Yoga is an effective low-impact holistic workout that burns calories while benefiting both mind and body. Yoga can supplement fitness programs for greater mental and physical wellness.

Yoga helps increase flexibility, and over time seemingly impossible poses become easier to attain. Yoga also strengthens balance and core muscles for an enhanced workout experience.

Increased Flexibility

Flexibility may not be as synonymous with strength or endurance as strength or endurance is; but it still plays an integral part of fitness. Most of us spend over nine hours each day sitting – which can put undue strain on posture, muscles and joints. Yoga styles incorporate stretching exercises; many incorporate stretching as part of their practice – studies have even indicated that even attending one yoga class weekly may increase flexibility!

Some forms of yoga may not increase your heart rate much; however, others such as yin yoga involve long-hold static stretches to increase flexibility. Another form of yoga that uses short bursts of intense movements followed by brief rest periods is known as high intensity interval training HIIT which is considered challenging but worthwhile to try out.

Studies have demonstrated that yoga can reduce cardiovascular risk factors like blood pressure, heart rate, abdominal fat and cholesterol while simultaneously improving posture, flexibility, balance and body awareness. Before undertaking any new fitness regime it is always wise to consult your physician first.

Strengthened Muscles

Yoga is an effective way to build strength. Unlike other workouts that target only certain parts of the body, such as muscles or core strength, yoga works the entire body simultaneously to strengthen it from within and improve posture – one study even showed that people who practice yoga were less likely to suffer neck or shoulder pain!

Yoga doesn’t rely on weights or machines as resistance; your own bodyweight serves as resistance instead. That alone can help strengthen arms, backs, legs, hips and more – with poses like plank and warrior ideal for developing arm strength; other poses, such as handstand and bridge helping strengthen legs further; finally the crow pose helps build glute strength while simultaneously adding definition to lower back muscles.

Yoga fitness classes and their intensity levels may count as cardio exercise; however, novice yoga practitioners should avoid using it exclusively as their form of exercise.

Reduced Risk of Injury

Yoga helps athletes develop greater body awareness, such as how to move and position the body safely, which reduces the risk of injury due to overexertion or improper technique in both gym and non-gym activities.

Due to the physical stress involved with sports, athletes tend to experience more injuries than the general population. A feasibility study with 31 male soccer players has discovered that yoga can mitigate two significant causes of injury (fatigue and perceived propensity for injury).

Yoga can be used as an excellent warm-up before other forms of exercise or to ease back into activity after an intense workout. Yoga’s dynamic movements can activate and lubricate muscles more effectively than static stretching can, while also helping improve flexibility and balance; both of which are crucial components in lowering injury risk – something especially helpful if recovering from injury or living with chronic pain issues.

Increased Endurance

Studies demonstrate the benefits of practicing yoga regularly can increase balance, flexibility, strength and cardiorespiratory endurance. One research project conducted with older adults demonstrated how yoga practice can reduce cardiovascular risk factors like blood pressure, heart rate, body fat percentage and cholesterol.

Endurance can be defined as the ability to maintain physical activity for extended periods without becoming fatigued or losing breath. Maintaining high-level workouts takes significant energy; to conserve this vital resource and continue exercising at its highest possible intensity level, conscious breathing is the best solution.

Clayton Horton of Greenpath Yoga Studio and former competitive triathlete and swimmer believes yoga can serve as an aerobic form of exercise to build endurance. But whether HIIT classes, with jumps and plyometric exercises mixed into traditional poses, increase your heart rate enough for it to count as moderate exercise will depend on which style of class you attend – although such options have the potential for increasing cardiorespiratory endurance significantly.