When it comes to building muscle, most people think of strength training. Is lifting weights the only way to build muscle? Actually, bodyweight exercises such as yoga, push-ups, and pull-ups are also excellent ways to build muscles and reach your fitness goals.
Certain yoga positions, when done correctly, target your muscles, burn your core, and give you a good workout. But can you build muscle with yoga? How long it takes to build muscle with yoga? How long does it take to build muscle with yoga?
On average, it takes about 4 to 8 weeks to build muscle with yoga. And to build muscles with yoga, regular practice is required. Daily practice of yoga will increase body strength and improve body flexibility in the body.
When you build muscle, you will enhance your metabolism and make your daily tasks effortless and enjoyable (carrying grocery bags, climbing stairs, and opening a peanut butter jar). Read on to find the best yoga pose to help you build muscles and all the benefits of practicing yoga for fitness.
See also: 7 Helpful and Best Yoga Props and How to Use Them
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Can You Build Muscle With Yoga?
Yoga can help you build muscle by enabling you to lift your body weight. Regular yoga practice builds core strength and stability. Along with proper yoga practice, nutrition is also essential to building and toning your muscles. Yoga is a safe and efficient way to increase physical activity, particularly strength, flexibility, and balance, according to the National Health Service (NHS).
Depending on your body weight, 30 minutes of Hatha yoga practice can help you burn between 120 and 168 calories, according to Harvard Health. And losing weight will help you build lean muscles and tone your body.
And the most important thing about doing yoga is that it can help develop and encourage some essential healthy behaviors that contribute to building muscles.
Young adults who practiced yoga consumed more fruits and vegetables and were generally more physically active while consuming less fast food and sugary beverages, found a study issued in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
How Often Should You Do Yoga To See Results?
On average, it takes between two and five times per week of consistent and regular yoga practice to see results. As you gain experience, you can gradually increase your practice time to five or six sessions weekly.
Tips For Building Muscles With Yoga:
- Try Ashtanga, Power, and Vinyasa to build muscles faster.
- Hot yoga and Bikram yoga have also been shown to improve muscle mass and endurance.
- Aim to practice three times per week (one hour per session), but don’t overdo it. Muscle tissues require time to repair and rest. No issue if you wish to perform intensive yoga more than three times a week.
- Instead of performing a full-body exercise seven days a week, consider focusing on various muscle groups in each yoga class. When performing hot yoga, be aware of the risk of dehydration.
Best Yoga Poses For Building Muscles
Generally, any yoga pose that involves a lot of weight-bearing and less floor work will help you build muscles and get toned.
But, If you are new to yoga and are looking to build muscle, here are the best yoga pose that will help you build muscles and get toned, strong, and healthier from the inside out.
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What Type of Yoga Builds Muscle?
As a general rule, Power yoga, Bikram yoga, or Ashtanga yoga are the best yoga types to help you build muscle. They are all a combination of an athletic set of poses into a vigorous and total-body workout. And with these poses, you will build upper-body strength and become more flexible and balanced.
However, if you are a beginner, I recommend you join a few beginner classes to learn the proper form of yoga practice before moving through the poses.
Top 6 Yoga Poses For Building Muscles
Here is the top yoga poses for building muscles, practice these poses regularly and consistently, and very soon, you will notice mass growth and strength.
1- Tree pose (Vrikshasana)
This single-leg position assists the body in establishing balance and rooting through the earth. It stretches the other leg’s groin while working all those tiny stabilizer muscles around the ankle, knee, and hip of the planted leg. The core must be engaged throughout the workout to keep your body stable.
Unlike the other yoga poses, the Tree pose requires keeping your eyes open to maintain body balance.
Benefits of Tree Pose:
- Develops balance and stability in the legs.
- Build muscles and tone the entire standing leg up to the buttocks.
See also: 9 Best Yoga Mat for Bad Knees And A Happier and Blissful Practice
2- Warrior three (Virabhadrasana III)
Warrior three’s single-leg nature necessitates stability and strengthens your center. Warrior three, unlike the tree position, has a forward-leaning stance. It increases the amount of weight on the standing leg while also working the full rear of the body. Calf muscles, hamstrings, glutes, spine, and shoulders will all gain strength and flexibility.
Warrior three uses all of the muscles throughout your legs, core, and arms.
Benefits of Warrior three:
- Build muscles in the entire body
- Improves balance and posture
- Strengthens the whole backside of the body
3- Bridge pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
This position strengthens the lower body by requiring the body to squeeze via the knees, hips, stomach, and lower spine. The bridge position opens up the chest and arms while stretching the spine and hip flexors, in addition to its mass and strength advantages.
Benefits of Bridge Pose:
- Strengthens muscles in your back, legs, glutes, and ankles
- Opens chest, hip flexors, and heart
- Develops your chest, shoulders, neck, and spine
See also: 18 Best Veggies That Destroy Stomach Fat – Based On Science
4- Chair pose (Utkatasana)
Chair posture, like bridge pose, works the legs and glutes while requiring a solid core and lower back to maintain balance. Your quadriceps and glutes will ache as your legs support your body in this restrictive half-squat posture with your feet touching.
Benefits of Chair pose:
- Build muscles and strengthens your thighs and ankles
- Tone your shoulders, hips, butt, and back.
- Tones your digestive organs and heart
5- Plank pose (Phalakasana)
The plank posture is an excellent upper-body strength booster as well as a great technique to strengthen your core. Mix up your planks with several versions to keep things fresh. High planks on your hands, low planks on your forearms, and side planks are all good exercises to do. The latter exercises your entire side body, from your thighs to your glutes, while putting more load on one arm.
Benefits of Plank pose:
- Strengthens the arms, wrists, and shoulders
- Strengthens the muscles surrounding the spine, improving your posture.
- Tones all of your body’s core muscles, including the abdomen, chest, and low back
See also: Best Fitness Trackers For Yoga: Which One Should You?
6- Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
Cobra Pose is similar to a cobra with its head raised.
The cobra pose opens your chest, strengthens the spine’s muscles, and stretches the front of your shoulders and abdomen. If you are a beginner, ensure you get a good teacher or join yoga classes to learn proper yoga forms.
Benefits of Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana):
- Strengthens spinal support muscles
- Increases the mobility of the spine
- It can help relieve back pain.
See also: 12 Health and Physical Benefits Of Goat Yoga
Wrapping Up
As a general rule, building muscle with yoga takes about 4 to 8 weeks. If you are new to yoga, trying these yoga poses for building muscles might be challenging. However, the more you perform them, the less difficult they will become.
As you gain muscle with yoga, your body will soon be stronger than when you first started. Consistent, yoga increases functional strength while extending and stabilizing the body, which may be seen both inside and outside the gym.
