What is the difference between yoga and physical exercises?

Yoga and physical exercises help to get in shape and have a good healthy body. However, there are some differences between yoga and physical exercises.

What is Yoga?

Yoga is a mental, spiritual and physical practice help to improve flexibility and balance. All the body parts work effectively during yoga practice under the management of mind.

Yoga contains different types and each type contains different poses which help to improve the health of spine, the strength and flexibility of the body and the health of nerves.

Yoga poses also help to increase the concentration, fight depression and improve breathing. There are different types of Yoga such as:

What are physical exercises?

Physical exercises are group of physical movements improve health and overall physical fitness level. Aerobic activity is a famous example of physical exercises which elevates the heart rate.

Regular physical exercises can boost the immune system, strengthen muscles and aid weight loss too. Bodybuilding is an example of intense physical exercises aim to build muscle and stay in shape.

In fact, yoga can be considered a good example of physical exercises too because it is a form of fitness can help in building strength. It is also important to achieve a balance among the activities of the physical body, mind and energy.

Differences between yoga and physical exercises

The differences between yoga and physical practices depend on the type of yoga or exercise. However, general differences are:

• Physical exercises tend to cause tiring because they induce sympathetic system while yoga boosts relaxing because it induces parasympathetic system.
• Physical exercises are catabolic because they stimulate breaking down the energy while yoga is anabolic because it preserves energy.
• Yoga reduces muscle tension compared to physical exercises. Lactic acid is produced by muscles in large amounts during physical exercises leading to pain and tension while in yoga practices lactic acid is neutralized during deep breathing exercises which are important part of yoga practice.
• Most physical exercises contain rapid movements but most yoga practices include slow dynamic movements.
• Higher risk of body injuries is associated with physical exercises while low risk of injuries is related to yoga practice.
• Physical exercises cause moderate to high caloric consumption while yoga leads to low caloric consumption. Nevertheless, yoga practice can help lose weight too.
• Yoga can be practiced anytime, at home or anywhere with the minimal requirement such as a yoga mat. However, physical exercises may require more equipment and intensive practices like bodybuilding may need a gym or a sports club to make it effectively.
• Physical exercises are usually competitive and focus on exercise repetition and its limits while yoga is non-competitive and focuses on breath and meditation.

At the end we can say that we can mix between yoga and physical exercises as we aim in our website Fitness Yogis because both of them help to stay in a good mental and physical health.

Reference

https://www.yogabradford.co.uk/the-difference-between-yoga-and-exercise/