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I used to follow a faulty workout regime that emphasised anterior chain more while stretching the posterior chain more, meaning horrendous posture and muscle strength imbalance. I'm considering yoga to ease the tightness in chest, shoulder and hip flexors. But I'm getting conflicting information about whether yoga will be able to fix the muscle strength imbalance. Information like in order to strengthen back, glutes and hamstring, one has to lift weights and that yoga may not be a good idea for this purpose.

Can anyone shed some light in this regard?

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    Yoga under the close supervision of an expert teacher can help correct imbalances. Yoga in front of a DVD without even a mirror to see how janky your own shoulder position is, can just as easily reinforce bad movement. It's all relative.
    – Affe
    Jan 22, 2014 at 0:51
  • Oh yes! yoga from dvd is a contributing factor in my case...
    – Swati Priyadarsini
    Jan 22, 2014 at 8:48

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Yoga can help a lot in fixing imbalances as any stretching routine would do. But, you really need to observe yourself in front of a mirror or better yet, another knowledgeable person to help you. We get imbalances from when we train one muscle group too hard and not bothering to release the tension built up after lifting weights. I suggest to completely stretch your whole body after every workout and make sure to focus on the spot that seems tight for you.

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Yoga will help with balance (coordination) and stretching. I'm almost confident that it will not "fix" muscle strength imbalances alone. However there are many benefits from yoga which would enrich your life. So, my answer is, "it won't hurt but it will not fix your concern by itself."

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  • Didn't get.. why it wouldn't restore strength balance? Do you mean it wouldn't be good enough if I was already lifting heavy but unequally? If so, I used to do bodyweight exercises and endurance type workout with light weights.
    – Swati Priyadarsini
    Jan 22, 2014 at 8:57
  • Your question implies that you're doing Yoga alone to fix the problem. My answer suggests that it won't work by itself but would be a good addition to any routine for more than the specific reasons mentioned.
    – Dan Andrews
    Jan 22, 2014 at 13:59
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I think Yoga would be a great idea to help stretch out your tightness. However, I would suggest that you also, need to do back, chest and glutes specific strengthening exercises to address the imbalance. As Dan Andrew said Yoga alone will not fix your imbalance problem. You have to stretch the shortened(tight muscle) and strengthen the weaker muscle to get things back in balance.

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