Aregular yoga practice can reduce muscle aches, lead to a better night’s sleep, give you a sunnier disposition, and improve your mental focus, along with numerous other benefits. One such hidden benefit of yoga is toning your muscles. Can yoga truly sculpt and tone your body, improve muscle mass, and actually boost your metabolism? Expert Sohan Singh, a proponent of yoga and the founder of Sohan Yoga International, answers the question.
Of course, one can get a toned body through yoga. Toning is a phrase used to describe the strengthening and development of certain muscle groups—usually your thighs, arms, or lower abdomen. When you practice yoga, the connective and muscle fibres get longer and added resistance helps the body build and maintain a toned appearance. In fact, yoga is an excellent way to tone every major muscle, including abs and the booty.
Yoga has the potential to increase fat loss, build flexibility and tone muscles. This leads to a more lean-looking physique. Indeed, yoga has the potential to completely transform your body, if you are serious about it. But, growth is a process; transformation cannot happen in a single day. You have to be patient and consistent towards your goals in order to achieve them. Yoga’s muscle-building benefits may also help you achieve those rock-solid abs.
Yoga makes your muscles tissues more elastic and it helps to prepare your joints for the pressure they will be exposed to, during the training at the gym. Yoga helps you gain better control of your moves. Make sure to practice stretching exercises before lifting weights in the gym, and even after the work out session.The increased sense of balance, flexibility, controlled breathing, and improved core strength because of yoga will definitely help any supplementary exercise routine.
It takes time and consistency for any kind of transformation. Consistency gives the maximum results. Within a few weeks of practising yoga, one can see that their body is becoming more flexible and comfortable with mid/high level yoga asanas. Over each month, the transformation becomes more and more evident, not just physically but psychologically too. You don’t just look fitter and stronger, you feel and are fitter and stronger too.
Once you have been trained by an expert, you can practice any form of yoga on your own. But if you are a beginner, I would not recommend you to perform it on your own. It should be performed under expert supervision only. Ideally, get some early guidance to understand the right form and breathing techniques from an expert. Then you can go solo and go back to the expert when you want to take your routine to the next level with variations.