Can you build muscle with yoga?

 Can you build muscle with yoga? 

If you've been practicing yoga for some time, you've probably heard this remark at some point: “Ah, you do yoga, what do you do stretching! Or "Are you breathing sitting cross-legged?" ". Yes yoga is also that, but not only! Certain types of postural yoga like hatha yoga, vinyasa yoga, ashtanga yoga, and power yoga are dynamic types of yoga that build muscle and strengthen the body in depth . It is completely possible to tone and build the body with yoga, without lifting weights and by working all of your muscle groups. Let's go for a good session! 

A dynamic yoga practice brings many benefits on a daily basis:

• A more toned and stronger body,

• Better bone health,

• Less risk of injury,

• Strengthens tendons and joints,

• Improves your cardio.

🏆 Gaining strength also allows you to go further in your yoga practice. At the beginning, some yoga postures like Sirsasana (the posture on the head) are inaccessible, because you have to build your strength in the shoulders. Dynamic yoga helps strengthen the muscles to successfully get into the posture and discover new sensations!

How does a yoga session strengthen the body? 

A full dynamic yoga session (1 hour 30 minutes) is generally made up of pranayamas (breathing exercises) at the beginning or end of the practice, a postural practice, then a relaxation time (up to 15 minutes in Savasana).

In hatha yoga and vinyasa yoga, the practice of sun salutations and asanas (postures) strengthens the deep muscles by working the whole body . These are dynamic types of yoga, more intense than a practice of yin yoga where the emphasis is on relaxing the muscles.

In Ashtanga Yoga, the practice is even more intense. The practice begins with the Sun Salutations then continues with a series of defined postures and intense transitions. You will develop your strength and flexibility, with jumping transitions and strong twists .

Ashtanga yoga is a very complete type of dynamic yoga for building muscle, but you have to take the time to go through more accessible variations when you are starting out so as not to risk injuring yourself!

Build muscle with yoga

There are 3 key dynamic yoga postures to build muscle 

1) The plank (on the arms or forearms) 

This is the sheathing posture.

• From the table posture, hands flat on the mat, shoulders are just above the wrists,

• Straighten the legs and push the heels back of the carpet as if to push back an invisible wall.

• Push yourself back from the ground as if to separate the shoulder blades, the neck is long and fixes a point on the ground at eye level,

• Extends the chest forward.

• Swallows the bottom of the belly.

• Hold the posture between 30 and 60 seconds (you can rest 30 seconds then repeat 2 more times)

2) Chaturanga 

This is the perfect posture to strengthen your arms, shoulders and wrists  :

• If you are starting out, get on your knees, otherwise from the plank posture, move your chest forward in front of the mat,

• Keep your elbows tight. of the body,

• When exhaling, bend your elbows and gradually bring your torso closer to the ground while remaining as parallel as possible,

• During the descent, your body must be as straight as possible, like a stick: do not raise your buttocks and keep them parallel to the ground.

• To get out of the posture, you can push in your hands to get up in dog head up, otherwise put the body on the ground before going back by the knees to go up in dog head up.

3) The boat posture (Navasana) 

This dynamic yoga posture works the center, lower back, hip flexors and thighs intensely  :

• Sitting on the floor, knees bent close to the body,

• Bring the weight of the body back to lift your legs. feet off the ground,

• Bring your calves parallel to the ground with your knees bent,

• To go further, extend your legs, toes at eye level.

How to build strength with dynamic yoga? 

Before a dynamic yoga session, take the time to warm up well: you have to wake up your muscles and joints to progress quickly without hurting yourself . Do not hesitate to practice with the arm balance kit  and the ashtanga kit available on the online studio to go further. You will learn preparatory exercises to work on the mobility of the wrists and shoulders, you will activate the stomach muscles through compression work (cuckoo crow pose), you will strengthen your legs to stabilize the yoga postures, and you will explore your point balance with the rocking motion . It will heat up on the carpets! 

_Sadix_