Somewhere along the way, yoga earned the reputation for being a mild, non-energy exerting or sweat breaking practice in the United States. In reality, nothing could be farther from the truth. While there are gentle forms of yoga, such as restorative, many types are actually quite vigorous and burn calories while also building strength.
Lean Muscle Mass
A 60 or 90-minute class of practicing yoga asanas, or poses, will help to build lean muscle mass. In turn, the muscle helps to speed up your metabolism and allows you to burn more calories during your entire day. Vigorous yoga practices, such as vinyasa, Bikram, Anusara and Iyengar, require an energy exertion to execute, which burns calories and fat. Additionally, yoga builds strength evenly throughout the body, while also elongating your muscles and increasing your flexibility. This prevents injuries that are commonly caused by stiff and tight muscles, such as ruptures and tears.
Standing Postures
Standing yoga postures build muscle throughout your core, glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. Several types of yoga, such as vinyasa flow, string together a sequence of standing postures, which can be challenging and require endurance, strength, flexibility and agility. You do not need to have these aspects to start practicing yoga, but these are the types of benefits that you will gain from attending class on a regular basis. Common standing poses include Warrior I, Warrior II, Warrior III, Reverse Warrior, Triangle pose, Extended Side Angle pose, High Lunge and Chair pose.
Arm Balances
Arm balances are usually for level two and three students, but as they take a long time to master, even level one students can enjoy giving them a try. The fitness benefits are actually in the trying with these poses; they require a great deal of core, back, shoulder and arm strength, which can be attained through a continual effort. Popular arm balances include Crow pose, Dolphin Plank pose, Side Crow, Firefly pose, Peacock and Four-Limbed Staff Pose.
Core Poses
Since your core is at the center of your body, almost every movement originates from it, and as such, almost every pose in yoga focuses around your core. Standing poses, arm balances and inversions, along with several seated poses, will strengthen your core just by your executing the pose, but since a strong core is so important for yoga poses, your posture and your overall health, there are many asanas that function as strengtheners of this area. These poses include Plank pose, Boat pose, Dolphin Plank and Cat and Cow pose.
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