Benefits of Yoga for Weight Training
Gym Junkiez!!! I am a 270 pound bodybuilder. a Man’s man; and yoga was not something i considered “manly”. The sad truth is i knew the benefits of yoga would far outweigh my chauvinistic thoughts. I have to admit, when I first tried yoga, I loved the fact that pain i would feel in my muscles and joints has pretty much disappeared. I have come to realize that weightlifting and yoga are the Yin and Yang!
Many bodybuilders/ weightlifters lack flexibility and frequently complain of overall tightness in the body, especially upon waking in the mornings. I’ve trained in a lot of gyms and competed in over a dozen different bodybuilding shows. I know weightlifters and bodybuilders with a lot of muscle mass and look like the Hulk when they flex, but can’t touch their toes or scratch their own backs. Hell I was the brunt of those jokes for a very long time. When you have that kind of mass and potentially associated strength, but lack flexibility, you are setting yourself up for injuries.
I’ve seen it happen. Without stretching and elongating muscles, muscles and ligaments can be torn.
Why Yoga is Good for Weight Training
Lifting Weights without yoga doesn’t make sense. Have you noticed the increase massage parlors that offer stretching as a service? Or how NFL teams are looking into yoga as part of their weekly routine?
There are several reasons why yoga and bodybuilding complement each other. Here are the best three:
1. Yoga helps to lower stress. It not only helps the body, yoga also brings peace and relief to the mind. Lowering stress lowers cortisol, which aids in faster recovery time. Recovery is a very important factor in weight training for muscle growth. The more you can train a muscle the faster it will grow.
2. Yoga gives your muscles the ability to fire more efficiently without shutting down in response to stretched tendons. Mind – Muscle Connection
3. No more use for a weight belt. The increase in core strength will teach you how to to use your abs — your natural stabilizers.
Different Kinds of Yoga to Try
Power Vinyasa yoga would be great if you are looking to strengthen your body and build muscle. This is the yoga for bodybuilders that they’d want to do on a non-weight lifting day. It’s gentle on the body and allows deep stretching while strengthening sans weights.
If you’re a bodybuilder experiencing chronic pain, you might want to look into Yin yoga. Yin lengthens connective tissue through relaxation and encourages joints to reach full flexion and extension. This type of yoga will alleviate muscular tightness and joint pain.
The third type of yoga great for aches and pains is Restorative yoga. This style of yoga emphasizes healing and realignment through supportive postures and sequences, and is awesome for people recovering from an injury.
A few poses to get you started on your weightlifting/ yoga venture are:
1. Legs up the Wall Pose
One of the best Restorative yoga poses, this pose will get blood flowing in the opposite direction and is great for people who travel, are on their feet a lot, or have desk jobs where their feet are always toward the ground. For those gym junkiez who squat and deadlift very heavy weight, this pose takes all of the pressure off of the spine and posterior chain.
To do the pose, find the nearest empty wall. Come to lie on your back, with your knees bent. Scoot your bum as close to the wall as you can, while you walk your feet up the wall. Eventually, your bum will be directly against the wall, with your legs resting along it above you.
You can either rest your hands on your belly, or spread your arms out on either side, with palms up, like a big “T.”
Stay here for as long as comfortable, and relax.
2. Frog Pose
My personal favorite and the best hip opener stretch around. If you spend at least 20 seconds in this pose, your body will thank you.
To get into Frog Pose, start from Downward Facing Dog. Your knees should be slightly wider than hip-width apart. Keep your knees in line with your hips and slide them outward, sinking your hips down to form a 90-degree angle with your hips and knees. Your ankles should be aligned with your knees. Your shins should be parallel to each other. Point your toes towards your shins. Come down to your forearms.
To simplify Frog, stay on the hands, or decrease the width of your hips.
To advance Frog, get down on your elbows. Sink your hips down and back, decreasing the space between your hips and the ground. To advance even more, come down to your forearms by flattening and bending your elbows. Rest your chin or cheek on your hands.
3. Half Moon Pose
Weightlifters often complain about digestion issues and tight lower backs. The half moon pose is a great way to get your digestion moving and releases tightness in the spine and posterior chain.
Standing with feet together, raise arms straight up and clasp hands with index fingers pointing up. Push hips left and bend to right, extending left side from hip to armpit. Hold for five counts. Return to center and repeat, bending to left. Return to center, drop head back, arms behind you, hands still clasped and bend backward as far as you can.
Breathe here for 5 to 10 breaths, and gently release on an exhale. Repeat!
Are you one of those gym junkiez that trains hard in the gym and uses yoga to recover and relax. Share some of your favorite poses with us. Tag us @gymjunkiez17 on Instagram. Train Hard!!!!
