While running, lifting weights and playing sports have traditionally been known as great ways to stay in shape, activities such as yoga and Pilates have certainly gained popularity in recent years despite the reputation of being feminine exercises.

What sets these workouts apart, according to Fitness and Wellness graduate assistant Kacey Barr is that they are “very stress relieving, low-impact workouts that have a really good impact on muscular endurance and flexibility.”

Barr works in the Heskett Center at Wichita State and helps oversee the personal trainers as well as the wellness events. While admitting that she is not as familiar with yoga, she did say that there are many levels of difficulty that can add to the intensity of the exercise.

One of these more intense yoga workouts is hot yoga. It may still look the same, but it typically takes place in a 99-degree room. The heat allows participants’ muscles and connective tissues to become more elastic, making them more flexible. It also produces more sweat, allowing participants to detox, or rid the body of toxins.

“Yoga, I feel, is all body. It’s a little bit physical and a little bit mental but it definitely engages the whole body,” said Nickki Head, owner and instructor at Firefly Yoga, a local yoga studio in Wichita.

According to Barr, stress-relief is one of the major benefits of these exercises and can be especially helpful for college students.

“[Yoga and Pilates] are really good at helping you control your breathing,” Barr said. “In yoga, instructors encourage you to breathe deeply and regularly throughout a stretch. Being able to control your breathing is something that can really help stress.”

Head said that yoga helps deal with stress because it “gives students the ability to let go.”

Despite being featured in p90x, a fitness series led by renowned personal trainer, Tony Horton, yoga endures the stereotype of being exclusively for women.

“I think a lot of [men] don’t realize that a lot of pro athletes do a lot of yoga,” Barr said. “It’s injury prevention and helping with flexibility. The greater your flexibility, the better you can perform at pretty much anything.”

For men looking to get a more “buff” look, Head said to keep weights in their workout regiment but to “supplement with yoga.”

“You don’t want to build up all this muscle and not be able to move,” Barr said. “You have a greater range of motion the more flexible you are. Yoga really helps with that.”

For students looking to get involved in either yoga or Pilates, the Heskett Center offers the Shocker Fit Pass, which gets you unlimited access to all scheduled fitness classes including yoga and Pilates.

Firefly Yoga studio also offers student rates at both of their studios in Wichita as well as a program that allows some students to help around the studio in exchange for yoga classes.

“We try to make it accessible to [students],” Head said.