Third Dimension Yoga
A common myth is that asanas are good only for stretching. But, they can help in muscle building too.
Yoga helps to strengthen the body and to stretch the muscles. But there is another dimension to yoga, which is muscle building. Yes, you read that right. Weight lifting and gym training are not the only options left for getting that toned body you have been wanting since long. Yoga can help too. To know in detail about the topic, experts were contacted. “This is a common myth when it comes to performing yoga, it is believed that one can perform high-intensity workouts like muscle building and weight lifting only by exerting in the gym and not on a yoga mat. An important aspect to consider is that performing yoga exercises is nothing but lifting your own body weight along with all the stretching and strengthening,” says Shalini Bhargava, Director and Fitness Expert, JG’s Fitness Centre on bursting the myth about yoga.
Yoga is not only about stretching your body and holding it, in order to increase your core strength. Each muscle flexes and builds while practising yoga. Yoga can be just as operative as weight lifting when it comes to building a robust and impressive physique. “While performing yoga poses you are putting your body in positions and alignments that you eventually have to support with the help of your muscles. So you are ultimately lifting weights,” says Shalini in favour of the fact. Various poses like Vrikshasana (Tree Pose), Virabhadrasana 1 (Warrior 1 Pose) and Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) are recommended and explained for building muscles by the expert.
Why Yoga Over Gym?
A lot of people still believe that muscle building and toning is a gym routine, it cannot be accomplished on a yoga mat. But bursting the myth another expert, Luke Coutinho, Adviser of Integrative Lifestyle and Nutrition at Purenutrition.me says “It may look like that Yoga is just a form of simple stretching routine, the benefits of yoga are much more than that. All yoga postures require us to hold and move between a series of stationary positions that use isometric contraction and relaxation of different muscle groups to create a specific body alignment using one’s own body weights. He chooses yoga over the gym and says “Since in yoga one uses their own body weight for resistance, there is no equipment needed, nor a dedicated space like a gym.”
Building muscles in the gym will make you transform into a beast whereas yoga will make you strong from within across physical, mental and spiritual spectrum. While you perform yoga, you can lift your body efficiently instead of dumbbells. “Additionally some of the yoga postures have the unique capability to break your muscle fibres by generating tension in them. This enables your body to build more muscles as a backup, thus escalating the muscle mass.” Shalini explains the mechanism of muscle building through yoga.
Yoga helps you transform holistically with almost no withdrawal effects. Building muscle in the gym comes with a single focus on growing them, and on withdrawal, your body tends to lose the strong grip over your hard gained muscles and you start to gain weight and body fat tends to increase on withdrawing. However, withdrawal of yoga or a pause in the yoga routine does not cause any damage to the body and health.
Yoga can be just as operative as weight lifting when it comes to building a robust and impressive physique.
Yoga For Muscle Building
As detailed, Vrikshasana is a standing asana which stretches and strengthens the leg and upsurge its firmness. It also helps in expanding the back and arms. Virabhadrasana 1 has multiple benefits from stretching the chest and muscle to toughening the back and arms. It supports the calves and thighs as well. Trikonasana helps in toughening the arms, legs, knees and ankles. Further, it expands the hips, spine and shoulders. It also advances the physical symmetry of the body. All the asanas should be practised on an empty stomach and held for at least 20 seconds. However, they need to be performed with the utmost care and precaution as when practised at home there is a slight risk of nerve damage in rare occasions.
While performing yoga for muscle building, one should also be cautious about the formations. Shalini Bhargava enlightens “Along with the many stretching and strengthening postures involved in yoga, the exercise also includes some dynamic styles such that are effective for building muscle and burning down calories. Certain postures can be challenging especially if you have health issues like glaucoma or high blood pressure. Suffering from muscle tears is another problem if you try to attempt hard poses too rapidly.”
Agents To Aid
The food intake is always an important aspect of fitness routines, the same applies to yoga. While performing yoga you not only have to take care of the physical routines but also what goes in. As they rightly say ‘what goes in, definitely reflects out.’ The expert comment on food intake seconds the statement. Luke suggests a protein-rich diet incorporating Dal-rice, khichdi, eggs, fish etc. He adds “Apart from the diet try to consume more calories than you expend for a healthy muscle building process.”
Lastly, the body needs time to rest and build new muscles. So one should always practice alternate days and give adequate time to rest.
Suffering from muscle tears is another problem if you try to attempt hard poses too rapidly.
From the April-May 2019 issue of FHM India.
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