Yoga vs Gym Training: Which is Better for Weight Loss? (2024)

FAQs

Yoga vs Gym Training: Which is Better for Weight Loss? ›

Yoga does burn calories but slowly. Performing yoga results in strengthening internal organs as compared to fat burning. Gym exercises are aimed at effective calorie burning.

Yoga emphasizes holistic wellness, combining physical, mental, and spiritual practices. In contrast, gym training focuses primarily on physical strength, endurance, and weight loss. Yoga improves flexibility and reduces stress, while gym workouts are more effective for rapid weight loss and muscle building.

Yoga contributes to fat loss by reducing stress levels, enhancing mindfulness, and improving metabolic health, aiding in a more holistic approach to fat loss. Q: Yoga or gym, which is better for weight gain? A: For weight gain, particularly through muscle mass, gym workouts are generally more effective.

The bottom line

Vigorous styles, such as Vinyasa, Hatha, and Bikram yoga can challenge your muscles and cardiovascular system. They often include difficult poses and faster movements. So yoga can count as strength training or cardio, building muscles and improving heart health.

The data showed that yoga is tied to weight loss and weight maintenance because of a handful of factors, including energy expenditure during yoga sessions, encouraging more exercise by reducing back pain and joint pain, heightening mindfulness, improving mood and reducing stress, and helping yogis feel more connected ...

If you aim rigid weight loss and muscle gain, gym training is ideal. But if you wish to strike a mental and physical balance with inner development, you should choose yoga. However, you will see the results slowly when practicing yoga. To strike the perfect balance, both can be practiced by people who are working.

​ When comparing the calorie-burning potential, walking generally burns more calories per session than yoga. However, yoga's holistic approach to fitness focuses on building muscle strength, flexibility, and balance, which are crucial components in a weight loss journey.

It's a tough choice; both have their own advantages that can make it hard to decide. Gyming is great for building muscle, improving strength, and working on cardiovascular endurance. Yoga, however, can also help achieve better mental clarity, inner peace, and balance of the body and mind.

While yoga can be considered "enough" of a workout, "yoga typically does not address pulling strength of the muscles, developing fast-twitch muscles or adding progressive overload when it comes to strength training," says Teragawa.

One of the little-known benefits of yoga is that it can greatly improve your body shape. Yoga isn't just about flexibility, it's an invaluable practice to help you build and tone your muscles. Through a series of asanas (poses) that engage different muscle groups, yoga offers a full-body workout.

Should I lift or do yoga? ›

The simple answer is both forms of exercise build muscle. All movements that put your muscles under stress can build muscle, as long as there is an adequate amount of muscle tension (it doesn't matter if it's from your bodyweight alone or using weights).

If you want to improve your flexibility, you should do yoga at least three times a week, even if they're shorter classes. “Any focus flow on a specific body part or any mobility class will allow for the lactic acid to release and for the muscles and joints to have more movement and flexibility,” Mariana says.

Yoga can help deepen your meditation practice, improve your flexibility, and help with balance. Pilates may be better for recovering after an injury and improving posture and core strength.

Aerobic exercise includes any activity that raises your heart rate such as walking, dancing, running or swimming. This can also include doing housework, gardening and playing with your children. Other types of exercise such as strength training, Pilates and yoga can also help you lose belly fat.

If you're struggling to lose weight despite your regular yoga practice, take a moment to analyze your body and lifestyle; are you stressed, dehydrated, sleep deprived, eat too much “hidden” sugar or are exposed to toxic substances? If any of those answers is “yes”, start there.

Yoga may also be an effective tool to help you lose weight, especially the more active forms of yoga. And you may find that the awareness gained through a gentle, relaxing yoga practice helps you to lose weight as well. Many experts agree that yoga works in different ways to bring about a healthy weight.

Strength training helps you lose weight and keep it off by building muscle tissue. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate tends to be. More muscle also helps your body burn more fat than muscle, which is important if you want to lose weight and keep your strength.

Like Pilates, yoga is an excellent toning tool, and beginners can make significant strength gains. But as you get stronger, you will ultimately reach a point where you need to push your muscles a bit harder to continue building lean muscle tissue. And the only way to do that is with weights.

Broadly speaking, a full yoga practice is best reserved for after a workout, since its deep stretches and extended holds can reduce muscle strength, potentially hampering performance of the activity to follow.

In other words: Yoga is a great way to burn fat AND gain muscle either as a standalone routine, or complimented with other forms of exercise. Despite this, for many men and women, the idea of taking up yoga still feels intimidating.