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First things first: yes, men can do yoga!
Men often think they aren’t flexible enough for yoga, but nothing could be further from the truth. You do yoga to become more flexible (among many other benefits), not because you’re already flexible.
Busy professionals, athletes, and regular guys can, and should, do yoga to improve their mental health, athletic performance, and daily life.
Do you already work out? Great! Yoga complements strength and aerobic training by enhancing your mobility and preventing injuries.
Do you want to start moving more? Perfect! You can start where you are, because yoga poses can be adapted to any body.
Still not convinced yoga is for you? Let’s dive deeper into how yoga specifically benefits men of all ages and abilities, both mentally and physically.
Key benefits of yoga for men include:
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Improved flexibility and range of motion
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Joint health
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Better posture
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Injury prevention and recovery
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Enhanced physical performance
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Reduced stress and anxiety
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Improved focus
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Sense of community and belonging
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Improved sleep quality
Physical Benefits of Yoga for Men
Flexibility and Range of Motion
Ironically, tightness and stiffness can come from both being too sedentary and overtraining. Yoga helps in either case, improving your mobility with consistent practice. If you have tight hamstrings, hunched shoulders, or achy hips, yoga is for you.
Joint Health
Yoga’s emphasis on alignment and balance creates more resilient joints that are supported by their surrounding muscles, which promotes healthy aging and prevents injuries.
Posture
Everyday activities like sitting at a desk or driving a car can lead to poor posture. Heart-opening yoga poses directly address your posture, expanding your chest and countering a rounded spine. These poses, which are accessible to beginners, also raise your awareness of how you sit and stand throughout the day.
Injury Prevention and Recovery
Sports injuries that prevent you from training are frustrating and take time to heal. Doing yoga to improve your strength, flexibility, balance, and range of motion is very helpful in rehabilitation and preventing injuries from happening in the first place.
Enhanced Physical Performance
Whether you’re a competitive athlete, a dedicated gym goer, or just want to feel more comfortable in your body, yoga will help. Your enhanced awareness of where your body is in space, breathing, and, of course, strength, mobility, and balance are beneficial across a range of fitness disciplines.
Mental and Emotional Benefits of Yoga for Men
Reduced Stress and Anxiety
Yoga is particularly good at reducing stress, whether it comes from a high-pressure job, family responsibilities, or financial worries. Yoga’s combination of mindful movement and breathwork calms your body’s nervous system and gives you tools to handle anxiety better.
Improved Focus
Yoga methodology includes reminders to focus on the present moment and notice when your thoughts wander. Once you establish these habits on your mat, it becomes natural to practice them in your daily life, which leads to sharper concentration and improved focus.
Growth Mindset
Doing yoga encourages you to see failure as part of an ongoing process that can ultimately result in success. Being willing to try new things on your mat soon begins to affect your attitude toward experimentation and growth off your mat as well. Yoga helps you overcome stagnation and move forward.
Better Sleep
If you have trouble winding down at the end of the day and signaling your body that it’s time to rest, yoga can be a game-changer. Your practice teaches you techniques to relax your body and turn off your busy mind, which makes it easier to fall asleep.
Be Part of a Community
Meeting people whose intentions align with yours compounds the positive mental health benefits of yoga and counters the effects of isolation and alienation. People who practice together form a community. Whoever you put your mat beside becomes your partners in the co-creation of an experience.
Yoga for Men Across Life Stage
Young Adults
Young men and athletes who incorporate yoga into their fitness routines can expect to improve sports performance and injury prevention. Young adulthood is an ideal time to establish the habits that contribute to sustained health and well-being.
Midlife Wellness
In midlife, you probably have a lot on your plate: career, relationships, maybe kids. You may not be as active as you’d like to be. Is yoga worth your time and energy? Yes, it is. With consistent practice, you can get a better handle on your stress and bring the benefits of movement into your life at the same time.
Older Men
It’s never too late to start experiencing the health benefits of yoga. For older adults, these include core strength, balance, mobility, and joint health. Yoga can be vigorous or more gentle, so you can find the appropriate approach for you.
How to Get Started with Yoga for Men
Tips for Beginners
The best way for beginners to learn yoga is from an experienced instructor in person. If group classes feel intimidating, consider signing up for a beginner’s series at your local studio. In this environment, everyone will be at the same level, and you get the bonus of accountability, which will help you establish the consistency that is the key to all yoga’s benefits. You may even be able to find a class designed specifically for male beginners.
If that’s not an option, any beginners’ class should be a welcoming place to start. If you don’t enjoy your first experience, keep looking, because classes vary widely depending on the individual teacher and style of yoga.
Choosing the Right Style
Speaking of yoga styles, there are a lot of them! Some are vigorous, others more gentle. In some styles, for instance, Ashtanga, you always do the same poses in the same order. Other styles give a great deal of leeway to the teacher to design the sequence. And, of course, some classes are done in rooms heated to 100 + degrees F.
Use our Guide to Popular Yoga Styles to familiarize yourself with the options and then make your choice based on types of exercise you’ve enjoyed in the past. There’s no way to be sure what you’ll like in a yoga class until you try it, so allow for some experimentation in your process.
Creating a Routine
As mentioned above, regular practice over time is crucial. Aim to do yoga two to three times a week. If that sounds like a lot, start with once a week, but keep it super consistent. The more yoga you do, the more you’ll want to do.
Signing up for a series of classes or investing in a multi-class card (which also makes classes more affordable) is another way to hold yourself accountable. And if you have any friends that do yoga, buddy up with them.
Yoga Is Ready. Are You?
Yoga has so much to offer, and it’s here whenever you are ready. We have lots more info for beginners to help you get over the hump and onto the mat. Once you do, you’ll soon wonder what took you so long.
Improve your strength, flexibility, mobility, balance, body awareness, posture, sleep, athletic performance, and overall sense of well-being with yoga. Yoga includes a broad range of styles and methods, so there truly is something for everyone.
FAQs
Can yoga help men build muscle and improve strength?
Yoga is bodyweight exercise that improves strength and can build muscle.
How often should men practice yoga to see results?
Practice two to three times a week to experience the benefits of yoga, but try not to get hung up on results. Yoga is a lifelong practice that improves your well-being over time.
Is it okay for men to do yoga?
Yes, it definitely is! Though yoga is more popular among women these days, it was originally practiced almost exclusively by men.
Is yoga more difficult for men?
Some men worry that they won’t be ‘good’ at yoga because they aren’t already flexible. Being able to easily do complex poses isn’t the point of practicing yoga, however. The benefits come from the process, not the results.
