What does the body of a man who does yoga look like? Yoga: does a decent man do it? Besides, you are unlikely to be interested in taking your body to a new level
There is no need to say that the number of women practicing hatha yoga exceeds the number of men several times. We can notice that in the schedule of many yoga studios there are separate areas for women, such as Women's Yoga, and these classes are aimed specifically at the fair half of humanity. What is the difference between women’s yoga and men’s yoga, and also why men prefer visiting the gym (in common parlance, “rocking chair”) over yoga classes.
Firstly, let's figure it out why are there more women in classes than men? There is an opinion that women are more open to any innovations in their lives, they try to monitor their health much more carefully, they are ready to work on themselves in order to achieve their ideal results. We can also notice that There are also more women instructors than men, although initially the practice of yoga was considered primordially masculine in ancient traditions. But this myth and it cannot be said that men do not take care of themselves; on the contrary, they maintain their figures and increase their strength. But to get results in working on themselves, men are considering alternative options, such as the gym, running and other modern sports.
So what's the problem? Why don't men still go to yoga? Why don't they consider yoga as a system for developing and maintaining health?
It is believed that yoga is an ancient healing system that includes a large number of stretching asanas, meditative and breathing techniques, andThis often turns men off. They believe that since the practice involves stretching, it means that this practice is more suitable for women, since men are focused on building muscle mass and sculpted abs. But this statement too myth, since there are such areas of yoga as Ashtanga - Vinyasa yoga, Power yoga and others that are focused on the development of muscle mass, increasing not only strength and muscles, but also endurance, which is also a distinctive feature of yoga from the same gym. When we work out in the gym, we engage isolated muscles and pump them up; in yoga, we work in asanas that require the work of the whole body and very often we have to use the muscles of the whole body. For example, Intensive yoga involves a dynamic practice with a large number of vinyasas, balances and static asanas aimed at strengthening and toning muscles. What's most important, yoga works not only on the physical level, but also on the mental. During practice, we include breathing in our work, do some meditative and breathing practices to cleanse the mind and the whole body. Also, yoga helps you strengthen the body completely, get rid of clamps, blocks, improve the general condition of the body and gain tone and energy.
How is women's yoga different from men's?
Women's yoga includes in its practice a number of asanas and breathing techniques that can be very useful for women's health, and also the practice for women is softer, more flexible and is aimed at revealing femininity and internal transformation. Men want a strong, dynamic practice, which is why we recommend that men who are still hesitating join Intensive Yoga, Power Yoga classes, where you can not only get rid of health problems, but also get “yourself in order” .
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What results do men get from yoga?
When men come to yoga classes, many begin to be shy that they are unable to perform any asanas, especially when they practice in mixed groups. But men, having attended several classes and experienced the full power of yoga, never want to give up this practice in favor of the gym or other sports. A lot of men with health problems come to yoga to get rid of pain, and soon notice the therapeutic effect of the practice, that is, problems with the spine and neck go away. Also, over time, you will see a clear result that the muscles are toned, the body is tightened, and fat is removed from problem areas. Men's bodies are tougher– their muscles, ligaments, nervous system are more stable, stable, but they also have more perseverance and desire, which is also important.
It should be noted that yoga is a holistic system that gives us not only the physical effect of practice, but also helps improve our relationships with people around us, stabilize the nervous system, changes our character, makes it more calm and balanced, and all this is very useful for the modern man. It is very important to be able to control your mind and emotions to improve your quality of life and health. What is most important, over time, men get rid of bad habits - such as smoking and drinking alcohol, you change your daily routine, and manage to get more things done during the day.
What should the practice for men consist of?
To achieve everything that is characteristic of a balanced, strong man, It is very important to learn to practice not only power asanas, but also standing and inverted asanas, which play a huge role for our health. You also need to pay attention to other asanas, which are also aimed at relaxation and stretching. Yoga practice – lifelong journey Therefore, to get excellent results, you need to turn your practice into a lifestyle, practice regularly and with pleasure.
It is also worth noting that in yoga it is necessary to observe ahimsa principle(means “non-violence”) - that is, there is no need to try to overcome yourself, twist harder or perform a difficult balance, since we all come to yoga to improve our health, and not to acquire injuries, sprains and muscle spasms.
What should you pay attention to and what should you keep in mind when choosing between yoga and the gym?
Working in the gym develops you physically, that is, your muscles grow, strength increases, you can lift heavy weights, but internally you remain the same as before, that is, apart from the relief, you do not change anything about yourself. Yoga will help you become better, change, solve many life problems. There is a stereotype that a man must be muscular, but this is also not true. Yoga helps you change not only your physical body, but also your mental and emotional one, which, of course, is very important. This does not mean that you will become softer, more feminine, on the contrary, all processes in your body will stabilize, you will learn to relax, distract yourself from life’s problems, make new friends, and your relationships will change radically, and the people around you will notice these changes.
People doing yoga will be able to balance all processes in their body, body will become simultaneously strong and stable, and you will also purchase flexibility, balance and inner peace. Typically, yogis look quite thin, but this does not mean that if they do not have huge muscles, then they are weak. On the contrary, they are much more resilient and stronger, since you work not only with muscles, but also perform asanas for endurance, strengthening the cardiovascular system, and stabilize your breathing.
What do you get as a result?
- Elastic, strong and resilient body;
- Relief from stress, insomnia, headaches;
- Improving relationships with people, changing your attitude towards life;
- Increasing the overall tone of the body, increasing energy levels;
- Improved sleep, digestive processes;
- Stabilizing the nervous system, getting rid of spasms, muscle blocks and much more.
Come to yoga classes, try, because until you try, you will not be able to compare and understand what suits you best. Don't listen to anyone but yourself because only your heart knows the right answer.
There is something incredibly attractive about men who do yoga. And if your favorite celebrity does yoga, then he is doubly attractive! So, here are 10 famous men who do yoga. Enjoy!
1. Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr. was arrested in 2001 for drug possession, but he managed to get rid of his addiction and has not used drugs since then. What helped Iron Man get rid of this addiction? Yes, exactly yoga.
2.
Woody Harrelson
Harrelson spends little time in Hollywood, preferring his home in Hawaii - and it's clear why. Where better to practice asanas than on a Hawaiian beach?
3. Russell Brand
Russell is not only a practicing yogi, but also a certified teacher. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to meet him at some seminar?
4. Adam Levine
The Maroon 5 frontman loves yoga as much as he loves music. They say that when he performs, they arrange a special yoga room for him to practice in. And that his impressive physique is the result of our beloved practice.
5. Sting
Sting loves yoga - it helps him cope with the stress of tour. It's great that we are on the same path.
6. Zachary Quinto
How does an actor who played the role of a serial killer (Sylar in the TV series “Heroes”) relax? That's right, on the mat.
7. Matthew McConaughey
A true California guy stays fit by doing yoga on the beach. Notice his Hero pose. He truly is our hero!
8. Jon Bon Jovi
The New Jersey rocker has taken up yoga over the past few years to help him relax and de-stress while on tour. Maybe that's why he looks so young!
9. Alec Baldwin
He may not look like much of a yogi, but he does practice yoga with his wife Hilaria, a yoga instructor. According to him, the fact that he became happier (and slimmer) is precisely her merit.
10. Colin Farrell
What does Colin Farrell do to relax? You probably already know the answer to this question. Unrolls the rug, of course!
Photo: New York Times, sporteluxe.com, Carl Kerridge, Men’s Health, Relax and Release, Just Jared, Billboard, Hilaria Baldwin.
It's no secret that yoga is much more popular among women than among men, who prefer more “masculine” sports. It’s just that men think that the ability to punch each other in the face or learn to carry heavy weights that they have never lifted in real life is much more important. Indeed, who needs this reduction in stress, improved sleep, and reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Because stress, anxiety and depression make your life much more interesting.
Let's hit stupid poses with stress!
And you've never had problems with back pain
Yoga has been proven to be effective in treating chronic low back pain.
What will you do with this sense of balance, flexibility and endurance?
After all, you’ve never had problems with pain, stiff movements and fatigue, have you?
Doing yoga won't improve your performance in "real" sports
However, many world-famous athletes practice yoga and achieve sky-high success. But remember, yoga has absolutely nothing to do with it.
You may have to become calmer and happier.
It's so boring...
You might even live longer
But what will you do with so much time? No thanks!
Your posture will improve
You will sit gracefully, like a woman...
Your lungs will become too healthy
Damn it, you'll have to harm them with double force
Yoga is much better for the brain than most other sports
Be smarter than others? No thanks, the boys won't understand. More precisely, you them.
It would be a shame to lose such an important part of your life as insomnia
Who likes to stay up all night and go to work like a zombie in the morning, raise your hand
Your blood pressure will thank you
But what to do now without all these changes and headaches?
Yoga will reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases
Live longer than the absolute majority, but who cares anyway?
Besides, you are unlikely to be interested in taking your body to a new level
The more you try, the more poses you can do, and the more fun you get. But this is not the kind of thing you can show off in front of men.
You won't be able to do yoga like a professional right away, so you shouldn't even start
And even these women around you, they will all do it better!
And finally, why do you need something that will make your sex much better?
Scientists have proven that yoga improves breathing, flexibility and endurance, which is 100% conducive to good sex. But wanting to have unique sex is stupid, isn’t it?
Do you think that yoga classes are attended mainly by slender women in tight clothes? Believe me: these workouts are good not only for flexible, sexy beauties, but also for men. Regular practice will teach you to control your mind and body, making you more flexible (can you reach your toes?) and fit. Yoga helps relieve stress and even become more interesting sexually. Here are nine reasons why men should do yoga.
Teaches you how to relieve stress
Everyone is looking for ways to relieve stress. But if you, for example, hit a punching bag, it will exhaust you and make you more aggressive. Yoga uses relaxation techniques. Together with regular practice, they will help you become calmer overall, says lead teacher at Pure Yoga studio Terrence Monte.
The owner of the Rock Your Yoga club, Sadie Nardini, adds that yoga trains not only the body, but also the mind, allowing you to see the bigger picture of events in order to act more consciously. And during a yoga class, you will be forced to take a break from all the calls, letters and SMS - this is about 60-90 minutes of time without unnecessary hassle.
Helps you become flexible
In a meaningful yoga practice, your spine and your joints will tell you« Thank you". A series of asanas (postures) with twisting will help you get rid of tension and relieve tension. This will make you feel better, for example, when playing tennis or even football. As an Ayurvedic specialist, yogi says Cameron Alborizan, you can imagine your body as a sponge that has absorbed dirty water. Gently, calmly twisting while practicing will help you get rid of harmful toxins and also improve digestion.
Strengthens the muscle corset
In a yoga class, you work with your own body weight to increase muscle mass and strength. Think about how many sets you'd have to do to build mass, doing, say, a 200-pound bench press. In yoga classes you will get a similar result, but by performing slow, amplitude movements: push-ups, squats, leg lifts. You work large muscle groups, gradually strengthening not only individual muscles, but the entire body as a whole.
Will help avoid injury
All yoga teachers warn that during practice you should listen to your body and not try to do anything beyond your capabilities. Unlike sports, in yoga you learn to evaluate yourself and your feelings, which will allow you to protect yourself from a number of injuries. Muscles that are overworked or strained by active training will learn to relax, and well-stretched muscles will recover faster, even if you receive microtraumas.
Makes sex better
Using breathing techniques and relaxation techniques will help you pleasantly surprise your partner. The ability to concentrate will help you properly direct your sexual energy and be in tune with your chosen one. In addition, practicing yoga makes you stronger, which will help you avoid premature ejaculation—women will definitely love this.
Diversifies loads
Yoga instructors advise choosing classes according to your strengths. However, you should not stay in one direction for too long. Look for variety! Yoga can be calm, or it can involve increased cardio or strength training. For example, if you see in the club’s schedule classes marked Vinyasa yoga, power yoga or« Yoga in Flow” - visit them, and you will understand that on this day you will no longer have time for the gym!
Calms the mind
On the most difficult working days, when the intensity of passions reaches the limit, the only way to calm down and relieve stress for many men is proper deep breathing. Breathing exercises, the so-called pranayama, were developed a thousand years ago. They perfectly calm down and allow you to streamline the endless stream of thoughts. Even after a short practice, you will feel that your concentration becomes easier. Do breathing exercises regularly and you will feel the effect!
Improves your smell
Yes, yes, this is serious. Many people notice that after yoga classes they smell a little different than, for example, after a strength workout. The fact is that the rhythm of yoga helps toxins leave the body along with sweat. Over time, your scent gets better. Agree, the natural smell of a healthy body is more pleasant than fashionable eau de toilette.
Teaches you how to identify priority goals
Most yoga teachers will ask you to set goals for yourself, both for your workouts and for other areas of your life. Even if you just say to yourself: “Working out will make me feel lighter.” within an hour,” then this message may have a longer lasting effect. Yoga will help you realize many desires and teach you to experience life more fully.
You don't need to purchase expensive accessories to practice yoga. All you need is a mat, loose clothes, some free space and about an hour of free time. Agree, that’s all! In return, you will get a lot of positive effects for your body and mind.
I will say right away that this article was written by a person who does not like the idea of yoga. Especially in the version that large fitness clubs and small yoga trainings offer us. For the most part, what is taught in modern yoga clubs is terribly far from classical yoga with all its branches and a certain philosophy of wrapping the genitals on a stick. There were cases when shitty trainers who knew very little about yoga did things to spiritualized girls and men who came for enlightenment and weight loss that led to pinched nerves and problems with joints, after which ordinary vulgar surgeons from local clinics took on them.
Yoga itself is an excellent prevention of musculoskeletal diseases and physical therapy. Do you have arthritis, arthrosis and osteoarthrosis? The simplest exercises from the simplest initial hatha yoga are especially for you. If you suffer from back and joint pain, then yoga can also help you. If you can't sleep, suffer from overwork, stress and anxiety, yoga will help you. Do you know what else will help you? Hobbies and absolutely any physical activity. Running, weightlifting, going to the gym - all this will take you away from strength and calories, which will make you sleep like a baby.
But if you want to lose weight, tone up, get toned... you can try the gym and it will help you, and better than yoga. This does not mean that yoga is not worth doing. But yoga will not give you impressive results in terms of losing weight and growing high-quality muscle mass. Of course, there is yoga that will make you break out in a sweat during your workouts, but CrossFit and the gym, which are simple and vulgar for many hipsters, cope with this task much better. If you compare low repetitions with heavy weights and more or less active yoga in terms of standard tasks for any physical activity (lose weight and gain overall muscle tone), then the first will obviously give you much more benefit. But let’s still look at yoga in more detail to understand whether it can be practiced by our adequately severe reader.
Yoga and results
Pros
Active yoga really produces results. Reducing body fat, lengthening muscles, acquiring muscle tone - all this awaits those who practice yoga.
Cons
Yoga will help those who have never done anything before. It will be equivalent to gymnastics. An old friend of mine never played sports, but he started doing 20 minutes of gymnastics in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. Six months later, he lost weight, got nicely toned, and remains in that state to this day. This will happen to every person who begins to do something for which his body was previously not adapted. If you have previously lifted weights and pressed a hundred from your chest, yoga will not help you, because your body is not surprised by such training. Therefore, for those who are just discovering the wonderful world of physical activity (you guys!), yoga is just the thing! But, to be honest, charging has the same effect.
Yoga and flexibility
Pros
The obvious advantage of yoga is that it provides excellent flexibility. Yoga is great for gaining dynamic flexibility, that's obvious to any dude. You can actually throw your leg over your shoulder and move it cheerfully while making small talk with your comrades. This is good and useful.
Cons
You know what else flexibility gives? Working with a barbell. Working with a barbell copes with this with a plus. However, like almost all work with . But if you think about it, why do men need excessive flexibility? We need strength, endurance and agility. Girls need flexibility; this is almost their main physical indicator. It’s so cool to film with an iPhone camera when she’s standing in the doorway, with her leg sticking out and leaning on the door frame. Girls on Instagram will be jealous when they see this slut's remarkable stretch marks. Yogi girls are good for bed pleasures: they can easily get into the craziest poses and stay in them for quite a long time. Even if a girl is fat and weighs more than she should, if she is passionate about yoga, she can gain a pleasant tone in her body and the so-called “long muscle”, because of which a plump girl can be called slender - when she is not undressing, of course. But if a girl suddenly reads this article, I strongly advise her not to be afraid to do CrossFit and strength training: they give the best effect. And you don’t have to be afraid that you’ll turn into a jock: it’s a long process.
Yoga and relaxation
Pros
To the relaxing sound of water and the sounds of wind, which cannot be called music, you will twist at an incredible angle on a rug or mat. You will sit with your eyes closed in the lotus position, think about the eternal or not think about anything at all. It really helps you relax a lot.
Cons
Any physical activity, including helping grandparents weed the weeds in the garden, brings harmony, healthy sleep, relief from stress and satisfaction with the process. It all depends on how you perceive this or that physical process and what you think about while doing work or training. If you do quality stretching before and after training, then, IMHO, there will be more benefits than yoga.
Yoga for health
Pros
Yoga always works with your own weight, so it is good for beginners and people with diseases of the joints and musculoskeletal system. These are small loads on the main muscle groups that will help relieve stress on the joints and strengthen flabby muscles. Excellent therapeutic exercises.
Cons
Yoga as therapeutic gymnastics is good in its simplest forms. Difficult exercises, especially those performed by someone who is not adequately trained, can be as hard on joints and tendons as weightlifting and running in the wrong shoes. Unfortunately, in our country, due to the decent popularity of yoga, the quality of training of the “guru from Zazhopinsk” can be very, very low. There were many cases when a lively enlightened guy taught housewives and pale young men with burning eyes such trash, which led to curvature of the spine, flat feet and curvature of the joint in the articular capsule. Unfortunately, few people want to take the learning process seriously, read literature, articles - everyone relies on the knowledge of the trainer, but this cannot be done. Think with your own head.
What does it look like from the outside
Let's face it: what segment of the population is yoga popular among? Among girls studying in the humanities who love secret knowledge, fortune telling with tarot cards, sitting on the windowsill and esotericism. Among young humanities youths and near-hipsters who believe that the gym is “ugh” and for “big dumb jocks” (at the same time, they do not understand that iron and various training can make anything out of a person). Among housewives who urgently need to lose weight because the children are already at school, they need to occupy themselves with something, and running in the morning is boring and difficult. Among various lovers of all sorts of strange religious movements, which are multiplying exponentially, do not work anywhere and pester honest citizens on the street with suspicious literature. What does a normal, adequate bro look like among these people? Inadequately - that’s the most logical answer for you. You can learn the basics of yoga at home, it's not that difficult. Like unloading after a good workout and stretching is very good, but I’m sorry, I’ve always been prejudiced towards it, but this is a personal opinion. You, of course, decide for yourself.