While it\u2019s taken the world by storm over the past decade, yoga is still synonymous with women to many people.<\/p>\n
Most clothing lines, yoga brands, and advertisements are directed at female yoga practitioners, which can make it hard for men to feel like they should give it a try.<\/p>\n
Not to mention that yoga doesn\u2019t have quite the same \u201cmanly\u201d reputation as lifting weights does.<\/p>\n
However, men who dismiss yoga are missing out on a whole range of health benefits.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why men should consider adding yoga to their fitness regime.<\/p>\n
One is that it does allow for some resistance training, it\u2019s just that instead of using weights as the resistance, the poses use your body as the resistance.<\/p>\n
When you hold yourself up in a difficult pose, you\u2019re stressing your muscles, which is of course what breaks them down and helps them grow.<\/p>\n
Now, at a certain point, you need to increase resistance to continue growing. You\u2019re likely not going to increase your weight just to get a better pump from yoga (that kind of defeats the point…plus, yoga is good for losing weight<\/a>).<\/p>\n But don\u2019t worry, the muscle benefits extend beyond just using yourself as a weight.<\/p>\n This study shows that regular yoga actually increased the amount of weight the participants could deadlift.<\/p>\n It makes sense, since yoga helps to improve flexibility and loosen important areas around the hips and hamstrings that you rely on for deadlifting properly.<\/p>\n