Yoga’s current resurgence is interesting and it is great to see that so many are picking it up. Yoga is different in the sense that it will put an emphasis on both mental and physical well-being, which is always a plus for most of us. At the same time, we can say that yoga is a perfect workout routine for people that have some problems in doing other routines that are stronger and more strenuous for the body.
Strength Building Through Yoga
The truth is that you can build strength when you use yoga. This is something that many do not believe but it has been proved through research. It was shown that those working out through yoga are more flexible and there are improvements in endurance and muscle strength. You will surely be able to do more curls and push-ups if you are a yoga practitioner. That happens because your core strength is increased.
The Pitfalls Of Yoga Strength Training
While strength gains automatically appear when doing yoga, they are mainly modest, unless you were in a really, really bad shape. There is a limit to what you can achieve because of the fact that progressive overload does not exist. Yoga basically uses only the body weight of the practitioner as an added resistance so muscle stimulus is always the same. Resistance can be varied based on the position you use but eventually, you reach a limit.
If the goal that you have at the moment is to build muscle mass or maximize strength gains, you will need to be focused on resistance training, dumbbells, barbells, band workouts and similar since muscle load can be changed. Yoga will offer you incredible core strength improvements though, which is so important.
You should never underestimate the importance of core strength. Most people that start working out at the gym will focus on exercises that do develop muscle strength in some muscles, together with a muscle size and weight increase. Unfortunately, core strength is not increased and this can actually lead to injuries.
Conclusions
Yoga is great. It will improve balance, flexibility, lower heart disease risk and relieve stress. It will help you to build core strength and limited muscle endurance/strength. However, it will not be able to improve muscle aerobic capacity. If you want to do yoga and increase strength, we recommend a yoga session that is short right after regular strength training. That helps out a lot more than you may believe at the moment.