Let’s get right to it. We’ve gone over the Sun Salutations in the last article, and if you’re anything like me, you’re sold on Yoga. Maybe you’ve even seen how a stretching exercise can actually be useful when burning calories.
The first thing to do is to know which spots to target and the poses that can all be used to target specific areas.
Abdominal Region — here, you can use the bow pose, the forward bending pose, the peacock pose, the triangle pose and then the spinal twist.
The Arms — here, the best pose to use is the peacock pose. You can also use the crow, wheel and side plank.
The Thighs — you can use the shoulder stand, the bow, the hero, the wheel and the triangle poses.
Love Handles — the best poses to use to get rid of your love handles are the spinal twist, the side crow, the side plank and the triangle poses.
The spots mentioned above are the places that most of us tend to target when losing weight, so I mentioned them first.
Now, I’m not going to go over each of these yoga poses and exercises for weight loss in details, as there are several places that you’ve probably seen these poses performed. For your convenience I have created a playlist above to show the demonstration of these poses.
It is important to note though, that you should focus on the Sun Salutations so as to maximize your weight loss through yoga. These other poses are an additional help.
Another pose that can also be useful for the whole body, is that of the Shoulder-Stand. This pose is best performed with counter poses, especially since these poses have an effect on the meta-physical and spiritual aspects of our lives. It would be safer to say, never execute a yoga pose without counter posing it. You will throw off the balance of both your spirit and your body.
The Shoulder Stand
Spread a thick blanket on the floor, and place your yoga mat on top of it. Lie on your back and slowly raise your legs. Lift the trunk, hips and legs vertically, then rest your elbows firmly on the floor, supporting your back with both hands.
Raise your legs vertically. Press your chin against your chest; this is called the chin lock. While performing this pose, the back of the neck, head and shoulders should touch the floor. Breathe in counts of 5-5-5, inhalation, retention and exhalation.
Its counter poses are the bridge and fish poses with will target your forearms, thighs, chest and neck respectively.
As promised, here is the Breath of Fire breathing exercise that you can add to your yoga practice to speed up calorie burning.
Breath of Fire (aka Kapalabathi or Bellows Breath)
Take a few breaths and allow the diaphragm to move properly. With the eyes closed, make a sudden contraction of the abdomen with a backward push. Follow this with sudden relaxation. Complete this 15-20 times for each round.
You may gradually increase to 120 expulsions per round, but remember that between each round, take a pause of about 30 seconds to allow for normal breathing.
There you have it, simple!
Now you have all the information you need to get started using Yoga as a weight loss tool. However you’ve got to include a proper diet if you want to effectively lose weight with yoga. Keep in mind that your food should be your medicine and your medicine be your food. So give it a go and see for yourself how useful these yoga poses and exercises for weight loss can be.
The post Yoga Poses and Exercises for Weight Loss — Part 2 appeared first on Male Health Club.