muscles or not?

[Guest guest]

Hello-hello,<br>there is a question that I can’t

answer - may be some of you. <br>There are some girls I

know, they practice Ashtanga in the beginning and are

afraid that their bodies will get too strong and in the

way like if you practice body-building like Arnold

Schwarzenegger oder our beloved Mr. Pinchey-Way (sorry, I don’t

know your name well). Indeed, if you take a look at

Lino Miele or Richard Freeman, they have muscles.

Then, if you take a look at Geeta Iyengar or BKS

himself, it seems their (perfect) bodies are not only

muscles.<br>Where is the difference between Ashtanga and

Iyengar-Yoga in the influence of the body/muscles? Is there a

difference?<br>Second question, that es important too: Why BBB does not

drink red wine?<br>greeting from germany, Lu

[Guest guest]

taking hormonal gender differences into account,

male or female, how much muscle you build depends on

what and how you practice. (probably what you eat

too?). if you do dynamic vinyasa and sun salutation

practice with lift ups, jump throughs handstands and all

youre going to build more upper body muscle than if you

dont. but, even though these have a big part to play in

the practice, you can survive and thrive without

them. i was made to practice with them without them and

in many different combinations thereupon by bns

iyengar. i took it as a lesson in not being attached to

the form. cause i was mightily attached to that part

of the practice and what it did for my physique. as

a vain male that is. but even if you do do them,

some or all of the time, how you go about it

determines how much muscle you build. you can do the

jumpings from muscle power alone or from dynamic use of

the foundation (usually the hands) to shift your

weight dynamically as a way of initiating momentum. if

you try to jump back without rolling forward first

you have to overwork the arms and shoulders. if your

index finger base keeps lifting off the floor then the

bicep is undersupported and the tricep overworks and

overbuilds to compensate. <br>ive watched a lot of people,

including myself, first go hard and then soften up as

technique becomes more subtle. although even those of us

who got a bit softer, look harder while the muscles

are active during practice. then when the muscles are

at rest they go all nice and squidgy again. feels

much better to me, than when theyre rock hard all the

time, as maybe your friends reckon also..

[Guest guest]

Lu,<br><br>Different people have different

bodies. Ultimately they develop differently. A lot has to

do with diet and just they way they may be

practicing. I see yogis whove been doing Astanga for years

and years on the 3rd and 4th series with very little

muscle definition and some who are just all muscle. The

one's who are "all muscle" tend to be kind of tight and

therefore "less relaxed" during their practice. But that is

not always the case. It all depends on the

person.<br>Iyengar yogi's generally don't do vinyasa, so aerobic

conditioning won't necessarily make them "look muscular."

y'know?<br><br>namaste

[Guest guest]

How much one is able to develop muscle mass through the practice depends a great

deal on one's genetics.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Trayam, irinji and godfreydev for your

answers - may be it's all genetic. But... Dana Kingsberg

or Sarah Powers do a dynamic vinyasa and sun

salutation practice with lift ups, jump through handstands

and all this and they only have a minimum of muscles

I think. It don't worry me, but it's very

interesting to compare the both systems (ashtanga and

iyengar). Even if you do ashtanga like Sarah Powers it will

not have the result that you get big muscles.<br>Yes,

if you have practiced a lot of years fine then you

get a technique to do the asanas effortless, then

it's not only a gymnastic but art. But in the

beginning, and like our bodies will develop in the practice

of Ashtanga it depends probably really on the

genetic. Then it's not to change and we have to live with

that what will come: small muscles or big. Right? Lu