“Don’t be afraid to be that guy in the yoga class. It just might be the best decision you ever made for your muscles and overall athletic development!”
Want to know Jay Cutler’s, A.K.A. Mr. Olympia’s, secret to his training regimen? No, it is not dead lifting, cardio, or circuit training…it is yoga! Yup, you read that right, yoga.
Jay Cutler is just one of the many professional, successful athletes who swear by the benefits of yoga, such as improved flexibility, ability to train more efficiently, and, most importantly, avoid serious, career-ending injuries.
This probably isn’t the first time you have heard of the physical benefits of yoga, so there has to be some legitimacy to it all, right?
“Today, there are more yoga studios and yoga classes than ever, but a lot of people—men in particular—remain confused about what happens inside those classes and how they should feel about it. Is it stretching, meditation, some combination thereof, or something else entirely? Could it be the secret to unlocking your tight hips and superhuman athletic potential, or will it just make you sprout a man bun and go all new agey?”
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The simple answer: yoga will give you what YOU need.
It is a full body fitness and self-care practice that can improve cardiovascular health, immunity, blood circulation, mental focus, prevent injury, improve agility and stability, and balance the mind, body, and soul.
- Range of Motion Increase
Range of motion is not the same as flexibility. Range of motion is more concerned with flexibility and movement of the joints as opposed to the muscles, so having a wide range of motion is critical to being able to train properly and fully.
- Improvements in Breathing
Breathing is obviously important to stay alive, but it is also important for fitness. Yoga trains your body to oxygenate itself more quickly, which is important for cardio, strength training, muscle building, and can lead to quicker recovery times.
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- Stabilizer Strengthening
Yoga is key to core stabilization. In addition to some of the foundational poses of yoga, such as down dog, plank, and warrior variations, yoga also includes, lateral, twisting, and spinal-arch moves, in addition to a slew of balance exercises, most of which are often missing from traditional lifting exercises.
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- Yoga is a Form of Active Rest
Yoga is the perfect choice for your active rest days because it is challenging and beneficial while also not demanding of recovery time. These are the best days to focus on your flexibility and balance training.
- Improved Balance of Mind & Body
Handstands, headstands, arm balances, one-legged poses, and other tough balancing poses will train your body to handle any sudden obstacle, whether in training, a game, or just life in general. But yoga does more than just balance your body, it also balances your mind and thoughts by allowing you to slow down, breathe, and think before you react.
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- Enhances Overall Health
Yoga offers some amazing, distinct health benefits, many of which lead to other health benefits as well. For example, more efficient breathing leads to reduced blood pressure, which then leads to a lowered stress response. There are many other examples of this domino effect of benefits, but it also helps with problems associated with rotator-cuff issues, carpal tunnel, and sciatica.
“I’ve heard it time and time again: ‘My back/hips/shoulders were always bugging me, but yoga made it 100 times better.’ The only problem with that is that yoga works well enough that most of us stop doing it after experiencing its benefits.”
So, give yoga a try. Don’t fear yoga. It is not strange, exotic, demonic, or new-agey. Start at an appropriate level and give the class a serious try, and you may be surprised and what you get out of it.
Article Curated from:
BodyBuilding.com
