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1. Freedom from sickness | 2. Ability to handle stress | 3. Muscular fitness | 4. Life Extension & Anti-Aging | |
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The stereotype of an accomplished yogi or yogini is, of course, the pretzel. Fair enough, but incomplete. What is not so universally perceived is that yoga is also a wonderful tool for building up your muscles.
The American College of Sports Medicine defines four types of fitness: cardio-respiratory fitness, flexibility, body composition and muscular fitness. Muscular fitness has two components: strength (how many pounds you can lift) and endurance (how long you can lift it). Yoga, by my personal observation, builds muscular fitness. But you don't have to believe me: a simple experiment should be proof enough.
"Downward-Facing Dog." This is one of the most common asanas (poses). Go to your hands and knees. Keep your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips, (shoulder-width and hip-width apart.) Now move your hands one hands length forward, tuck your toes under, pinch your shoulder blades together and tilt your buttocks up into the air.
Now, push with your arms and make yourself into a teepee with your buttocks at the top of the teepee and the hands and feet at the respective ends. Keep your back and your legs straight. Your head and neck neutral.
Now, staying in that position, try to lower the soles of the feet down to the ground.
How long can you hold Downward Dog? New students find it excruciating. Their arms give out, very quickly. But then, through practice, they build up their upper body strength (and their flexibility) and are able to hold the pose for ever longer periods of time. In other words yoga builds both their muscular strength and their muscular endurance.
Downward Dog is just one example. Other yoga poses also build upper body strength. Standing asanas build lower body strength. Other poses build the abdominal muscles. And as for the back: Wow! (For example: try sitting on the floor, instead of chair, in a simple, basic yoga pose: legs straight out in front of you, back straight up. Straight Up! Feel it?
Clinical Evidence. A UC-Davis study followed students through eight weeks of yoga and noted increases of up to 31% in muscular strength and 57% in muscular endurance. Eight weeks!
Theory. Why does this happen in what is basically a stretching regimen? One theory is that muscles respond to stretching by becoming larger and capable of extracting and using more oxygen more quickly. In other words, the side benefits of flexibility include increased muscle strength and endurance
Anecdotal Evidence. Regardless of theory, all you have to
do, really, is take a look at accomplished yogis. They are, as a general
rule, lean and stringy. (And "stringy" means long, strong muscles).
Or you can talk to the men or women in our classes about how much stronger
they've become, over time. Or better yet, join the classes, and watch
yourself become strong, over time. (All yoga asks of you is time, patience
and perseverance.)
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