Despite the fact that sports stars like Kobe Bryant have reported adding yoga to their training sessions in recent years, many guys have a tendency to think of this as a “sissy” kind of workout or to complain that their muscles are not flexible enough to handle it. Because of this, the number of men (in America at least) who do yoga on a regular basis is fairly low: in a study by the Yoga Journal, it was found that around 20.4 million Americans practice yoga, but that only around 18% of them are male.
There are some great reasons, however, why yoga benefits men in particular and why guys should have a second look at this kind of exercise.
Yoga Helps Men Lose Weight
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), around 74% of American men are either overweight or obese. This is a big problem, as it puts guys at risk for a whole slew of health problems, including heart attacks and strokes, joint disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer, just to name a few.
In one study from the Journal of Alternative Medicine, it was found that overweight men practicing yoga lost up to 4 pounds in the first ten days of their practice.
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Guys might be a bit cynical, when looking at a yoga routine, that this will help them with weight loss. But as a matter of fact, yoga can be a great fat-burner and requires more strength and stamina than it appears to at first site. This fat-burning can be enhanced by disciplines like bikram or “hot” yoga which takes places in a heated room similar to a sauna.
There is scientific evidence that men in particular can get weight loss benefits from this practice. In one study from the Journal of Alternative Medicine, it was found that overweight men practicing yoga lost up to 4 pounds in the first ten days of their practice. Researchers believe that the deep breathing that goes along with yoga exercise helps to reduce stress and thus reduce levels of cortisol in the body, making it easier to shed fat.
Yoga Enhances Muscle Building
The practice of yoga, depending on the particular move, can take a massive amount of strength and stamina which helps to build muscles in and of itself.
Let’s face it, pretty much every guy is interested in improving his sex life – and yoga is a great, natural way to do this.
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However, Men’s Fitness reports that because of the nature of the workout itself, yoga is able to greatly increase not only strength and stamina but also the range of motion of the joints and it is able to get deep into the muscle fibers in a way that other exercises cannot; this increased access to deep muscle tissue makes it easier to develop these hard-to-reach areas that other disciplines might miss and for that reason, the magazine reports that it is an excellent supplemental exercise to body building.
Yoga Improves Sexual Performance and Satisfaction
Let’s face it, pretty much every guy is interested in improving his sex life – and yoga is a great, natural way to do this. It has, in fact, long been “prescribed” in Indian by doctors practicing Ayurveda (a system of health and healing that is thousands of years old) for problems like erectile dysfunction and low libido.
In one study, later published in the Journal of Sex Medicine (yep, there is a journal for that!), 65 men between the ages of 24 and 60 were recruited to participated in a 12-week yoga program. Assessments done using the Male Sexual Quotient (which includes looking at seven important aspects of male sexuality as desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculation control and orgasm) found that this 12-week course helped to improve all seven areas of a man’s sex life.
Yoga Helps Counter On-the-Job Stress
Across the board, job stress can be a huge problem for guys – and this can affect health and relationships if that stress gets out of control or spills into home life. Yoga appears to be able to help with this important aspect of a man’s life as well.
In addition, the yoga group also reported higher feels of life satisfaction and purpose and greater self-confidence while making decisions in stressful situations.
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For instance, a study on yoga and how it could affect one’s ability to handle job stress looked at 48 employees working at a British University. What it found was that, compared to the control group, the group who participated in a weekly, hour-long class of yoga reported significant improvement in “clear-mindedness, composure, elation, energy and confidence”. In addition, the yoga group also reported higher feels of life satisfaction and purpose and greater self-confidence while making decisions in stressful situations.
For all these reasons, it’s time that guys get over their dismissive attitudes towards this “sissy” sport and get to the gym with their yoga mats in hand. This discipline can help guys drop unwanted weight while building muscle, enhancing their sex lives and dealing better with job stress. What’s not to love?
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