Do you consider downward dogs a little too ladylike?

Well fellas, while yoga promises some pretty obvious benefits for both sexes—like improving flexibility and core strength—a regular yoga practice also offers apparent advantages, specifically for guys.

Here are eight convincing reasons to have a bromance with your yoga mat…

Strengthens Immunity

Yoga is great for your health—quite literally if you consider a research study published in the PLoSOne health journal, which claims regular yoga practice strengthens immunity at the cellular level by changing actual gene expression and thus, improving your internal defense system. Yoga does this by flushing the body of toxins, particularly if you do any form of hot yoga (i.e. Oxygen Yoga and Fitness, which fuels an mock “fever” within the body and toughens immune system defense.