There is an allusive stereotype surrounding yoga. To most, yoga is thought of as constantly stretching and stereotyped as a flimsy workout out. Yoga is popular among women, but men are hesitant to take a yoga class.
Jill Lawson, DietsInReview.com’s yoga expert, offers her take on why men avoid yoga. “One of the biggest reasons is the belief that they are not flexible enough to do yoga. I have heard men tell me they would try it, but they can’t touch their toes.”
Yoga is more than being able to reach your toes. Practicing yoga can benefit individuals in ways they would never imagine. At yoga classes you tend to see more women than men, but yogi men aren’t kidding around when it comes to their own practice. All yoga studios encourage men to give it a try. If the benefits aren’t selling men, maybe seeing male celebrities deeply committed will.
Adam Levine
When he isn’t hitting high notes with Maroon 5 or judging fresh-faced artists on The Voice, Adam Levine practices yoga routinely. In the beginning of his career the singer didn’t practice yoga because of the stereotypes surrounding yoga. After years of pain from weights at the gym, Adam took a yoga class. He noticed the difference with his body and hasn’t stepped foot in a gym since. His godly physique is quite impressive. We say, keep on practicing, Adam, because from the looks of it yoga is doing your body well!
Matthew McConaughey
Don’t let his Southern draw fool you, Matthew McConaughey is a beach dweller with a killer yoga practice. When he isn’t in a yoga studio, beach occupants can catch the Texan vigorously stretching with or without a shirt on. His yoga practice is a prime reason why he looks great without a shirt on. A regular yoga practice helps keep body fat low and contributes to a lean, muscular body.
Ashton Kutcher
Bikram yoga is the preferred style of Ashton Kutcher. His workout routine is supposedly to help him if an apocalypse were to happen. He started taking yoga classes with his former wife Demi Moore and maintains it today as an eligible bachelor. To challenge himself, Ashton pretends he in the desert without water. The discipline should help if the Mayans’ predictions are right.
David Beckham
Props to David Beckham who not only runs around on a soccer field for an hour and 30 minutes per match, but practices Bikram yoga off the field. The British athlete fell in love with yoga after a one-on-one session with Bikram Choudhury. David’s body and soccer skills benefits from the practice that he instantly fell in love. It’s a love that he shares with his equally hot wife, Victoria Beckham, as the power couple is known to engage in couple’s yoga together.
Robert Downey, Jr.
If it were the 1990s you wouldn’t catch Robert Downey Jr. in a yoga studio, but now the actor does yoga consistently. Photos of Robert have surfaced of him near his trailer on movie sets practicing yoga, which has taught him how to be fit, mellow, and balanced. The yogi star is now living a spiritual lifestyle, quite a contrast to the Robert of the 90s.
Practicing yoga can benefit men and women in many ways, however, there do exist differences for the two genders. “Men typically are more muscle bound than women. Tight muscles weaken over time, no matter how big and dense they appear to be. Add elasticity (not more muscle) to an already muscle clad physique and you have a formula for a very strong body,” Jill explained. Muscles that have elasticity build a strong body, thus explaining the physique on male and female yogis.
Jill says another perk for men is that yoga helps them connect with their emotions and make it easier to express themselves.
The last perk that Jill mentions is sexual pleasure, which yoga can help increase for both men and women. Yoga helps men heighten their levels of stamina and performance in the bedroom therefore increasing a woman’s sexual pleasure.
Also Read
Prince Harry Found a New Love: Bikram Yoga
How Practicing Yoga Enhances Your Sex Life
Travis Eliot: The Ultimate Yogi
Levine image via Details.com; Beckham image via MindBodyGreen.com