Yoga is Surprisingly Successful at Building Functional Strength
If you are over 50, you have probably figured out that aging is not always kind to the human body. Muscle loss, or Sarcopenia, can happen at a rate of 3-8% every 10 years after the age of 30, and is even higher after age 60. What you do with your body affects whether this loss is faster or slower over time.
Strength training is well known as something you can do to slow muscle loss and maintain the muscle that you have. Practicing yoga strengthens your body functionally to prevent muscle loss. Rather than moving in only one direction at a time, yoga poses, especially throughout an entire practice, move you through all planes of motion and strengthen every muscle in the body.
A meta-analysis from 2021 stated that “Yoga is a multimodal activity that improves muscle strength, balance, and flexibility in the elderly, and physical activity policies should continue to promote yoga as an activity that enhances physical and mental wellbeing in this population.”
Different styles of yoga offer different benefits. Some focus more on mental and physical relaxation, some more on strength building. Vinyasa yoga, which is what I teach, offers a wonderful balance of both strength and relaxation for both the mind and body.
Building strength requires that you “stress” the muscles and bones in a way that causes micro-injuries. When you sleep, the body heals those micro-tears and you become stronger. You want to contract the muscles enough to feel the effort, but without struggle or strain. Letting go of struggle happens in the mind. Something that is physically challenging doesn’t also need to be mentally challenging.
Strength in Yoga
What is beautiful about yoga is that it doesn’t require any weights outside of your own body weight. Poses like Plank, Chaturanga, Warrior 1 and 2, Airplane pose, Boat pose, Utkatasana, and Bridge all require muscular effort to hold. Overtime, this builds strength. The longer you hold a pose, the more strength you build.
You can also build strength with repetitions, like going back and forth between Crescent Lunge and Utkatasana or Tree pose (your legs and glutes will feel that!). What matters is that your muscles contract and release regularly.
You want to engage and activate your muscles, but not clench them. Yoga is not “Buns of Steel.” Ideally you attempt to maintain your balance between strength (Sthira) and ease (Sukha). Each muscle will contract and release. If you don’t release, you can’t contract again. Just like inhaling and exhaling, there is a relationship between contracting and releasing.
If you are holding a pose, like Warrior 2, the muscles will hold their contraction for longer. Eventually they will tire, and you release out of the pose. This develops your slow twitch muscles which are used more for endurance exercises.
Fast twitch muscles are for movements that require more speed and less power. Vinyasa flows will strengthen fast twitch muscles, as will any movement repetitions, as the muscles need to contract and release over and over to get the strengthening benefits.
Core Strength
Core strength is important for basic function in your daily life, as well as allowing you to keep active as you age. Many yoga poses require you to engage your core muscles to create stability and balance.
When I say “Core,” I am not referring to “6-pack abs.” Core strength is functional, not visual. It doesn’t matter what your outsides look like, anyone can build core strength with the body that you have.
Your Core is a group of muscles that work together to create stability as well as being your center of power for most sports and activities. Strengthening these muscles keeps your lower back from hurting, they improve or maintain your urogenital function, prevent “leakage,” and basically keep you standing upright.
These muscles are:
- Rectus abdominis (the 6 pack–doesn’t need to be visible to exist): help us “crunch”
- Transversus abdominis: deep lower abdominal muscles
- Internal and External Obliques: help us twist
- Levator ani: Pelvic floor, affecting urination and sexual function
- Adductors: Inner thigh muscles that bring our legs toward our midline
- Gluteus Maximus, Medius, and Minimus: “The Glutes” which extend our hips, abduct (move the legs away from our midline), and rotate our thighs
- Erector Spinae: Spinal muscles that keep us upright and help us backward bend
When these muscles are strong and stable, you feel strong and stable. Your balance is better, you can lift a laundry basket or load the dishwasher without your back “going out,” and you can get in and out of a car with ease. It’s these actions of daily life where you feel the most benefit from your strength work.
Yoga for Cross-Training
Of course building and maintaining strength also affects any sports or activities that you do, like walking, biking, swimming, tennis, golf, hiking, dancing, etc. When your core is strong, you have better control over your body’s movements.
Yoga, as functional strength training, is the perfect cross-training practice for every sport. Yoga creates strength in all planes of movement to balance the body and help your performance in your sports. I noticed a difference in my swimming after only 3 yoga classes when I first started. I had better glide through the water, and could pull the water more efficiently. It seemed like magic.
Building strength is important for health and longevity in sports and in life. When you can build a strong, mobile, and balanced body, you feel more comfortable in your skin. You move more easily and with more confidence. You don’t feel as old as your driver’s license says you are. Getting strong and staying strong is definitely possible, at any age. What are you doing to keep yourself active and strong?
Join me online on the mat!
I teach online yoga classes for active adults over 50 who want to stay active and cross-train for life! Classes such as Mindful Core, Beginner Yoga, and 30 Min FitFlow build whole body functional strength that you take with you off the mat and into your life. Movement is medicine! If you are “yoga curious,” click the button below and get a 10 day All Access Free Trial to Purple Room Yoga for unlimited live and on demand classes.
