We all know that lifting weights in the gym can be a great way to get in shape and build a lean, muscular physique. But can yoga get you ripped? Well, the short answer is yes! However, it all depends on the type of yoga you’re practising and the food you are fueling your body with.

Many guys shy away from yoga due to the so-called “femininity” and spiritual aspects surrounding the practice. This is unfortunate because yoga has helped thousands of guys to build muscle, strength, flexibility, and lose weight. Believe it or not, a fast-paced Vinyasa yoga session can challenge you just as much as a traditional bodyweight or weight training workout.

If you’ve never tried a challenging yoga class before you might be in for a big surprise. My first yoga class humbled me like nothing else. As a former gym junky, I thought the class was going to be a walk in the park. Man, how wrong was I.

The practice showed me that I might have been strong in the gym, but functionally I was actually very weak. Flaws in my posture, balance, and flexibility were apparent just a few minutes in. And let’s not even talk about my cardiovascular endurance.

The Truth About Getting Ripped

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how yoga can help you get ripped, it’s important to understand what is actually required to achieve the physique of your dreams.

No matter how much exercise you do, the truth is you can’t get ripped if you’re eating like crap. You also need to have well-developed muscles so that when you reduce your body fat levels low enough, you have something to show for it! The formula to getting ripped is simple:

Building muscle through resistance training
Reducing body fat

Over the next few sections, we’ll take a closer look at how the right yoga practice can help you build muscle and reduce body fat.

How to Build Muscle

Building muscle is crucial to achieving a ripped physique once you reduce your body fat levels. When you consistently put additional stress on your muscles to deal with high levels of resistance, your muscle size will increase over time.

Muscle growth occurs when the fibres inside of the muscles are broken down during resistance training. The body then repairs the damaged fibres by fusing them together, which increases the mass and size of the muscles over time.

The most common forms of resistance training weight training and bodyweight training.

Weight Training

Weight training involves using weights such as barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or machines to apply resistance to your muscles. The primary benefit of weight training is that it can be easier to increase resistance over time by simply adding more weight. Progress with weight training can also be much easier to measure than bodyweight training. If you lift more weight today than you did two weeks ago, you are stronger.

Bodyweight Training

Bodyweight training involves using your own body weight for resistance. It can be just as effective as weight training, although it can be difficult to increase resistance over time since you are limited by your bodyweight. A huge benefit of bodyweight training is that you can do these workouts anywhere and don’t need to fork out for an expensive gym membership.

When people think of bodyweight training they typically think of pushups, bodyweight squats, and pullups. However, yoga also falls under this category.

Yoga vs. Weight Training to Get Ripped

Yoga is a form of bodyweight resistance training. When you perform yoga poses you are putting your body in positions that your muscles need to support. This challenges muscles over time, resulting in muscle growth. Yoga also offers the added benefit of being a great cardio workout. Compared with traditional weight training, yoga offers the following benefits:

1. Burns more calories

Weight training is a great tool to build strength and muscle but is not always the most effective way of burning calories since you will typically rest longer between sets. Yoga, on the other hand, is a great cardiovascular workout – especially if you opt for a fast-paced Vinyasa class which has you continuously flowing between poses. Weight training also lacks the stretching and balancing aspects of yoga which contribute to overall health.

2. Yoga is more well-rounded

Yoga is so much more than a way to build strength and muscle size. Unlike traditional weight training, Yoga offers a more-well rounded approach to fitness, focusing on building all aspects of your health like cardiovascular endurance, strength and flexibility, concentration and mindfulness.

3. Reduces injuries

Regular yoga practice can reduce your risk of injury and strengthen your body to perform optimally throughout the day, whether you’re walking, twisting, sitting down, bending or lifting stuff. Yoga is a form of functional fitness since it moves your body in the ways that it was designed to move.

For example, while weight training has you moving on a one-dimensional plane (think of the straight up and down motion in a bench press), yoga incorporates moves that involve twisting, arching and more.

4. Increases endurance

Yoga increases muscle endurance because you typically hold any given pose for a period of time and repeat it several times during a yoga workout.

5. Yoga can be done anywhere

I should also point out that it’s a lot easier to get a yoga session in if you are short on time since you really only need a yoga mat and a quiet space at home to get started.

Which Yoga Style Is Best for Getting Ripped?

If your primary goal is losing weight and getting a ripped appearance, then I suggest looking for a good Vinyasa class. Vinyasa yoga involves “flowing” between different asanas, or postures, at a quick pace. Unlike gentler Hatha practices, Vinyasa yoga aims at building heat throughout the body which can burn calories and have you sweating like crazy.

Another great option is to follow a yoga routine that is designed specifically to improve strength, like the ones offered by Dean at Man Flow Yoga. I recommend checking out The Strength Foundations playlist on Man Flow Yoga’s YouTube channel to get started.

Which Yoga Poses Should I Do To Get Ripped?

Certain yoga poses can help build muscle better than others. For example, challenging arm balances or inversion poses can be effective at building strength and muscle. This is because they work groups of smaller stabilising muscles in addition to the major muscles you might work in the gym in order to support the poses.

Try holding standing poses such as the Warrior Pose and Triangle pose for building the leg muscles as well as balancing postures such as the tree pose which has you holding up your entire body weight on one leg.

To progress with these postures and build strength and muscle over time, try holding the positions longer or by doing more repetitions of each pose. You can even try learning new poses or variations of poses that challenge you. This is similar to progressing in traditional bodyweight training, in which you might start with a normal pushup before graduating to pushup with legs raised to make the exercise more challenging.

Just be sure to start easy and progress slowly to avoid injuries.

What Should I Eat to Get Ripped?

Calories in vs. Calories Out

To reduce body fat you need to consume fewer calories than your body burns throughout the day. Alternatively, you can increase the number of calories you burn each day by exercising more.

It’s a simple equation: calories in vs. calories out.

Clean Eating

The good news is that you don’t need to count calories religiously or eat bland tasting foods. Experts recommend following a whole foods plant-based diet which involves eating a majority of your calories from unprocessed plant foods. Aim for getting 80 – 90% of your calories from plants. Even if going vegan or vegetarian isn’t your thing, you can aim to eat predominantly unprocessed whole foods along with lean meats and fish. By eating unprocessed, whole foods you will feel more satiated throughout the day and less likely to overeat.

Learn more: If you’re interested in learning more about eating a whole foods plant-based diet, I highly recommend checking out the following books: The Disease Delusion and The Whole Food Diet by John Mackey.

The Wrap Up

Yoga is an awesome full-body workout that not only builds strength, muscle, and flexibility but burns calories which is key to getting as shredded as possible. But should you only do yoga exclusively to achieve your fitness goals? While I believe you certainly could see success, I recommend combining your yoga practice with bodyweight or weight training along with some dedicated cardio like running, cycling, or swimming.

Now get out there and get ripped with yoga!

Can Yoga Get You Ripped?