How Yoga Can Improve Your Cardio
Yoga is a powerful way to improve your health and posture. Also, depending on your goals. there are different yoga exercises. Moreover, for each type of yoga exercise your body gets different health benefits. For example, yoga is helpful if you have pre-existing conditions like heart disease. If that is the case, cardiovascular workouts are the best for you. Aerobic or cardiovascular workouts strengthens your heart muscle and makes pumping blood more efficient. As a result, it helps lower the risks for heart disease. And, not just heart problems but they also improve cholesterol levels as well as reduce blood pressure. So, if you are curious about how aerobic yoga can improve your cardio, this is the perfect guide for you.
Yoga Cardio
Yoga cardio, sometimes referred to as cardio yoga or aerobic yoga, is a combination of yoga and cardiovascular or cardio exercises. It is popular among people who want to relax and enjoy the health benefits of yoga. Here, you will discover everything you need to know about aerobic yoga, such as health benefits and its difference from other forms of cardio workouts.
Cardiovascular exercise requires balancing three components of exercise: intensity, duration, and frequency. So, if you want to find out if your yoga session qualifies as a cardio workout look for the following. First, you should know how to gauge the intensity of your workout. Second how long is the workout. Lastly, how frequently you participate in the workout.
Now, depending on the different poses and programs you do, yoga can improve your cardio. However, unlike any other traditional yoga that is more focused on breathing techniques, postures, body flow, aerobic yoga incorporates more dynamic movements that elevate your heart rate and intensity in a gradual state.
Health Benefits
Listed below are some of the significant health benefits you may get from practicing aerobic yoga workouts.
Weight Loss
First, one of the health benefits of cardio or aerobic yoga workout is weight loss. In fact, aerobic yoga workouts can help burn calories and help you lose weight. Moreover, a more effective way to lose weight is to combine aerobic yoga with a low-calorie diet. Now, studies of the overweight or obese found that aerobic yoga significantly reduced BMI.
By the way, beginner to intermediate-level yoga sessions aren’t typically considered adequate for improving cardiovascular fitness. However, more intensive forms of yoga like aerobic yoga can work your heart while increasing calories burned. Thereby, helping with losing weight.
Improves the Heart
Second, yoga cardio can help improve your heart. If you do the cardio yoga continuously without taking a break in between poses, your heart rate can easily get into the cardio-qualified range. If you want that to happen, you should pick your yoga workout classes wisely.
Improves Your Lungs
Third, some yoga poses, such as warrior poses and lunges, engage your quads and hamstrings. These yoga poses can make your heart and lungs work harder, which in turn will feel like you are doing a regular cardio workout. It is also better if you incorporate deep belly breathing during your yoga classes to expand the lungs.
Decreases the Risk for Cardiovascular Disease
Fourth, yoga cardio is simply yoga that can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. So, it is similar to the effects of normal cardio activities such as walking, swimming, running, and more. Besides cardiovascular diseases, yoga workouts also help decrease the risk factors for metabolic syndrome, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and obesity. Furthermore, aerobic yoga gives you the option to do cardio activities that improve breathing techniques, improve proper posture, and stretches.
Decreases Stress
Fifth, there are various aerobic yoga workouts that can help relieve stress. In fact, these workouts help you be active and keep your mind busy. Most of all, yoga cardio workouts very quickly activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Now, the parasympathetic nervous system is a network of nerves that relaxes your body and reduces stress. So, doing these yoga workouts can help you calm your brain and distract it from any problems and tensions.
Improves Strength
Finally, regular aerobic yoga workouts can strengthen the muscles of your arms, back, legs, and core.
How Often to do this Workout
If you want to lose weight, do yoga cardio at least five times a week with each session being 30 minutes long.
Conclusion
Yoga has many health benefits. So, choosing the right method of practicing yoga is key. Yoga is also used to relax and relieve stress and is also a good way to practice and improve your breathing. Yoga can also improve your cardio as some yoga poses have the same effect as the cardio workout that we regularly do in the gym. Cardio yoga is most beneficial to people suffering from cardiovascular conditions. In fact, practicing yoga cardio you will start to get the same health benefits as regular cardio workouts.