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Bodybuilders train with weights to maximize muscle size, decrease body fat and to improve body symmetry and aesthetics. A typical bodybuilding regimen includes several hours of intense weight lifting each day, not to mention the constant attention to food intake (phytonutrients and protein rich foods), dietary supplementation (as in liquid vitamins and other supplements), muscle size with an appropriate body balance and body fat percentage.
Training for muscular flexibility and strengthening muscles that stabilize joints are largely ignored; aerobic training is usually only performed in an effort to reduce body fat percentage in the month or two before a bodybuilding competition. Although a common misperception is that yoga is only for women or the elderly, a regular yoga routine can compliment a bodybuilding regimen by offering a number of health benefits and a potential competitive advantage.
Regular yoga can improve the strength of the stabilizer muscles which are the muscles that help to maintain balance and posture and are rarely a focus in a typical bodybuilding routine. Stabilizer muscles stabilize a joint so that other muscles can help to move the joint. Examples of these muscles are the abdominal obliques, gluteus medius and the peroneals. Most weight stack machines require very little stabilizer muscle activity because the weights move in a linear motion and require no balance. Training with free weights utilizes the stabilizer muscles to a greater degree than weight stack machines, but still does not directly target them.
By practicing yoga and holding different postures where muscle contractions are maintained in off-balance positions, the stabilizing muscles are directly targeted, unlike any weights offered in a health club. Because these contractions are intense and target different muscles than normal bodybuilding workouts, muscular growth in these muscles will occur, which could ultimately make the difference between winning and losing a bodybuilding competition.
Yoga can also improve body symmetry by improving posture and eliminating muscular imbalances. Pectorals, biceps, abdominals and quadriceps (the mirror muscles) often receive the most emphasis in a bodybuilding training routine. However, muscles on the back of the body; lats, trapezius, hamstrings, and calves, are often neglected. This can lead to muscular imbalances that can affect body symmetry and posture.
The benefit of yoga is that it involves every muscle in the body. Therefore, chronic muscle imbalances can be corrected and better body symmetry and posture can be attained with a regular yoga routine. No amount of weight lifting, cardio or supplementing with vitamins, liquid vitamins or protein supplements will take the place of regular yoga exercise.
Yoga can also improve muscular flexibility and lower the risk for muscle tears. This enhanced flexibility can ultimately result in improved muscle strength resulting in muscle growth. Each muscle has a Golgi tendon organ, which is located in the muscle-tendon junction and functions to prevent dangerously strong muscle contractions to avoid muscle injury. Stretching a muscle regularly will raise the force threshold required for the Golgi tendon organ to be activated. This will result in the ability to lift greater weights before reaching muscle failure due Golgi tendon organ activation. Increases in muscular flexibility can also improve overall aesthetics on stage. Without a regular stretching routine, bodybuilders can become muscle bound, which is when the muscles grow large, but appear tight and rigid. Improving muscle flexibility with yoga will allow a more natural posture, which will improve onstage aesthetics.
Most bodybuilders find aerobic training terribly boring; stationary bicycling, elliptical trainers, uphill walking on treadmills and easy jogging are the most common training methods. Intense yoga can burn the same number of calories than easy jogging or moderate stationary cycling. Participation in yoga classes can also help increase the motivation to perform aerobic training since exercise compliance is usually better in group settings. The calorie burning effects of yoga combined with the additional health benefits make it a great occasional substitute for traditional aerobic training in a bodybuilding routine.
Possibly the greatest potential benefit of regular yoga in bodybuilders is improving the ability to maintain onstage poses. Bodybuilders are judged in competitions and scored on attributes such as muscularity, leanness, symmetry, and overall stage presence. Muscularity, leanness, and symmetry are mainly established before the competition through intensive training, proper nutrition, and dietary supplementation. However, stage presence is assessed by judges with the bodybuilder holding many different poses to highlight different muscle groups.
These poses require intense isometric muscle contractions, when the muscle contracts but does not move, and may lead to exhaustion before the end of the competition if not properly trained for these movements. Yoga can be extremely helpful to bodybuilders because it incorporates numerous isometric contractions in a typical session. Bodybuilders usually have no problems finding the motivation to train with weights, but posing is usually the last thing a bodybuilder wants to do and is usually only practiced in the few weeks before competition, hardly enough time to properly develop the needed isometric strength and endurance to make it through a contest without severe fatigue and shakiness. Regular yoga can maintain high levels of isometric strength year-round and can help to improve what is often the bodybuilder’s weakest link … a relaxed stage presence. Coupled with appropriate supplementation and diet in the form of natural vitamins, yoga can certainly go a long way in helping a body builder reach maximum success.
Overall, yoga should be considered as a compliment and a way to add an overall natural body balance to a bodybuilding regimen. Yoga can improve muscular strength, increase flexibility, reduce injury risk, improve cardiovascular fitness, improve muscular balance, improve posture and help to improve stage presence. The biggest challenge for a bodybuilder is to take the first step, join a yoga class, and overcome the stereotype of a typical yogi, which is opposite the image bodybuilders often try to present. However, taking this critical step could ultimately prove to be the difference between victory and defeat in a bodybuilding competition.
Dr. Linda Posch MS SLP ND
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