The Benefits of Yoga for Lifting and Strength Training
Barbell training provides the foundation for building muscle, power, and strength.
Yoga complements strength training by giving you space and movements for recovery. It also drives better barbell technique through increased mobility and control
As my strength & conditioning career has evolved, however, so too have my views on complementary movement.
We need a mix of workouts to develop all our various physical systems and ensure they work together, whether in sport performance or everyday life.
Everyone needs good aerobic fitness for work capacity and recovery. The better conditioned you are, the more you can accomplish in the gym. And the better your recovery, the more consistently you can train.
Meanwhile, weekly mobility training improves the quality and consistency of your repetitions. It also helps with recovery while keying you into how your body moves.
Combining these three elements will enhance your overall athleticism.
Yoga is now one of the main practices I recommend to all my athletes at all levels. (Usual caveat: do what you enjoy, particularly for restoration. Slogging through cobra pose defeats the purpose. Pilates can work just as well if that’s your preference, or just stretch at home.)
The Top Benefits of Yoga for Athletic Performance
Many people benefit from incorporating yoga into their weekly routine, including those who pursue sports on a recreational level or beyond.
The specific benefits of yoga for athletic performance include improved mobility, increased flexibility, reduced risk of injury, faster recovery, and better mental focus.
The practice also teaches heightened body awareness. The intentional and logical flows key you into different muscle groups, and you sense which areas need more help.
Improved awareness also helps you receive coaching cues and make adjustments to your positioning under the bar or in your sport.
Here’s more detail about its positive effects:
1. Improved Range of Motion
A warrior pose stresses postural alignment and control within planes of motion.
A full range of motion is essential for lifting, whether you’re a barbell athlete or competing in another sport.
You need to the ability to move fully in all planes to get the most from each rep and maximize performance in your sport.
Yoga also improves access to end ranges, which translates into higher-quality movements under the bar. For example, many people struggle with tight ankles, which in turn makes it more challenging to achieve full depth into the squat. Many yoga stretches work through those sticky areas, providing short-term and long-term improvements to the tissue.
Olympic lifting is one specific instance. In addition to requiring full depth, in the the clean position you must quickly get underneath the bar. That is dictated by the flexibility in your hips and knees.
Some of the best yoga poses for range of motion include Downward Dog, Pigeon Pose, and Warrior II.
To get the most out of them, hold the position at the end ranges. That’s the point in which you’ll receive the maximum stretch and notice potential tissue changes.
2. Decreased Soreness and Accelerated Recovery
Barbell training produces microscopic muscle tears that cause soreness.
Bouncing back faster from soreness means more frequent and higher-quality workouts. Over the course of a week, you can increase force production or complete a few more sets. That might not sound like a lot. But added up over 12 months of training, you can accrue 150 additional sets.
Practicing yoga accelerates the repair process by enhancing blood flow and delivering nutrients and oxygen to sore muscles. Relaxing movements also assist with mental recovery and stress reduction.
Gentle flows and longer-held stretches (like Child’s Pose or Reclined Spinal Twist) are perfect for active recovery. Or look for restorative yoga classes in your area.
3. Stronger Core, Balance, and Stability
A tree pose requires coordination of the breath, hips, feet, and shoulders.
Here are a few examples of what needs to occur with proper lifting technique:
“Stacking” the points based on the movement. In a bench press, for example, the wrists and elbows should form a straight line.
A deep breath to create intra-abdominal pressure.
Extending outward in all directions - you may have heard the cue “360 degrees of pressure.”
Maintaining neutral positions. For example, in the squat, you want to avoid the hips shifting to the side or the chest falling as fatigue sets in.
Yoga enhances all of these skills by combining coordination, breathing, and core control. If any aspect of the movement falls apart, you’ll find it hard to continue.
The best core and balance yoga poses include Plank, Side Plank, and Tree Pose.
4. Enhanced Focus, Mindfulness, and Stress Reduction
Mindfulness is the secret ingredient for lifters and athletes.
The best performers stay in the moment, avoiding negative self-talk or outside distraction. Think of the basketball player who immediately moves on from a bad foul call or the lifter who keeps working after missing a PR attempt. They’re ready to perform moments later.
An enhanced state of focus also preserves energy and manages stress, which means less fatigue at the end of a competition or practice.
Yoga provides a space to practice mindfulness.
You’re typically in a quiet, dark room with very few distractions, and you must stay locked into each movement. You’ll also enjoy knock-off effects, including better sleep.
(For more information on mindful athletics see my article at this link).
5. Joint Health
Many yoga poses act like isometric stretches. Those are movements in which you’re pausing in the middle of the range of motion. Think of a squat in which you’re resting about halfway up with your knees slightly bent.
Isometrics are particularly good for tendinopathies, which are overuse injuries to the tendon. They generally provide a way to load all the soft tissues gently, thereby sending blood flow to the area.
As such, I often program them as either a warm-up or to strengthen lagging areas.
Yoga uses many poses in an isometric position (or ones that can be modified accordingly). A good example is Warrior I; you can adjust the depth of your lunge to affect the joints differently.
Integrating Yoga Into Your Routine
You likely have a full schedule already, and may wonder how to fit yoga into your fitness regimen.
As with anything, start small. If you prefer working out at home, begin with a free 15-minute yoga session on YouTube. Many yoga studios also offer full online classes.
A goal of one 60-minute session per week is a good target to work towards. This can be done on the same day as your primary workout, so long as you moderate your effort. You’re not trying to set a PR or improve your cardio; the practice should be restorative.
With that said, yoga works best in person. Instructors can provide direct feedback and tactile adjustments. Plus, by joining a community, you're enhancing the mood-boosting effects of the movements.
Many gyms, including ours, now offer yoga classes tailored for strength athletes. You can see our schedule at this link.
These classes focus on addressing the needs of lifters: mobility, injury prevention, and recovery.
You can even search locally using the keyword “yoga for athletes near me" to see if you get results.
