How often must I yoga for it to be effective?

cheshirecatastrophe

Goal: increase flexibility (especially hips and back, also shoulders I guess) for running and weightlifting safety, and long-term mobility.

I am very, very bad at sticking to a flexibility program on my own. I am thinking that if I chuck up the $30 for a once-a-week yoga class this summer I will have more incentive to stick with it, and I do have the time because summer.

Is once a week enough to gain the injury reduction benefits? Or do I really need 2-3 times?

DavPul

There's not many things in life where one can improve oneself by only doing it once per week

tomatoey

If you'll only actually do once a week, it's better than no times a week. But also maybe just force yourself to do some stretches for 5-10 mins after you do your regular workouts.

If you like ticking things off, maybe set a few stretches up as part of a routine in an app. That's the only way I can make myself do my physio exercises. (And I trick myself by making them part of my warm-up.) I use Simple Workout Log on Android.

Nony_Mouse

Or, you could do yoga at home every day for free!! This is what I started out with, still going strong (and more flexible!) 5 months later . The practices in the 30 days challenge are mostly under 30 minutes, so easy to fit in, and there are a ton more practices on the channel.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLui6Eyny-UzwxbWCWDbTzEwsZnnROBTIL

rileyes

Hips and Lower Back/Upper Glutes I practice simple leg raises for hip flexibility. Raise your leg straight and parallel to the floor and hold for 15 seconds. Do this to the front, side and back trying to raise it as high as you can while standing upright. Also raise your leg back and bend it so your heel faces the ceiling. You can pulse for an extra stretch. I do these every other day and I have remarkable increased flexibility.
Yoga I do a series of stretches before I roll out of bed.
You may want to check out the book "Becoming a Supple Leopard--the ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury and optimizing athletic performance"

MonsoonStorm

rileyes wrote: »

Hips and Lower Back/Upper Glutes I practice simple leg raises for hip flexibility. Raise your leg straight and parallel to the floor and hold for 15 seconds. Do this to the front, side and back trying to raise it as high as you can while standing upright. Also raise your leg back and bend it so your heel faces the ceiling. You can pulse for an extra stretch. I do these every other day and I have remarkable increased flexibility.
Yoga I do a series of stretches before I roll out of bed.
You may want to check out the book "Becoming a Supple Leopard--the ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury and optimizing athletic performance"

Not exactly sure how this improves flexibility... you are only going as far as your muscles can take you so not really lengthening them at all, the limiting factor is the strength of your flexing muscles, not the stretch of the relaxed muscle.

EvgeniZyntx

DavPul wrote: »

There's not many things in life where one can improve oneself by only doing it once per week

Truth. Right there.

SBRRepeat

I say start with 1x week, you'll be able to tell what's helping and can then take more classes or, once you recognize the value, start doing it on your own.
I have an app that has running specific practices, some of which are only 5-10 minutes long and I'll do one of those after running most days.

In other news, that $30 fee- is that per class or for a month long pass? I've never paid more than $10 for a drop in class. Our local lulemon athletica store has free runners yoga 1x week. May be worth looking around for something like that to start with.

Snow3y

lol what's with all these people saying once a week isn't enough? Once is perfectly fine, but I'd personally try push it for 2 or 3 times a week.

Capt_Apollo

i've always been really bad about post-workout stretching. started going to yoga once a week in addition to all the swim/bike/run that i do. it's been really great.

pensierobello

Yes, once a week is fine, don't listen to all these other people. The main thing is doing it regularly and making the commitment. And it will probably take you many months to see the benefits - but you will see them.

cheshirecatastrophe

Thanks, everyone!

DavPul wrote: »

There's not many things in life where one can improve oneself by only doing it once per week

OH HUSH YOU WITH YOUR LOGIC AND FACTS.

SBRRepeat wrote: »

I say start with 1x week, you'll be able to tell what's helping and can then take more classes or, once you recognize the value, start doing it on your own.
I have an app that has running specific practices, some of which are only 5-10 minutes long and I'll do one of those after running most days.

In other news, that $30 fee- is that per class or for a month long pass? I've never paid more than $10 for a drop in class. Our local lulemon athletica store has free runners yoga 1x week. May be worth looking around for something like that to start with.

(a) What app do you have? I'm really good with the myrtl exercises for hip girdle strength, but I'd love its stretching equivalent. I could see myself adding on 5-10 minutes of stretching to that. Right now I kind of aimlessly foam roll and give up after probably not long enough.

(b) It's $30 ($25 plus online processing) for the whole summer. Since my gym is free to me, I've always thought the class rate is a pretty good deal. To give you some idea of the chances of this town attracting a lululemon outlet or offering free public yoga, I will say that we have one very general sporting goods store--and most of it is guns and, inexplicably, kayaks.

Nony_Mouse wrote: »

Or, you could do yoga at home every day for free!! This is what I started out with, still going strong (and more flexible!) 5 months later .

Yes, this would of course be ideal, but I have tried and failed to do this for...going on three years now.

lishie_rebooted

Once is better than the zero I'm currently doing lol.

I don't like yoga, I find it boring.
but when I was doing it once a week, I felt better.
in fact, I'm supposed to be doing yoga today

SBRRepeat

cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »

(a) What app do you have? I'm really good with the myrtl exercises for hip girdle strength, but I'd love its stretching equivalent. I could see myself adding on 5-10 minutes of stretching to that. Right now I kind of aimlessly foam roll and give up after probably not long enough.

(b) It's $30 ($25 plus online processing) for the whole summer. Since my gym is free to me, I've always thought the class rate is a pretty good deal. To give you some idea of the chances of this town attracting a lululemon outlet or offering free public yoga, I will say that we have one very general sporting goods store--and most of it is guns and, inexplicably, kayaks.

A. I use Yoga Studio. I like it because it has such a huge range of practices- from meditation to strength to runners yoga and even has very advanced poses that I've been trying and failing to do since I started yoga five years ago.

B. LOL. I'm from rural Ohio, so I can relate. Apparently people hunt out of kayaks- I never knew this and I don't fully understand the logistics of it, but it's a thing in my neck of the woods.

snowflake954

I just started yoga 2 months ago. I go to a class 2x a week. I do stretching at home at least 3x a week, and thought I'd learn some new things to add. Instead I love it and manage to work it into my busy week. My class is called "Yoga Flex" and is Hatha yoga, so pretty simple. The first time I thought "these moves are so simple, and boring" but they made me feel great, so I keep going. Once I get these moves down, I want to try other yoga classes and see what I can learn. I would suggest going to your class to learn and give you incentive. Once you've got the routine down, you can decide if you want to do it at home. I would definitely do it. Best.

rileyes

MonsoonStorm wrote: »

rileyes wrote: »

Hips and Lower Back/Upper Glutes I practice simple leg raises for hip flexibility. Raise your leg straight and parallel to the floor and hold for 15 seconds. Do this to the front, side and back trying to raise it as high as you can while standing upright. Also raise your leg back and bend it so your heel faces the ceiling. You can pulse for an extra stretch. I do these every other day and I have remarkable increased flexibility.
Yoga I do a series of stretches before I roll out of bed.
You may want to check out the book "Becoming a Supple Leopard--the ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury and optimizing athletic performance"

Not exactly sure how this improves flexibility... you are only going as far as your muscles can take you so not really lengthening them at all, the limiting factor is the strength of your flexing muscles, not the stretch of the relaxed muscle.

Thank you. I will not be taking your opinion under consideration since the stretching and poses I perform daily work well for me. (Edit: works well as in strength and flexibility)

lulucitron

If you find yoga boring, you're doing the wrong type of class. It's anything but boring. Do a hot vinyasa flow class and you'll be cooked. Gets everything nice and stretched out too. I try to go at least twice a week.

mbaker566

30/class that's expensive. at least in my area

yoga can do a lot of things for you. but it's not for everyone. there are also different types of yoga that you could try. there are many apps and online videos for free but I would always recommend learning with an inperson teacher so you learn the proper alignment and don't hurt or strain anything.

yoga can help with strength and flexibility. it can also help detress.

1 a week can help, but if I could fit in going more often I would

DavPul

rileyes wrote: »

MonsoonStorm wrote: »

rileyes wrote: »

Hips and Lower Back/Upper Glutes I practice simple leg raises for hip flexibility. Raise your leg straight and parallel to the floor and hold for 15 seconds. Do this to the front, side and back trying to raise it as high as you can while standing upright. Also raise your leg back and bend it so your heel faces the ceiling. You can pulse for an extra stretch. I do these every other day and I have remarkable increased flexibility.
Yoga I do a series of stretches before I roll out of bed.
You may want to check out the book "Becoming a Supple Leopard--the ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury and optimizing athletic performance"

Not exactly sure how this improves flexibility... you are only going as far as your muscles can take you so not really lengthening them at all, the limiting factor is the strength of your flexing muscles, not the stretch of the relaxed muscle.

Thank you. I will not be taking your opinion under consideration since the stretching and poses I perform daily work well for me. (Edit: works well as in strength and flexibility)

Well, you'll still be wrong, but hey, you do you

rileyes

Mmm

lishie_rebooted

OP,
If you decide to go the DVD route, do NOT pick "Gaiam Athletic Yoga - Yoga for Runners"
It's not nearly as useful as I wanted it to be and I'm not even currently running.
It might be a good daily supplement (it's 20 min) but I definitely think a longer dedicated yoga routine needs to be run with that DVD...