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Can Men Do Yoga?

Think yoga is only for emaciated-looking gurus on rugs or trend-setting women in leotards? Think again. Yoga is an excellent exercise for even the brawniest of men.

In fact, until the last few decades yoga was often taught and practiced only by males. Now, men are rediscovering the benefits of this ancient Eastern practice. Yoga is increasingly becoming the go-to activity for the biggest, baddest guys around. Here’s a quick list of who’s done it:

The Wales rugby team
Ice hockey players Georges Laraque, Martin Havlat, and Mike Komisarek
The Illinois college football team
Footballers Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, and David Bellion
Boxing champion Evander Holyfield
The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers

So what is it about this seemingly gentle practice that makes testosterone-filled guys step onto the mat?

Yoga soothes the savage beast
You don’t need to be on a championship sports team to feel pressure and stress. From crying kids to cruddy jobs, you’ve known what it’s like to have tense muscles and rising blood pressure.

Regular yoga practice is an effective way to control stress. Numerous studies, including one by Jefferson Medical College and the Yoga Research Society, have shown that even a single yoga class can trigger significant drops in cortisol, the hormone that causes stress reactions such as an increased heart rate and rising blood pressure.

One of the best characteristics of yoga relaxation techniques is that many of them can be used anyplace, anytime. Yogic breathing can be used to lower your blood pressure before your performance evaluation or right after finding out your wife is expecting again. By practicing yoga regularly—about two or three times each week—you can om your way to a calmer, more centered way of life.

Yoga pumps you up
Yoga can increase something called functional strength. During typical workouts like weightlifting, muscles work in isolation. In real life, however, muscles need to cooperate to work properly. For example, carrying that oversized box filled with grandma’s good china down the narrow stairs requires that muscles in the arms, back, and abdomen work together.

Because yoga is a whole body form of exercise, the muscles learn to cooperate so they can be more efficient. As a bonus, they’re less prone to injury. Students learn how to relax muscles that aren’t being used, while flexing the muscles that are being used. The result is strength you can use.

Yoga makes you hurt less
Whether you’ve felt stiffness after manipulating a sofa up two flights of stairs or pain after reaching a little too far for that jump shot, yoga can lessen the chance you’ll strain your muscles and ligaments.

Yogic poses are designed to lengthen muscles and ligaments, giving them the full range of motion. You do not need to have the flexibility of a teenaged gymnast to start taking yoga; rather yoga will help you become more flexible. In fact, the BBC reported that the 2003 Wales rugby team used yoga to help increase flexibility in their hamstrings, hips, and shoulders.

Yoga makes you healthier
Yoga is also heart healthy. Coronary artery disease (CAD), the source of heart attacks, is one of the leading killers of men worldwide. Researchers are finding that yoga can be one tool to combat CAD. If you practice a more intense style like Bikram or power yoga, you can also burn off the belly fat that increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, and many other conditions.

Practicing poses, breathing exercises, and meditation may help also relieve whatever ails you. Studies have shown that yoga can improve asthma symptoms and keep migraine headaches in check. Like other exercises, yoga also causes the body to release natural pain relievers. So if your work involves heavy labor or you play a sport like rugby, regular yoga practice is a drug-free way to take the edge off of your pain.

And while it sounds like common sense, don’t forget that even though yoga has many benefits, you can’t get any of them unless you step onto the mat regularly. A consistent routine will give you results you and others can see and feel—the kind of results that make you feel like every bit of the man you are.