Adding yoga to your exercise routine can help you fulfill the recommended levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, strength and flexibility. It may not get your heart rate up as much as a jog, but it can still offer substantial benefits.
Adding yoga to your workout can also boost balance and coordination. Try flowing through Sun Salutation A between your strength exercises.
Strengthening
Yoga can strengthen every major muscle group, including the core, legs and arms. Beginners will naturally build strength by attending classes regularly, but even experienced yogis can increase their strength and stability by adding more advanced poses, such as plank and downward-facing dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana).
Some research suggests that regular yoga increases the size of muscles. This type of strength training is known as hypertrophy, and it can improve muscle performance. However, it is important to note that hypertrophy occurs most often when you are doing an intense strength-training workout, and yoga is not designed for this type of workout.
When you’re trying to strengthen, look for poses that require a short hold time. This allows the muscles to activate without overworking them. Boat pose, for example, can strengthen large arm muscles, as well as the rotator cuff, while simultaneously improving balance and core strength. It can also help you see if one side of your body is stronger than the other, which can be helpful for correcting imbalances in training.
Flexibility
Yoga poses stretch muscles, allowing for increased range of motion and flexibility. The stretches are also gentle on the joints, making them an ideal complement to strength training and cardio exercise. Having flexibility in your back, shoulders and hips helps prevent injuries from high-intensity workouts, endurance rides or runs and other activities.
Taking regular classes can help you increase your flexibility over time, but the stretches are not a replacement for a full-body strength-training workout. You’ll need to focus on other exercises that build strength and muscle mass.
If you’re planning on using yoga as part of your workout routine, start with a warm up that includes short hold times — about 3 to 5 seconds in exhales and inhales. Then move on to more advanced poses as your body becomes more comfortable. Avoid rushing into yoga poses with long holds or you’ll risk injury.
Coordination
Adding coordination exercises to your yoga routine can improve balance, flexibility and brain-body connectivity. For example, try the cross crawl exercise. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and lift one knee toward the chest while reaching the opposite hand toward the leg, then lower both to the starting position. Repeat on the other side to complete a set.
If you want to increase the intensity of your yoga workout, consider taking a HIIT yoga class. This style of yoga incorporates high-intensity interval training movements and is usually shorter in duration, around 20-30 minutes.
Remember that yoga, just like any other fitness form, carries some risks. It’s important to know your limits and to listen to your body, especially if you are new to yoga. Overtraining can lead to injury or burnout, so be sure to ease into your yoga schedule. Also, if you’re combining yoga with strength training, be careful not to stack the two workouts on the same day.
Focus
Yoga is a calming exercise that can help to relieve stress. The exercises focus on breathing and mindfulness to promote relaxation. It also helps to improve sleep and alleviate depression. Yoga may even improve overall quality of life.
It’s important to find the right balance between strength training and rest days when doing a yoga workout. The body can adapt after a few months, so it’s best to switch things up to prevent boredom or injury.
A good yoga workout should last between 30 and 45 minutes, including a warm up and cool down. Try to do this on a regular basis and increase the number of sessions per week as your fitness levels improve. Adding a few restorative poses at the end of your yoga workout can help to ease sore muscles and help you recover more quickly. This is especially important if you are running and doing a hard strength training session on the same day.