7 Ways Yoga as Cross-Training Can Improve Your Body and Life

Cross-training involves including different types of exercise in your workout or training regimen. If you’re a soccer player, for instance, you might cross-train with ballet classes or swimming. Endurance athletes might include weight training and Pilates in their cross-training routine.

This type of approach keeps workouts from getting stale. It also enables you to work your muscles and muscle groups in different ways.

When your cross-training program includes a yoga practice, not only does your body benefit but you may also see improvements in other areas of your life. Here are seven reasons to include yoga as cross-training in your exercise routine.

#1: Yoga Builds Greater Muscle Strength

For many exercisers, the goal is to increase muscle strength. Increases in strength can help athletes perform better in their sport of choice. Non-athletes also benefit from stronger muscles. Strengthen your biceps and it becomes easier to open a pickle jar. Build strength in your back and it promotes better posture.

The most obvious way to build muscle is with strength training. Yet, yoga is another physical activity that increases muscle strength.

One study involved participants following a regular yoga practice for eight months. This included 60 minutes of Ashtanga yoga performed twice per week. When compared to a control, the yoga group had significantly improved leg press muscle strength. Another study reported that hand grip strength increased after engaging in yoga breathing.

#2: You Become More Flexible Too

Many yoga poses require a certain level of flexibility. That said, if you lack the flexibility to go through the full range of motion as a beginner, keep practicing and you will notice that your flexibility increases.

Certain sports require a higher degree of flexibility. Gymnastics, wrestling, and figure skating are a few. So, athletes in these sports would benefit greatly from including yoga as part of their cross-training practice.

In everyday life, being flexible means that it’s easier to get on the floor and play with your kids or grandkids. It also becomes less of a struggle to bend over and pick items up off the floor or even to scrub hard-to-reach places on your body during a shower.

A 2013 study found that practicing Iyengar yoga once a week for six weeks increased flexibility in the hamstring and erector spinae. A 2015 study noted similar results after doing 20 weeks of Hatha yoga.

#3: Yoga Aids in Injury Prevention

Data provided by the American Physical Therapy Association indicates that there are more than 8.6 million injuries per year as a result of physical activity. What does this mean in real-life terms?

Injured runners may be forced to sit out the next half or full marathon—even if they’ve been training for months. Other injured athletes face the same fate, not to mention the impacts injury has on everyday life, making it harder to take care of obligations at work and home.

What can help you reduce your injury risk? Yoga.

For example, one study reported that developing a yoga practice can help soccer players avoid injuries. The authors suggested that it did this in two ways. One is by reducing the players’ perception that they would sustain an injury in the first place. The second was by reducing their fatigue which, subsequently, reduced their injury risk.

#4: It Can Reduce Muscle Imbalance Issues

A comprehensive training program works almost every muscle in the body. This creates balance in opposing muscles and muscle groups. If you work the biceps muscle, for example, you also want to work the triceps. If you don’t, it can lead to injury and pain.

Incorporate yoga into your workout and you will hit all the major muscles, especially the core muscles. The more poses you do, the more muscles you work.

Researchers from the University of Miami studied 11 different yoga poses to learn which muscles they impacted most. They found that high plank, low plank, and Downward Dog were best for activating the external obliques. Chair pose and Warrior 1 were good for the glutes, and Chair and Halfway Lift targeted the erector spinae. Upward Facing Dog hit all three muscle groups. Results were published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine.

#5: Practicing Yoga Strengthens the Mind-Body Connection

One of the most well-known benefits of yoga is what it can do to strengthen the connection between your body and mind. This practice involves quite a bit of body awareness. You learn to pay attention to how different movements feel. You also begin to recognize how they impact you mentally.

A strong mind and body connection is important because we are affected physically by our emotional and mental state. A primary example is posture. Your posture is different when you’re sad versus when you’re happy. So, someone can tell the way you feel by how you walk or stand.

Plus, if you alter one, you can often alter the other. Put another way, strengthen your mind and your body will follow, and vice versa. Yoga can help accentuate this process, maximizing the mind-muscle connection.

#6: Developing a Yoga Practice Can Lower Your Stress

Do you feel stressed? We all do from time to time. Though, for some, stress is a constant. They’re always worried about family, finances, or work. If you don’t find some way to relieve this stress, it can catch up to you. Yoga is good for this purpose.

One systematic review discovered that yoga reduces stress in several ways. A couple of the mechanisms by which it works include creating a positive effect and by boosting self-compassion.

Yoga also reduces stress through the way it changes the body on the inside. Specifically, it helps inhibit the posterior hypothalamus and salivary cortisol. In short, adding this form of exercise can lower your stress levels inside and out.

#7: You Get to Choose the Style of Yoga You Enjoy Most

Another benefit of including yoga in your cross-training workout is that there are many styles from which to choose. This enables you to select the ones that you enjoy the most.

For instance, you may want to do Vinyasa yoga. This is also known as power yoga and involves doing a string of poses at a faster or more intense pace. Or maybe you’re more interested in Restorative yoga. This type of workout can help the body recover, such as after completing an intense cardio or strength training workout.

You might also choose a yoga style based on your sport. Some runners find that they prefer hot yoga because research has connected this type to better stamina. A 2020 study suggests that Kundalini yoga may offer benefits for athletes in the martial arts.

How to Use Yoga as Cross-Training

How you incorporate yoga into your cross-training program can vary based on the style you choose. Power yoga is good for building strength. So, instead of lifting weights, do this yoga style one day. Bikram yoga can increase calorie burn. That makes this a great alternative for cardio days.

Another option is to simply add a few yoga poses to the end of your current workout. Add them after strength training, for instance, to help the muscles elongate and relax. Or select a few poses that help you cool down after a tough cardio session.

If you want to help clients include yoga as cross-training, ISSA offers Yoga Instructor certification. Once you complete this course, you’ll know how to create training plans that incorporate a yoga practice. This benefits clients who want a cross-training workout that includes this form of exercise, making you the coach who is able to provide this type of service.