack England, an 81-year-old yoga and yoga instructor at the Club Med in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, says more than 30 years of yoga have kept him flexible, healthy, and strong. He has the very same weight and height as he was in high school, and his outstanding health continues to amaze his doctor. He delights audiences at Club Med by performing Shoulderstand and other poses while balancing on a float board in a water ski show. He is an inspiration to people of all ages, he says.” I do things that 14-year-old can’t do”.
Stephanie Griffin, a 33-year-old director of business development for a pharmaceutical research company in San Francisco, discovered yoga after years of running marathons, spinning, and weight lifting. Before finding yoga, she thought her Intensive exercise habits had turned her into a poster child for health and fitness. During the last four years, however, Griffin began doing more yoga and less running, weight lifting, and aerobics. As she reduced back on her hardcore fitness pursuits, she worried she might gain weight or lose her muscle tone or exercise capacity.She didn’t ‘”I have maintained my fitness and even enhanced it through yoga,” says Griffin, who no longer has a gym membership. “And I like the way my body looks and feels now better than the way it did before”.
HOW TO PROCEED?
Always stretch after you warm up! Warm muscles Stretch out much easier than cold muscles.
Best case scenario is to stretch every single day for a minimum of 10-15 minutes. At the least, 3-4 times per week. A 10-15 minute stretching warmup is better. In addition, recuperation can greatly be accelerated when one stretches 10-15 minutes as a cool down. Another good time to stretch is right before bed. It relaxes the muscles and will help you unwind from the strain of the day and have a good night sleep.
So if you would like to become and stay physically and mentally fit, make sure your yoga practice includes a balance of poses that build strength, stamina, and flexibility, along with breath-work and meditation to help develop body awareness.
In particular, include a series of standing poses in your practice. As your practice expands, add more challenging asanas such as balancing poses and inversions. If you’re just doing 15 minutes of gentle yoga stretches three to four times a week, you will also require to do some other form of exercise to stay fit. You will need to do something additionally to yoga for a while until they can practice more robustly.
ENJOY What ever you do!
But the right form of exercise is whatever you enjoy most and will prolong doing it on a regular and almost daily basis. Yoga has a lot of benefits, so do yoga regularly and enjoy it. Going past the fitness aspects, yoga offers many other gifts.
It improves your health, reduces stress, improves sleep, and typically acts like a powerful therapy to help heal relationships, improve your career, and advance your overall outlook on life.
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