Strong Men Do Yoga

Strength training can be of enormous benefit to anyone pursuing a fitness regime, but unfortunately most men in the gym are not working on any sort of pre or post-workout mobility/flexibility session. Yoga is beneficial because it requires one to focus on the task at hand.  When we train this capacity of the mind, we are learning to cultivate the space we need to make conscious decisions about how we spend our time.  It is in this space that we can bring all of our experiences, education and inner wisdom to the moment.  The more focus, the more one is truly present and therefore the greater the capacity for excellence. Yoga exercises, meditation, and postures also improve your balance, strength, and overall flexibility, making you more capable of pursuing a balanced fitness regimen.

5 benefits of including yoga into your strength training:

Yoga Benefit #1: Decompression
In order to keep your connective and supportive tissues healthy, decompression is essential. Tension in these areas restricts crucial blood flow, reducing the rate of healing and nutrient delivery. We want our soft tissues to remain just that, soft. The pressure of strength training introduces retain forces some part within your soft tissues. An equal but opposing force will release that tension.

Yoga Benefit #2: Change of Scenery
The repetitive nature of strength training can lead to some boredom with the practice. Yoga is normally practiced in a group-training environment that is completely different from your normal lifting routine. This change in setting can keep your routine fresh!

Yoga Benefit #3: Alignment Practice
There are no barbells lifted in a Yoga class. All you need is your body. Sometimes we can get so involved in our heavy weights that any body weight movements seem like a waste of time and energy. However, the postures visited in a typical yoga class all work on fundamental alignment and engagement that is essential to strength training.

Yoga Benefit #4: Brain Day
We’ve got a separate day for all the parts of the body when it comes to strength training. Seemingly absent from that list is brain day. We don’t get the term meatheads from having buff brains. Instead, it is our lack of focus on mental and emotional development that makes folks think we’re just a big hunk of meat with two eyes. We’ve all got a soft side, whether you want to admit it or not!

Yoga Benefit #5: Cleansing
When done right, strength training has some residual damage in your muscular system that repairs over the passing days after the session. Removing the resulting damaged tissue takes time, but this process is sped up with a faster flow of fluids through your body.

Some Yoga classes are in a heated environment that encourages profuse sweating. The heated environment helps with mobilizing soft tissues, allowing you to get deeper into the poses. It also makes you sweat buckets! Seriously, you’ll be left in a pool of sweat from just an hour of Yoga, so be sure to bring a towel!

Thursday, February 11, 2016