The Benefits of Combining Yoga With Weightlifting
Live life strong should be the motto of our lives. After all, what is life without fitness and strength?
If there were two worlds of fitness: Yoga and weight training. Which one would you like to choose? Your choice should depend upon your body needs and comfort level. What if we join both the worlds of Yoga and weight lifting? To know this, let us first understand what each has to offer and whether is it valuable to combine weightlifting with Yoga.
What weightlifting does
Weightlifting is old, dates back to China’s Zhou dynasty. Earlier, people who wanted to get recruited into the military were required to pass this weightlifting test. Weightlifting does long term changes in your body. When you do weight lift, you can see the impact soon. Your body starts becoming strong, and you feel that you are gaining strength. The ligaments, tendons, and even your Central Nervous System start getting stronger.
Those who perform weightlifting say it is fantastic, and nothing could be the best activity to make the muscles strong. People who carry weights have a lesser risk of injury in their life because they get used to lifting and carrying weights with ease. Weightlifting makes your bones strong and you feel powerful. This happens because it boosts mood, lowers anxiety, and increases energy levels.
Moreover, it makes you feel comfortable and competent in your skin by building confidence.
What Yoga does
If weightlifting is old, Yoga is ancient, more than 5000 years old. The ancient theories related to Yoga are getting much relevance now. People across the globe are not just practising Yoga. They are and embracing it. We know that Yoga works not only on our body but also on our mind and spirit. It nourishes and heals us from within. We can achieve much more by consistently performing Yoga- endurance, flexibility, memory, concentration, and strength. However, Yoga is never focused on any one aspect. It is meant to be holistic.
When people say, ‘Yoga has transformed me’, ‘Yoga has saved my life’, they say true. They enjoy the positive effects that Yoga has offered them. Yoga not only changes the appearance, but it also makes you more flexible from the inside. Being flexible from the inside means that you are ready to take up things differently as the flexibility factor is now deeply enrooted. This happens because your mindset transforms when you do Yoga.
If relaxation is on your mind, Yoga has the answer for you.
Can we combine Yoga and weightlifting
The answer is ‘yes’.
If endurance, strength, flexibility and relaxation is on your mind, supplement Yoga with weightlifting. For this, you do not have to separate Yoga and weightlifting. You can build a routine and perform yoga and strength training simultaneously. After a power-packed weightlifting session, your muscles get sore. Doing Yoga post weightlifting would make your muscles relaxed and alleviate soreness. Yoga increases the blood flow and brings more oxygen to your body. That is why after the intense workout, it would be good to restore the exhausted muscles through yoga poses.
Impact of supplementing Yoga with weightlifting
While you practice Yoga and weightlifting together, you would experience that it brings endurance. Our muscle mass starts declining with age once we hit 40. We lose it more with age if we have a sedentary lifestyle. Getting into doing weightlifting along with Yoga builds bone density and flexibility. Yoga is good for you when you work out.
Most workouts are targeted and specific when weightlifting, focused on muscle gain. Although weightlifting is extremely good for our muscles, the intertwining of both can improve the body reflexes. Because weightlifting focuses on the body and builds muscles, the energy level decreases after the weightlifting session. Yoga helps us to replenish those energy levels.
Yoga Poses and Weightlifting Workouts
Yoga poses like Low Lunge, Downward Facing Dog, Supine Figure Flour, Supported Lizard Pose, Cobra Pose supplement best with your weightlifting session. The High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workout can be best combined with those yoga poses which are meditative. It would help the body to ease up. There are Yoga poses that develop strength of your arms and chest and get more balance in your body.
Weightlifting gives you increased muscle mass, however, to get muscle endurance and flexibility, Yoga is required. The slow-moving Yoga poses with an extended period tone your muscles, and with this, the endurance & power increase. When you bend down or tie your shoelaces, you do not feel your muscle is stretched or back pain.
Weightlifting = Muscle Mass
Yoga = Resilience
Incorporating Yoga with weightlifting or strength training is what most fitness centres are emphasizing now. People are going to these fitness centres to enhance their muscles, gain mental balance and stay positive. Moreover, we cannot deny that practising Yoga increases the interconnectedness between your brain and muscles through nerve signals.
Weightlifting leads to injury of your muscles. At this point, Yoga is quite effective in reducing the risks of weightlifting. It builds resilience by withstanding stress. When your muscles grow, your body should adapt to them. Yoga helps your body to keep up with it.
Summary
Choose both, not one
The idea behind weightlifting is not only strength and endurance, we also want a good-looking, muscular physique. Yoga can make your body strong, but it is difficult to achieve athletic look only with Yoga. Weightlifting gives you a firmer body.
The catch is a fusion of Yoga poses and weightlifting. So that you get the best of both strength and flexibility, it is not about getting converted to Yogi or flaunting the muscle power instead, it is about choosing both for the benefits. Having a consistent routine of weightlifting along with Yoga will have a profound effect on your body.
Stay fit. Stay strong.