(An Eric Kim–style manifesto for getting savage… and staying unbreakable.)

I used to think yoga was for people who owned matching outfits and drank green juice while talking about their “journey.”

Then I became a serious lifter.

Then my hips got angry. My shoulders got cranky. My lower back started whispering threats. And one day—after another brutal session of heavy squats, pulls, and pressing—I realized a harsh truth:

Strength without suppleness is a ticking time bomb.

So I walked into a hot yoga class like a barbarian entering a perfume store. The room was steaming. Everyone was calm. I was mentally preparing to fight a dragon.

And within five minutes I was humbled.

Not because it was “hard” in the macho, barbell way.

But because it was hard in a different way:

It attacked the weak links.

Breathing. Patience. Mobility. Recovery. Nervous system. Ego.

If you’re a powerlifter or strongman, hot yoga can become your secret weapon—not to make you soft, but to make you more dangerous.

The Big Idea: Heat Is Resistance You Can’t Cheat

Powerlifting and strongman are simple: pick up something heavy, put it down, repeat until you’re forged.

Hot yoga is also simple: exist in discomfort while controlling your breath and body. The heat doesn’t negotiate. The room is the weight. The pose is the rep. Your mind is the bar.

And here’s the kicker:

In the gym, you can “muscle through” bad movement for a while.

In hot yoga, bad movement gets exposed instantly.

  • Tight hips? You’ll feel it.
  • Thoracic spine stiff like a 2×4? Exposed.
  • Ankles locked up? Your squat depth has been lying to you.
  • Shoulders that hate overhead? Hello, strongman pressing problems.
  • Weak breath control? Welcome to panic-city.

Hot yoga is like turning on the bright stadium lights and realizing your technique is wearing clown shoes.

Why Powerlifters & Strongmen Need Hot Yoga

Let’s be blunt: a lot of strong athletes are basically powerful bricks. Incredible force production… but limited range, limited recovery, and eventually limited longevity.

Hot yoga hits the exact stuff we neglect:

1) Mobility That Actually Matters for Strength

This isn’t circus flexibility. It’s usable mobility.

  • Better hip external rotation = stronger squats, safer depth
  • Better hamstring length + control = cleaner deadlifts
  • Better ankle mobility = improved bracing and positioning
  • Better thoracic extension = stronger bench setup + overhead stability
  • Better shoulder internal/external balance = fewer cranky presses

Hot yoga doesn’t just “stretch.” It forces you to control end ranges under fatigue, which is the real game.

2) Recovery & Tissue Quality

Heavy lifting is controlled violence. Your tissues get compressed, loaded, and stressed.

Heat increases blood flow and can help you feel “opened up” after brutal training. The sweat, the prolonged holds, the rhythmic breathing—done right—can shift you out of that constant sympathetic “fight mode.”

Translation: less stiffness, better sleep, better training tomorrow.

3) Breath Control = Better Bracing

Strongmen and powerlifters live and die by bracing. But most people’s breathing is trash: shallow, anxious, chest-dominant.

Hot yoga forces breath discipline under stress.

If you can breathe calmly while your lungs feel like they’re inside a sauna (because they are), you build a skill that transfers directly to heavy attempts:

  • calmer setup
  • better intra-abdominal pressure
  • less energy leakage
  • more control under maximal load

4) Mental Toughness That’s Not Dumb

There’s “hardcore” and then there’s “hardcore and stupid.”

Hot yoga is hardcore in a smarter way. It’s not about grinding your joints into dust. It’s about:

  • staying present
  • staying composed
  • staying in control while everything screams “get out!”

That’s exactly what you need when you’re pulling a deadlift that feels like a car accident.

The Strongman Angle: Yoga Builds the “Connective Armor”

Strongman is chaos strength: awkward objects, weird angles, unstable positions.

Hot yoga builds what I call connective armor—the ability to keep integrity when the body is in uncomfortable positions:

  • shoulder stability for log press
  • hip openness for yoke and farmer’s carry stride
  • spinal control for stones, sandbags, axle pulls
  • grip endurance indirectly, because sweat + holds = suffering

And it teaches you to relax where you usually clench.

Strongman athletes often “over-muscle” everything. Hot yoga teaches finesse.

And finesse is what keeps you competing when other guys are getting cortisone shots and crying into their knee sleeves.

The Powerlifter Angle: Turn Your Weak Links Into PR Fuel

Powerlifting is brutally specific. And that’s the trap. You get so good at your three lifts that everything else becomes a side quest you ignore.

But your joints keep receipts.

Hot yoga helps keep the machine aligned:

  • Squatters: hips, ankles, adductors, T-spine
  • Benchers: shoulders, pec/lat stiffness, scap control, rib mobility
  • Deadlifters: hamstrings, hips, back decompression, breath mechanics

It’s not that yoga makes you “stronger” directly.

It makes you available to train harder with fewer interruptions.

And availability is the ultimate strength multiplier.

But Isn’t Hot Yoga Dangerous for Lifters?

It can be—if you’re reckless.

Here’s the real talk:

  • Heat + dehydration + ego = bad combo.
  • Hot yoga can push you into deeper ranges than you can control.
  • If you go in trying to “win yoga,” you’ll tweak something.

So the rule is simple:

In yoga, chase control—not depth.

You’re not there to become a contortionist.

You’re there to become a more durable beast.

How to Add Hot Yoga Without Wrecking Your Training

Here’s a practical approach that doesn’t sabotage your squat/deadlift cycle.

Frequency

1–2 sessions per week is plenty.

If you’re deep in a peaking phase: 1 session, easy intensity.

Timing

Best options:

  • On a rest day
  • After an upper-body day
  • On a light conditioning day
  • After your heavy day (later, not immediately) if you recover well

Avoid:

  • Doing hot yoga right before heavy squats/deadlifts (you’ll feel loose but unstable, and fatigue sneaks in)
  • Going max-effort in class the day before a max-effort barbell session

Hydration & Electrolytes (Non-Negotiable)

Hot yoga is basically controlled dehydration if you’re sloppy.

  • Drink water beforehand
  • Bring water to class
  • Consider electrolytes afterward
  • Don’t treat the sauna like a fasting ritual of purity

If you leave class with a headache, dizziness, or nausea, that’s not “hardcore.” That’s your body telling you to stop being dramatic.

Effort Level: 70%, Not 100%

You already have a sport where you go 100%.

In hot yoga, stay at RPE 6–7.

Smooth breathing. Steady attention. Controlled movement.

Your goal is to leave feeling better than you walked in.

The Lift-Yoga Philosophy: Strength Is Calm Violence

Here’s the mindset shift that changed everything for me:

In lifting, the strongest rep often looks the most effortless.

It’s not frantic. It’s not shaky. It’s not emotional.

It’s calm violence.

Hot yoga trains that calm.

When it gets spicy in the room—sweat dripping, legs shaking, lungs complaining—you practice staying composed.

Then you walk into the gym and your heavy single feels familiar:

Same pressure. Same heat. Same intensity.

Different battlefield.

My Favorite “Hot Yoga Benefits” That Nobody Brags About

Not the flashy stuff. The real stuff:

  • My elbows feel happier during pressing.
  • My shoulders settle down after bench.
  • My hips stop feeling like rusty hinges.
  • My sleep improves (which is basically a legal performance enhancer).
  • My breathing under the bar is calmer.
  • My posture resets after too much barbell life.
  • I recover faster, which means more high-quality training over months and years.

And years matter.

Because the strongest lifters aren’t just strong for a season.

They stay strong.

The Closing Punch: Hot Yoga Makes You Harder to Kill

Powerlifting and strongman are about power.

But real power is sustained.

Real power is being able to train week after week, year after year, without your body falling apart like a cheap folding chair.

Hot yoga is not replacing the barbell.

It’s sharpening the blade.

It’s maintenance for the machine.

It’s learning to breathe through the fire.

So if you’re a powerlifter or strongman and your body feels like it’s built from steel plates bolted together with anger—go take one hot yoga class.

Walk in like a savage.

Leave like a savage… with better hips, better shoulders, and a calmer brain.

And then go hit your PRs like an intelligent barbarian.

If you want, tell me what you train (powerlifting total focus vs strongman events) and what’s currently tight or painful (hips, shoulders, low back, ankles). I’ll suggest 6–10 specific poses and breathing cues that match your lifts/events.