“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
>”,”name”:”in-content-cta”,”type”:”link”}}”>Download the app.
If you’ve ever been sore after a yoga class or felt your muscles aching while holding Warrior 2, you’re familiar with the strengthening benefits of yoga. Although many of us associate yoga with primarily increasing flexibility and calming one’s chaotic thoughts, yoga does build muscle. But how effective is it? Does yoga count as strength training?
Does Yoga Count as Strength Training?
The short answer is, it depends.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults should accumulate a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week plus at least two total-body strength training workouts per week. Strength training increases muscular strength and muscular endurance, which are two of the five components of health-related fitness.
Strength training, also known as resistance training, involves exercises that load your muscles. This not only builds muscle but increases bone density and helps stabilize joints to prevent injuries. Lifting weights or using resistance bands are two common options for strength training.
But they’re not necessarily the only options. Bodyweight training, in which you use your own weight as resistance, is another type of strength training. Some styles of yoga can be considered bodyweight training and can be ideal for anyone who either doesn’t have access to a gym or doesn’t care for or have time for traditional strength training exercises.
That said, there are two factors that largely influence the response to does yoga count as strength training.
1. Type of Yoga
Yoga is an extremely diverse practice with many different styles and ways to practice. Certain types of yoga and poses can strengthen muscles and potentially even build muscle.
2. Your Fitness Level
The other factor that plays a significant role in whether yoga functions as strengthening is your fitness level. Ultimately, it is more difficult to build muscle with yoga than it is with traditional resistance training using external implements such as dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, etc.
In order to build muscle, you need to overload your muscles’ current capacity enough to induce some amount of damage to your muscle fibers. This microscopic damage triggers a process known as muscle protein synthesis, which repairs and rebuilds muscle and helps make your muscles stronger over time.
While it is possible to strengthen your muscles and potentially build muscle exclusively through bodyweight exercises, most people reach a plateau of body strength where some external resistance is necessary to continue strengthening and increasing muscle mass. In general, practicing yoga is not as effective as lifting weights.
However, anything that challenges you is strengthening your muscles. For example, chair yoga can be an efficient strength-training workout. Don’t compare yourself to others and meet your body where you’re at. Also, never push your body beyond your current fitness level or to the point of pain or extreme discomfort.
What Are the Best Types of Yoga for Strength Training?
Beginners often assume that classes for more experienced practitioners are inherently more difficult and better for strengthening than beginner classes. This isn’t necessarily true. These classes are often faster-paced and focus more on transitions between poses and less instruction from the teacher. This can increase the risk of injury for those who are still mastering the foundations and learning basic yoga poses. It can also shift the emphasis to the space in between the poses rather than the strengthening practice of holding the poses for a length of time.
It’s the style of yoga that plays a more important role in whether or not you will be strengthening your muscles or focusing on other aspects of fitness and health in your yoga class.
Some of the best types of yoga for muscle strength include:
- Vinyasa yoga
- Power yoga
- Ashtanga yoga
- Iyengar yoga
Aside from the style of yoga you practice, there are other ways you can ensure you’re building muscle with yoga and/or have yoga “count” as strength training:
- Do a minimum of two full-body yoga workouts per week in which you work all the major muscles of your body. This means your yoga routine should include yoga poses that strengthen:Lower-body muscles: (calves, glutes, hamstrings, quads, glutes, hip adductors, hip abductors, hip rotators, and ankle stabilizers)Upper-body muscles (traps, rhomboids, lats, pecs, deltoids, biceps, triceps, and grip muscles)
Core (diaphragm, abs, obliques, transversus abdominis, pelvic floor, and lower back muscles)
- Choose poses that require your legs, arms, or core to hold the position or support your body, such as the Warrior poses, Chair, High Lunge or Revolved Lunge, Plank, Boat, Bow, Dolphin, and Crow.
- Hold each pose for at least 30 seconds and practice three sets of your strengthening poses. Alternatively, complete numerous reps in a sequence of several strengthening poses performed back to back. For example, perform 15 cycles of continuous flow between Downward Dog and Cobra.
- Finally, combine yoga and strength training into a hybrid workout. That allows you to take advantage of the numerous benefits of yoga as well as more traditional resistance training exercises. Or, if you prefer to keep your yoga practice separate, supplement it with a gym workout or at-home strength training.
