Yoga For Men: The Golfer Who Called It His Secret Weapon, And Asked Us Not To Tell

Yoga for men: the short answer

Yoga for men works best as an add-on to the sport you already play. It gives back what your sport takes away: range in the hips and shoulders, an even body, a strong back, recovery and focus under pressure. Trials of cricketers, rugby players and golfers point the same way. And after 40, yoga moves the numbers that decide how long you keep playing.

This article sums up our free ebook, Stay In The Game: Why And How Yoga Works For Men, by Stuart McGill, Flametree’s main male teacher. Here it is in short form:

• Keep your sport. Add yoga.
• Cricketers and rugby players moved better with yoga.
• Hour for hour, yoga is one of the safest things you can do.
• Yoga builds real strength, using your own weight.
• It moves blood pressure and blood sugar.
• Testosterone falls with poor health more than birthdays.
• The breath steadies you under pressure.

A quick word on Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. He also worked with sportsmen: the cricketer Sachin Tendulkar first came to him with a sore back in 1999. It is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online.

Is yoga worth it for men who already play sport?

Yes, and that is exactly who it suits. Most men who skip yoga are not against it. They are interested in their own sport. In a 2025 American study of 351 university students, the men who did not do yoga mostly said they were not interested or preferred other exercise. The men who did yoga came for flexibility, fitness and avoiding injury.

So this is not about giving anything up. One of our lunchtime students in Darwin, a golfer coming once a week, found his range of movement much better and his golf improved. He joked that we shouldn’t tell anyone. He wanted to keep his secret weapon away from his playing mates.

What does yoga do for athletes?

It helps them move better, and the gains last. In a trial of 82 first-class cricketers, six weeks of yoga improved core stability, balance and flexibility, and the gains were still there six months later. In a New Zealand trial of 31 rugby players, the yoga group kept its hamstring flexibility through eight weeks of the season, while the others lost about 15%.

Yoga can even stand in for part of the conditioning. In 60 young club cricketers, yoga improved bowling speed and accuracy as much as standard conditioning did.

Justin Langer, who made 7,696 Test runs for Australia, put the mind side in one sentence: “If you are facing a ball at 150 kilometres per hour, you want to be very present in that moment, because otherwise you’re going to get hurt, or you’re going to get out.”

Is yoga good for golfers?

It is well worth adding. Golf, cricket and tennis work one side of the body harder, thousands of times over. In a small 2019 study from Scotland, ten male golfers did six weeks of yoga, and the rotation of the pelvis in their swing improved. Yoga works both sides evenly, and standing poses build the legs and hips so the back is not left to do the work.

Is yoga safe for men who are stiff?

Yes. Hour for hour, it is one of the gentler things you can do. A 2019 German survey of 1,702 practitioners counted about 0.6 injuries per 1,000 hours. Older sports studies, as reported by the researcher Mary Flaherty, put golf at about 2, running at 2.5, soccer at 3.7, tennis at 5 and skiing at 8.

The risk was higher for people who practised alone, without a teacher. And chairs, walls, blocks and belts mean nobody is too stiff to start.

What is inside the Stay In The Game ebook?

The book has three parts: fit men who found they were stiff, what the research says, and how yoga keeps men playing. Here are some highlights.

The stories

• Stuart, the fit runner who was still stiff. A cattle station kid, then a lawyer in Papua New Guinea, he found yoga changed his body first and his mind followed. He was “losing it” less.
• Sting couldn’t touch the floor. A runner who thought he was fit, he was puffing after one sun salutation. His London house had once belonged to Yehudi Menuhin, and Mr Iyengar had taught in its garden.
• “Yoga is for sissies”. An American father, Nick Montoya, said it for years. His daughter stopped the car and would not drive on until he promised to try a class.
• Colin, the Darwin mountain biker who found he was “cramped, stiff and knotted”. Now he can “skip down the stairs the morning after a hard ride”.
• Tendulkar’s foot. More than ten years after his back, surgery was suggested for a painful foot. He went back to Mr Iyengar and recovered without the operation.
• The men in the Yoga For Guys class, professionals and long-term Darwin sports players worried about stiff hips leading to hip replacements.

The intriguing facts

• Stiff men tend to die younger. In 3,139 middle-aged adults followed for 13 years, the least flexible men had nearly twice the risk of dying of the most flexible. A link, not proof.
• Health matters more than birthdays. In very healthy Australian men over 40, testosterone did not fall with age at all.
• One week of short sleep cut young men’s testosterone by 10 to 15%, about what ten to fifteen years of ageing would do.
• Humming raises nitric oxide in the nose about 15 times, in a Swedish study of ten healthy people.
• About a third of Flametree’s students are men. Some have been coming for decades.

A few tips on how we do things

• Range under load. Standing poses stretch and strengthen together, so new range is range you can use.
• Carry your own weight. Arms out, hands on the floor, upside down with a teacher: your body is the weight.
• Breathe through the nose. It is the first line on Stuart’s Male Yoga class sheet.
• Short explanations as we go: why a pose matters for your back or your swing.
• Come regularly. The trials used two or more sessions a week for six to twelve weeks.

What are the health benefits of yoga for men after 40?

Yoga moves the midlife numbers your doctor checks. In 30 trials, yoga lowered systolic blood pressure (the top number) by about 8 points. In 28 trials of people with type 2 diabetes, it lowered average blood sugar (HbA1c) by about 0.6%. That matters for men: Australian men are 1.8 times as likely as women to be living with diabetes.

Strength matters too, and it fades faster than muscle after 50. In 22 trials of older adults, yoga built leg strength, and did better than walking or chair aerobics.

On testosterone, the book is careful. Nobody has run a proper long-term trial of yoga and testosterone. What yoga does is work on the levers the research points to: weight, sleep, stress and staying active. And a regular class is a group of people who notice when you’re not there.

Is there yoga for men in Darwin?

Yes. Stuart teaches beginner classes at Coolalinga and Woolner every week, some of them live online too, and the men in his classes are very receptive to his short explanations of why each pose matters. You won’t be the only man in the room. Every class is adjusted to the people in it, so a stiff beginner and a fit sportsman can work side by side.

We have written more on this elsewhere. Read Yoga For Stiff Guys, Or Anyone, Want Male Yoga Classes Near You? and Yoga For Cyclists.

Frequently asked questions

Can yoga improve my golf or cricket?

It can help. In a trial of 82 first-class cricketers, six weeks of yoga improved core stability, balance and flexibility, still there six months later, and in 60 club cricketers yoga lifted bowling speed and accuracy as much as standard conditioning. Golf and cricket load one side; yoga works both sides evenly.

Is yoga safe compared with other sports?

Hour for hour, it is among the safest. A 2019 German survey of 1,702 practitioners found about 0.6 injuries per 1,000 hours, against older figures of about 2 for golf, 2.5 for running and 3.7 for soccer. The risk was higher for people practising alone, without a teacher.

Should yoga replace my gym or training?

No. Yoga works best as an add-on. Keep your sport or training for fitness, skill and mates, and use yoga to give back what they take away: range in the hips and shoulders, an even body, a strong back, recovery and focus.

Does yoga help recovery after hard sport?

It looks that way. In a small Japanese trial, seven men who did 30 minutes of yoga after an hour of hard running kept their immune cells up and had higher heart rate variability than when they rested in a chair. Supported, restful poses and better sleep are part of every Iyengar class.

Does testosterone have to fall with age?

Not as much as most men think. In very healthy Australian men over 40, testosterone did not fall with age, and a Boston study found health and lifestyle changes linked to as much decline as ageing itself. No long-term trial has tested yoga on testosterone, but yoga works on the levers: weight, sleep, stress and staying active.

Why should sportsmen breathe through the nose?

In a 2023 German study, 19 fit adults cycling for an hour breathed more slowly and had lower blood lactate when they breathed only through the nose, without it feeling harder. Nose breathing suits easy and steady training, and yoga has always taught it.

Will I be the only man in a yoga class?

Unlikely. About a third of Flametree’s students are men, and some have been coming for decades. Classes are adjusted to whoever is in the room, and props mean a stiff beginner can work alongside someone who has practised for years.

Where can men do yoga in Darwin?

Stuart McGill teaches beginner classes at Flametree’s Coolalinga and Woolner studios every week, some also live online. Any Flametree beginner class suits men who are stiff, play sport, or simply want to stay strong and supple after 40.

Where to next

• New to yoga, or coming back? Start with our half price 10 class pass with 2 classes free, in Darwin or live online.
• For a workplace, team or group: book private yoga classes for groups, online, at a Flametree studio or at your venue.
• Want to see class times first? Look at the beginner timetable.

Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online. This article is general information, not medical advice. Choose an advisor you trust: your yoga teacher, a yoga therapist, and your doctor if you wish.

Sources: trial of 82 first-class cricketers; New Zealand rugby trial of 31 players; trial of 60 club cricketers; Cramer and colleagues, German survey of injuries in 1,702 yoga practitioners, 2019 (BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine); Sivaramakrishnan and colleagues, 22 trials in older adults, 2019; Araujo and colleagues, flexibility and survival in 3,139 adults, 2024; AIHW, diabetes in Australia; Feldman and colleagues and Travison and colleagues, Massachusetts Male Aging Study; Sartorius and colleagues, the Healthy Man Study; Mary Flaherty, Does Yoga Work? (2020). Full references are in the Stay In The Game ebook.