How Yoga Can Make Weightlifters Better

When you want to maximize your weightlifting training, consider adding yoga to your workout routine. Mayo Clinic staff describe the practice of yoga as combining physical poses with controlled breathing, meditation and relaxation. So while yoga may help you reduce stress, how can yoga for weightlifters help you improve strength training performance?

Relieving Heavily-Worked Muscles

Weightlifting training can regularly put muscles in the position of recovering from strenuous workouts. Yoga can help your body flush excess lactic acid out of the muscles. Soreness and stiffness may be noticeably reduced once lactic acid leaves the muscle, leading to a more effective follow-up workout. Yoga can also increase blood flow and help train muscles to draw in more oxygen, which can lead to better and more efficient performances, and ultimately increases in overall strength. The benefits of yoga for weightlifters include restoring tired muscles to offer a calming counterbalance to intense strength training.

Building Endurance

Static yoga poses held for extended periods of time can train muscles to contract longer, building muscular endurance. Some yoga for weightlifters has shown that holding yoga-style contraction poses between weightlifting exercises can help muscles prepare for the next lifting set. Oxygen may flow more smoothly through the muscles due to yoga training.

Improving Flexibility

Yoga for weightlifters can help improve or rebuild flexibility, which in turn can increase the range of motion needed for lower squats or higher reaches to support a comprehensive muscle-building program. When feeling any movement limitations while lifting, yoga can help to improve the range of motion in muscles and joints. Some postures may be able to correct joint or muscle problems due to weightlifting injuries. Yoga may also improve the body’s responsiveness to nerve signals, which can improve reflexes and the fluidity of body motions.

Paying Balanced Attention to Muscle Sets

By taking the time to stretch out all major muscle groups, muscle imbalances can be minimized or prevented. While some weightlifting exercises may actually cause muscles to tighten or shorten, yoga can be used as a counterbalance to stretch muscle fibers. Yoga can give you a comprehensive workout that offset the targeted workouts done when weightlifting or body-building.

Focusing on the Mind and the Body

Weightlifting may focus mostly on the body, and building specific muscle groups. The benefits of yoga for weightlifters can improve performance of the mind and the body, including both concentration and balance, and promote active recovery. Breathing exercises can help keep you calm and relaxed during an entire exercise workout. Yoga can help replenish energy levels, reduce anxiety and stress, and neutralize toxicity caused by some muscle-building supplements. Metabolism may be improved with yoga practice by helping the body retain and digest important nutrients.

Maximizing Performance

The benefits of yoga for weightlifters can be seen when combining workout programs for maximum performance by training the body for flexibility and agility at the same time as building specific muscle groups. Yoga may enhance muscle strength when practiced consistently. Pain from workouts or injuries may also be reduced or eliminated by practicing yoga for weightlifters. As both mental and physical strength may be improved when combining training programs, consider expanding training to include yoga.

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