The various forms of exercises that you get to see today are perhaps just a few decades old Yoga is one form of exercise that has been around for more than 5000 years. It was practiced even by the ancient yogis.
Over the years, yoga has not only proved to be beneficial and offers a wide array of health benefits but it is in fact one form of exercise that can strengthen you from inside. And if you can make it a part of your daily life, you are sure to reap the benefits of it in the long run and lead a fulfilled life as far as your health and fitness is concerned.
Yoga – A relation between your body and mind
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That Yoga burns calories and helps you to strengthen your arms, are just two of the benefits, it has got innumerable benefits that can be summarized below. In fact, it helps in coordinating your mind and body as it offers relaxation not just to your overworked muscles but also to your overwhelmed mind. Let us see how this form of exercise can benefit you.
Mental benefits
One of the most important benefits is that it helps you to manage stress, the main factor that can disturb the equilibrium in your life. And it goes without saying that prolonged stress can play havoc with your body. Stress is usually manifested in form of sleep disorders, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, lack of concentration, back pain, neck pain, pain in the arms, irritability, mood swings, depression, anxiety, hypertension, diabetes, heart ailments, and the list can go on. However, if you start practicing yoga, it helps you to do away with stress as the powerful breathing exercises and meditation takes care of your stress levels and calms down the agitated nerves. In due course you find that you are content and way better in managing stress and hardships of daily life. In a way, yoga will help you to deal with stress levels effectively.
Physical benefits
- It helps in increasing flexibility
- Improves strength of muscles and tones them
- Betters respiration
- Increases your energy levels
- Improves vitality
- Takes care of metabolism and regulates it to keep you fit and fine
- Reduces weight and improves your BMI
- Improves cardio vascular output
- Prevents trauma and injury
Yoga – Target areas
There are different target areas when you do yoga that improve over time. These include-
- Legs –It shapes up your thighs, hips, and quadriceps.
- Arms – With the help of yoga, you not only strengthen your arms, but it also helps you to tone them. And what is even more important is that you don’t have to use weights and machines to get a well toned arm. There are few poses like the plank, crow, and crane that are challenging but tone your arms well.
- Back – If you have been suffering from a sore back, instead of popping those harmful pills rely on yoga. Poses like downward facing dog, cat pose, cow pose, cat/cow pose help in strengthening the muscles of your back by stretching them.
- Glutes – In order to get a rear that is sculpted, you can rely on squats, warrior poses, bridges that cause your knee to bend thereby improving the rear.
Stay in your comfort zone
Another important benefit of practicing yoga is that you can perform the exercises keeping in mind your comfort level. This is because there are exercises that are of different intensity levels. If you find that you are comfortable with the easier exercises and poses, you can gradually migrate to the more challenging ones. For instance, to start with, you could perform iyengar and hatha poses and move to power yoga, which offers greater challenge.
Yoga poses for strong and good looking arms
Having said about the benefits and essential aspects of yoga, let us find out how few such yoga poses can help to improve your arms and strengthen them. Take a look at the poses mentioned below.
- Plank pose – In this pose, you have to place your hands on the yoga mat and keep your wrists parallel with the shoulders. The abs have to be tight and the spine stretched and long. The plank has to be maintained till the time you don’t complete at least 12 breaths.
- Chaturanga modified – When you are performing this exercise, you have to make sure that you keep the elbows at close proximity to the torso that points to you. Repeat this pose at least 5 times followed by a brief period of rest and continue for more sets.
- Forearm planks – The elbows have to be underneath the shoulders and you have to rest the forearms on the floor. Legs have to be straight while you walk feet back. Take as many as 10 breaths slowly.
- Cobra – An important aspect you ought to keep in mind while performing this pose is that you have to exhale as you lower yourself and when you move the chest away, you have to inhale. The pose has to be performed at least 5 times.
Aside from the poses mentioned above, the others that can help you to strengthen your arms include the following-
- Locust pose or Salabhasana
- Reverse plank
- Table dips
- Dolphin pose or Makarasana
- Side plank pose or Vashistasana
- Four limbed staff pose or Chaturanga Dandasana
Beneficial for all age groups
One of the most important benefits of yoga is that it can be performed by people belonging to any age group. Depending on your age, your health and underlying medical condition, you can seek advice from the yoga instructor about the exercises that will benefit you the most.
Easy on pockets
There are many online tutorials that can guide you to perform the various yoga poses. However, unlike machine and weight training, yoga is comparatively less expensive but it will depend on the level of exercises you intend to learn and perform. If you like to learn more on yoga , visit Fitnessgoals.com.