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There are many reasons that people seek out and start a yoga practice. It might have been to be able to touch your toes, to help with post-cycling stiffness, or to lose weight, that age-old motivator.
But once we start to submerge ourselves in the practice, the subtle, physical benefits of an improved sense of balance, quieter breath and deep muscle strength become the reasons that we want to continue with it.
The other day I came across the ‘delightful’ fact that once we hit the venerable age of 30, age-related muscle wastage starts to occur. After this age you begin to lose as much as 3 – 5% muscle mass per decade. An extreme version of this muscle wasting is called sarcopenia, which can affect balance, mobility and cause aches and pains.
That’s if you do nothing about it.
But for those of us that have a regular Iyengar yoga practice, there are ways to combat muscle wastage, using our body weight, and the regular props that we use.
According to ‘science’, there are three types of exercise that can help to prevent or alleviate the speed of muscle-wastage in the adult body.
These are:
Resistance training – Also known as strength training, this helps to actively build up muscle. It involves exercises that use weights, resistance bands or body weight.
Functional training – these exercises are aimed at helping people to carry out everyday tasks. It trains different muscle groups and helps them work better together.
Aerobic training – exercises in this category increase your anaerobic rate. This is your heart and breathing rate. Also known as cardio, this can include running, walking and swimming.
Can Yoga do all these?
Yes, although just because I’m an Iyengar yoga teacher, doesn’t mean I don’t do any other exercise. I’ve been a regular runner for over ten years, as well as doing plenty of walking. I know many of my students also cycle, swim and do other forms of exercise such as Pilates. But yoga has the capacity to really help in this area.
Resistance Yoga
We have an excellent strength training tool that we’re never without – our own bodies.
In fact, according to Google, ‘body weight training can be as effective as free weight training or training with machines’.
Poses such as Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-limbed staff pose) and Urdhva Prasarita Padasana (Upward-facing extended feet pose) are obvious poses when we exercise one muscle group by holding the weight of other parts of the body.
But there are others; Utkatasana (Chair pose) is an epic strength-training pose for the whole of your legs, Urdhva Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand) builds arm and shoulder muscles, Shalabasana (Locust pose) builds the spinal muscles. Basically, think about all the poses that you find hard, and start to huff and puff in fairly quickly, and they will be doing some kind of resistance training.
Functional Yoga
The purpose of functional exercise is allow us to do those daily tasks safely. Think picking up kids, putting shopping away, going up and down stairs, turning round to reverse the car into a tight spot. All these regular, everyday jobs require a degree of balance, flexibility, and strength.
Because yoga is a full-body practice, based on natural bodily movements, there is a functional aspect to our practice too. Okay, maybe we’re not arching up into backbends in our everyday lives, but backbends give us the spinal strength and freedom to reach over our heads, to turn suddenly, and to carry the weight of the muscular body on our spines.
Aerobic Yoga
Is yoga aerobic? Many people would would say not. BUT. Yoga can be aerobic too.
I feel like I’ve said this a gazillion times in my classes, but the simple act of lifting the arms up over the head (which is one of the classic ways to start an Iyengar yoga class) is an aerobic activity, because the heart has to work harder when working against gravity.
Aerobic exercise is generally classed as any movement that leads to an elevated heart rate and increased consumption of oxygen (in other words, getting hot, out of breath, and sweaty). So, going by this definition, Iyengar yoga classes are not often aerobic, but they can be! Sun salutations, backbends, and quick sequences of standing poses can all lead to more of an aerobic workout.
In short, come along to my yoga classes and let’s start building those muscles, because there’s no time like the present!