Yoga.... Seriously?

AliciaBeth78

Last year I bought P90X just before I realized that I suck at working out at home, I have no motivation and just cant/ don't want to do it! I'd rather be at a gym, lifting and doing cardio and being extra motivated by the hot boys that are working out at the same time!

So yesterday I had a huge workout and since I am meeting with my trainer tomorrow I decided to keep things light tonight and try YogaX for the first time.

For 72 minutes (I know I skipped the last 20 after getting super annoyed!), I kept thinking "WOW! You can't be serious!?!?!" In 72 minutes I burned 213 calories and didn't even break a sweat????

Please tell me that yoga is beneficial in some way and that I didn't just waste 72 minutes of my life????

meshashesha2012

i use it for recovery from my lifting and for staying flexible.

Leiki

Lol, I love you right now. I thought I was the only one who didn't like yoga. I know it's supposed to be good for you, because you are working on specific muscles, and it is supposed to tone you like crazy, but I get so bored, and I would rather do weights o.O I can see why people might do yoga on their rest days, to help their muscles recover, but I can't stand that people do yoga for over 15 mins. It just gets me bored, lol.

AliciaBeth78

hahaha, I am so glad I'm not the only one! For the entire 72 minutes I was staring at the time thinking "OMG, please tell me this thing is almost finished!" Yaaaa, like I said, I couldn't even make it through the entire dvd! It was sooooooo boring!

Spanaval

It is very useful. Great for strength, flexibility, balance, and stress relief. I love yoga. In a lot of ways, I find it to be more of a challenge than traditional strength training or cardio. It is very hard to be mindful and super conscious of what I'm doing while doing yoga. A good teacher is super important, however.

ReneeElizabeth26

I feel ya on this one. Now I did start doing p90x and I LOVE it but I HATE yoga. I bear through 30 minutes of it then go on a long 60 - 90 minute walk...Not my style at all

AliciaBeth78

Maybe my problem is that I just don't "get it?" It seems like you stretch uncomfortably and hold for 30 seconds while breathing... oh wait, can't I do that on my own and call it stretching????

Spanaval

Stretches should not be uncomfortable. You have to go where your mind and body allows you to go on a particular day. Holding the position requires a lot of strength, flexibility or balance, sometimes all three. You are working your body, just in a way that you don't in other ways, and engaging your mind in ways you otherwise don't. All that said, yoga is not for everyone.

IveLanded

TAKE A CLASS!!!

I felt the same way until I started taking real life classes. Different types of yoga are different, too. I take a vinyasa flow class which is pretty rapid changing between poses and it REALLY gets your heart rate up and gets you sweaty! I super love it, and I hated yoga when I first tried it on videos at home.

Punktorian

I got frustrated as hell when I first started it. A lot of the stuff is really solid, a lot that is individually used even by top athletes including power lifters and strongmen. You don't burn a lot of calories but it kind of brings everything else together and fills in the gaps.

If you really don't like the way it is set up I don't see any reason not to just take the stretches you feel are most beneficial to you and shorten it.

koolmum

Yoga is the only workout I have ever done.




Just kidding! I love my yoga. I do it at least once a week and call it my rest day. It's definately not for everyone and, in my opinion, the instructor makes all the difference. It has helped me with my range of motion in most of my lifts and has cut down on my massage therapy and ART bills.

nyspotlight

I've never done the one on p90x, but if you wanna experience a WORKOUT from yoga try a power yoga class. It'll kill you.

I've definitely been to classes where I was like WTF am I doing here? This is boring and I'm not working out! But power yoga keeps me distracted with all the vinyasas in-between.

And an hour is plenty for me. I'll do the 90 minutes if, like, 20 of them is me lying on the floor (10 at the beginning, 10 at end). 90 seems excessive to me - like I'm killing my day.

swisspea

Yoga is definitely not for everyone, and it's ok if it's not for you!

I've been doing yoga for a few years, and I really love it. At first I did it because I was recovering from an injury and needed to go at my own pace, and keep everything low-impact. Sometimes when I do yoga, I can definitely break a sweat! My favourite part of yoga is how calm I feel afterwards, but also attempting to do really crazy poses! Whenever I try a new routine or new class, I spend most of the time laughing to myself at the ridiculous positions I'm getting my body into. It's also incredibly satisfying to finally "get" a pose, after slowly working on a muscle group over and over again.

I suggest that if you want to try it more, take a power yoga or ashtanga class, and I guarantee that you will break a sweat! Don't do Bikram (hot yoga) till you've tried regular temperature yoga classes first though.

Maybe my problem is that I just don't "get it?" It seems like you stretch uncomfortably and hold for 30 seconds while breathing... oh wait, can't I do that on my own and call it stretching????

madamepsychosis

I do a 75 minute yoga class twice a week, but for flexibility and restorative purposes, not for the same reasons I do, say, jogging. I would personally always suggest that novices take a class, as the instructor can then be aware of any injuries you might have and help correct your form in poses. A good instructor can really make all the difference.

BerryH

Assuming you used a HRM for the burn, you probably actually did a lot more work that you think. HRMs are really only accurate with an elevated heart rate, like cardio, and don't properly record day-to-day activities, weight training and exercise like yoga. Be assured you're strengthening your muscles in a different way to weight training, improving your flexibility and calming your mind - unless you're stressing about calories, of course!

bluefox9er

If you want to burn calories, yoga is not for you.

Huffdogg

It really depends on what you mean by "waste of time." Yoga is good for developing endurance-type strength (isometric activity most of the time) and promotes excellent joint mobility, muscle flexibility, and similar benefits that are good to have for serious weight training.

That having been said...I have heard that the P90X Yoga is terrible. YMMV

_HeathBar_

The P90X Yoga is horrible.

It's ridiculously long, and you do a million of those vinyasa things that kill my wrists. If you want to do Yoga find a different DVD. If you want to burn calories, do CardioX or an Insanity workout instead of P90X's yoga.

Sl1ghtly

Excersize is not about the amount of calories burned. It's about becoming better faster stronger.

The 70 minutes weren't wasted.

kalynn06

Yoga is one of those things that I either love or hate. I love gentle yoga for 30 minutes or so on my rest days or after a walk or when I can't sleep. Sometimes, I like more challenging yoga, but I don't have the patience for classes that are over 45 minutes or so. I hated the P90X Yoga. I know Tony claims it's the most important tape in the series, but it's awful. I have wrist issues, and it seemed like torture to me. If I were going to do P90X , I would probably sub some cardio for it and add a short yoga practice to the end for balance and flexibility or take a yoga class.

bubblicious84

The YogaX is actually my favorite workout aside from KenpoX! I may not be as happy about it during some parts of it, (maybe even hating Tony at some points lol) but the way my body feel afterward is so amazing. Yoga really helps with all aspects of training. I'm doing a round of Insanity right now, and I will usually try to do Yoga on my recovery and/or off day. For me, I find it really helps loosen me up more since there's so much plyo in Insanity and my hip flexors get to feeling a bit tight, and it really helps me get deeper in my squats and jumps.

If you hate the YogaX that much, maybe look around for some shorter videos that have specific stretches geared toward athletes.

david_swinstead

Yoga is just stretching for middle-class people.

david_swinstead

Don't forget your half time snack in the middle of your "workout": cous-cous and lentils.

dane11235813

Don't forget your half time snack in the middle of your "workout": cous-cous and lentils.

don't quit your day job Jerry Seinfeld. :huh:

TKHappy

I agree...some people love it, some people hate it! You really just have to find what works best for you! I do Yoga once a week for about 60 mins, I do it more for the relaxation and stretching then the calorie burn....by the time I end a week of working out I'm extremely tight, I stretch throughout the week but that 60 mins gives me the stretch I really need. Hot Yoga though definitely burns some calories and is the best by far!

LorinaLynn

I don't have a yoga personality. Maybe 10-15 minutes worth for a good stretch, but I'm more of "Hulk SMASH!" kind of girl. I need to get aggression out when I exercise.

JennaM222

I don'y enjoy plain old Yoga..

BUT..

I LOVE hot Yoga Sculpt. It is a mix of body pump ( weights ) and Yoga in a hot room, or Humidity room. LOVE it.

But yes, the plain find your inner self crap isnt for me.

LooseWheel

Firstly great stuff giving the P90X a go matey! Wow, hubby did that one and I was impressed with how he stuck with such long workouts. He lost 23 kgs doing it though, so there is good that comes from this harder workout. he has also maintained his weight for the last 4 months. Even better!

I wasn't able to start out so hard on that program, I just wasn't fit enough to last long enough. So I started the 'Power 90' program and its fantastic for beginners. The cardio, abs, yoga and strength mix up is fantastic and enough to cope with time wise due to being a mum.

Stick with things its worth the results in the end. The benefits to gaining flexibility is huge from yoga. If its too much, you wont want to stick with it, so go for the started/shorter beginner progam 'power 90' maybe. See how you go.

Best of luck with your fitness journey. It'll only last if you enjoy doing it though! Good on you for giving it a try hey

Spanaval

I would quite honestly NEVER do yoga where the instructor is an exercise guru of some sort (like Jillian or Bob or Tony). In order for yoga to be taught correctly, it must be taught by practitioners with years of experience under their belt.