Yoga For Physical Fitness
Vaun Stokes
Yoga has preventative and healing benefits for both mind and body. From a physical perspective, practicing yoga regularly can help improve most physical functions, including muscular strength and endurance, mobility and flexibility, and hormone regulation. Yoga can even reduce inflammation associated with chronic health conditions such as obesity, heart disease, and various forms of cancer.
Yoga is about creating balance, strength, flexibility and relaxation in the body through a series of postures, movements and breathing patterns. As something I have practiced for 13 years now, the benefits of yoga for physical fitness outlined below are some of the reasons I stuck with my yoga practice all these years.
In addition to yoga poses that work your core, such as Plank and Chaturanga, you can target the abdominal muscles to give you a more toned and trim tummy by engaging the core in standing balance poses.
What about yoga and weight loss? Most types of yoga are not as effective as traditional forms of cardio (i.e. running, cycling etc) in terms of calorie-burning. But yoga can increase mindfulness as you become more acutely aware of your own body: people can become more aware of how much they are eating and make better food choices.
Yoga can be an ideal method of warming up/down when taking part in other sports and, more importantly, a great tool for recovery post-injury. If you decide to take up yoga as a tool for injury rehabilitation, then you should seek a Yoga Therapist and consult your doctor beforehand.
When practiced safely and/or with a credible teacher, the risk of injury in yoga is significantly less in comparison to other forms of exercise. In fact, yoga has proven to be beneficial in the healing process of injuries, such as repetitive strain and many others.
Gentle movement also increases blood flow to the injured area, which carries nutrients and removes toxins to/from the injury site, therefore assisting the healing process more effectively. And if those last few sentences bored you to tears, all you need to know is that footballers such as David Beckham and Ryan Giggs have used yoga to help keep them fit enough to play top-level football past their 40s.
When looking to start a yoga practice post-injury, speak to your doctor or therapist to ensure it is suitable for you to start a practice. Then, consider whether you would like to join a general class or work one-to-one with a yoga therapist. And as with any yoga class, always, always inform your yoga teacher of your injury and restrictions before the class starts so you can practice safely.
A yoga therapist can work with patients and put together individualized plans that work together with their medical and surgical therapies. That way, yoga can support the healing process and help the person experience symptoms with more centeredness and less distress.
Yoga is as good as basic stretching for easing pain and improving mobility in people with lower back pain. The American College of Physicians recommends yoga as a first-line treatment for chronic low back pain.
Try it: Cat-Cow Pose
Get on all fours, placing your palms underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips. First, inhale, as you let your stomach drop down toward the floor. Then, exhale, as you draw your navel toward your spine, arching your spine like a cat stretching.
Regular yoga practice may reduce levels of stress and body-wide inflammation, contributing to healthier hearts. Several of the factors contributing to heart disease, including high blood pressure and excess weight, can also be addressed through yoga.
Try it: Downward Dog Pose
Get on all fours, then tuck your toes under and bring your sitting bones up, so that you make a triangle shape. Keep a slight bend in your knees, while lengthening your spine and tailbone.
Participating in yoga classes can ease loneliness and provide an environment for group healing and support. Even during one-on-one sessions loneliness is reduced as one is acknowledged as a unique individual, being listened to and participating in the creation of a personalized yoga plan.
This study aimed to examine the effects of yoga and physical fitness exercises on stress and the underlying mechanisms. Participants: Healthy undergraduates from four yoga and four fitness classes participated in Study 1 (n = 191) and Study 2 (n = 143), respectively (in 2017 Fall). Methods: Study 1 evaluated the immediate effect (a 60-minute practice) while Study 2 evaluated the durable effect (a 12-week intervention). Results: Results showed that immediate stress reduction was more salient in the yoga group than that in the fitness group in Study 1. Yoga group had a greater increase in mindfulness, which predicted stress reduction. Similar observations were made in Study 2 showing the durable effect of yoga on stress reduction through mindfulness. Conclusions: Yoga intervention is better than fitness exercises in helping undergraduates cultivate mindfulness and reduce stress. These findings may guide future interventions in stress management in college students.
While there are more than 100 different types, or schools, of yoga, most sessions typically include breathing exercises, meditation, and assuming postures (sometimes called asana or poses) that stretch and flex various muscle groups.
There has been relatively little longitudinal controlled investigation of the effects of yoga on general physical fitness, despite the widespread participation in this form of exercise. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the effect of short-term Bikram yoga training on general physical fitness. Young healthy adults were randomized to yoga training (N = 10, 29 6 years, 24 sessions in 8 weeks) or a control group (N = 11, 26 7 years). Each yoga training session consisted of 90-minute standardized supervised postures performed in a heated and humidified studio. Isometric deadlift strength, handgrip strength, lower back/hamstring and shoulder flexibility, resting heart rate and blood pressure, maximal oxygen consumption (treadmill), and lean and fat mass (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) were measured before and after training. Yoga subjects exhibited increased deadlift strength, substantially increased lower back/hamstring flexibility, increased shoulder flexibility, and modestly decreased body fat compared with control group. There were no changes in handgrip strength, cardiovascular measures, or maximal aerobic fitness. In summary, this short-term yoga training protocol produced beneficial changes in musculoskeletal fitness that were specific to the training stimulus.
Objectives: The present randomized controlled trial assessed the effects of yoga or physical exercise on physical fitness, cognitive performance, self-esteem, and teacher-rated behavior and performance, in school children.
Methods: 98 school children between 8 to 13 years were randomized as yoga and physical exercise groups n = 49 each; (yoga: 15 girls, group mean age 10.4 1.2 years), (physical exercise: 23 girls, group mean age 10.5 1.3 years). Both groups were blind assessed after allocation, using: (i) the Eurofit physical fitness test battery, (ii) Stroop color-word task for children, (iii) Battle's self-esteem inventory and (iv) the teachers' rating of the children's obedience, academic performance, attention, punctuality, and behavior with friends and teachers. After assessments the yoga group practiced yoga (breathing techniques, postures, guided relaxation and chanting), 45 minutes each day, 5 days a week. During this time the physical exercise group had jogging-in-place, rapid repetitive movements and relay races or games. Both groups were assessed at the end of 3 months. Data were analyzed with RM ANOVA and post-hoc tests were Bonferroni adjusted.
Results: There was one significant difference between groups. This was in social self-esteem which was higher after physical exercise compared to yoga (p < 0.05). All the changes reported below are based on after-before comparisons, within each group. Both groups showed an increase in BMI, and number of sit-ups (p < 0.001). Balance worsened in the physical exercise group, while plate tapping improved in the yoga group (p < 0.001). In the Stroop task both groups showed improved color, word- and color-word naming (p < 0.01), while the physical exercise group showed higher interference scores. Total, general and parental self-esteem improved in the yoga group (p < 0.05).
Objective: The goal was to review systematically the comparative effectiveness of yoga, compared with other exercise interventions, for older adults as shown on measures of health and physical functioning.
Data sources: Searches were conducted in MEDLINE/PUBMED, PSYCINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, and SCOPUS; bibliographies of selected articles; and one systematic review on the effects of yoga on cardiovascular disease.
Conclusions: Small studies with mixed methodological quality suggested that yoga may be superior to conventional physical-activity interventions in elderly people. The precision of the estimates remains low. Larger studies are necessary to define better the intersection of populations, settings, and interventions in which yoga is most beneficial.
Micky Lal is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a registered yoga teacher. Micky is a gym owner in California, where he holds personal training/health coaching sessions. He teaches classes on topics which include exercise, weight loss, stress management, sleep, and healthy eating.
Emily Cronkleton is a certified yoga teacher and has studied yoga in the United States, India, and Thailand. Her passion for yoga has laid the foundation for a healthy and inspired life, while her teachers and practice have helped shape her life experience in many ways.
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