Using Meditation to Bulk Up… or Slim Down

Many who have realized the value of meditation for calming the mind may be wondering why or how it could help one in strength training. Sure, it’s relaxing, but strength training doesn’t seem like an activity you should be too relaxed for, right? Maybe it’s good for having better control of the mind, but is there any physiological benefit from meditation?

Though research is preliminary in this area, the majority of studies done points to an answer of YES! A number of studies have been done to record what happens to the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, metabolic rate, and nervous system during different kinds of meditation. The results from these studies point to physiological responses that could aid in the body’s normal physiological responses to exercise.

Incidentally, the type of meditation seems to matter. Sitting/quiet meditation seems to have one set of effects while heavy breathing/more active types of meditation differ in some respects. Again this is preliminary research, but both types of meditation potentially have their own benefits for exercising. In most of the research, Transcendental Meditation is used as the standard for quiet meditation. This is probably because it has a set criteria which is easy to measure, but note that this is probably very similar to any quiet/relaxed meditation you do at home (i.e. watching your breath, repeating a mantra, etc.). Pranayama is typically the standard used for the more active type of meditation as it involves actively controlling your breath as opposed to just observing it. The data on pranayama would probably be similar to any type of meditation you may do involving movement or heavier breathing.

First, we will outline the direct effects each meditation has on the body. If it seems a little science-oriented, don’t worry. We will follow up by talking about what those physiological effects mean for exercising.

Effects on the Body

Transcendental Meditation tends to increase cardiac output and stroke volume while decreasing heart rate. In addition it tends to divert blood flow away from the liver and kidney (abdominal organs) and sends more flow to the skin and skeletal muscle. This is what normally happens during exercise. Furthermore, recent evidence also points to total peripheral resistance of blood vessels decreasing during transcendental meditation. Again, this is a normal body response to exercising. However, transcendental meditation tends to decrease metabolic rate but only during the act of meditation-it does not affect resting metabolic rate (BMR).

On the other hand, heavy breathing type meditation, such as pranayama, tends to have similar effects with blood flow, but increases metabolism when compared to rest. This generally means it will metabolize fat stores to a greater degree.

What it Means for Exercise and Strength Training

Based on this information, it would make sense for strenuous exercise (strength training) to make the most out of both of these techniques. It seems logical to start with a sitting/quiet meditation five to fifteen minutes before the workout to get cardiac output up and increase flow to the skeletal muscles. After this, perhaps doing breathing exercises while stretching or doing some sort of yoga to loosen up the muscles would be a good idea. The breathing meditation/exercises will work to increase metabolism and fat stores. The act of stretching will continue to keep blood flow moving to the muscles. Follow this with deep breathing to increase oxygen flow right before a set and you have a pre-workout routine.

If one is looking to bulk up, and therefore not lose too much weight, it would seem logical to do some sitting/quiet meditation immediately following the workout and stretching. Since sitting/quiet meditation has been proven to decrease metabolism, doing this after the workout would prevent too much loss of energy stores/weight. Typically the metabolism stays elevated for two to three hours after a workout. Meditating would help mitigate this. If one is looking to lose weight, perhaps doing more pranayama exercises following the workout would help to keep the metabolism rate high after working out.

We Need Your Experiences!

Again, this research is preliminary. We compared the direct effects that have been measured to what typically happens to the body during exercise. Unfortunately, not many studies have been done at all regarding meditation and exercise. Still, this seems promising. The effects of sitting meditation on blood flow and cardiac output have been replicated a number of times, suggesting legitimacy. The effects of pranayama and heavy breathing exercises have not been tested as much, and therefore we should take that into consideration.

In order to get more data on this subject we need your experiences! Try what is recommended in this article and let us know if/how it affected your exercise and results. It’s just a simple matter of combining a meditation practice with your exercise routine and journaling/recording your results and experiences… if interested, there’s more info on our “Mindful Strength Training” web page. We would love to hear from you and begin to expand our research on how meditation affects exercise.

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About Author

Rushi Vyas is an advocate for the integration of alternative medical therapies in the world of Western medicine, and is a research assistant for Mindful Muscle (http://www.mindfulmuscle.com). He is also a pre-med student at the University of Michigan exploring the diversity and similarities of various religious traditions around the world.
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