Please argue benefits of lifting (v yoga) in my post :)

Options
2

Replies

  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
    Options
    Both...

    I am sooooo trying to fall in love with yoga...it would be so beneficial to be bendy...I wish I enjoyed it more so I COULD do them on my non-lift days after my runs.
  • DaniH826
    DaniH826 Posts: 1,335 Member
    Options
    I do yoga before I lift my barbells.

    I love both, and I have my yoga routine designed to support my lifting routine.

    You can get in serious shape with yoga and develop incredible strength, if you actually incorporate poses that make you support your own body weight in a meaningful way and therefore make you stronger over time.

    But because there's different branches and types of yoga, without knowing what you're actually doing, I have no idea how it's benefitting you in a meaningful way. For all I know you could be doing a few stretches and a downward dog, and call that "yoga", which it would still be, but there's obviously no equal comparison to lifting weights at that point.

    Having said that, in the argument about strength vs. flexibility: You need both.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    Options
    Here is an excellent, recent article on this subject that will answer your questions and help you understand what you are seeking to understand. Plenty others reading this would probably also benefit from reading it also.

    http://bretcontreras.com/how-yoga-can-compliment-weight-training/
  • brownvs
    brownvs Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    Super appreciate all the helpful and thought-provoking posts in this thread and would quote except that there isn't a great multi-quote feature in these forums.

    To answer a few questions:

    My goal is to not be tired all the time or get short of breath doing basic things like climbing up stairs. I suppose overall I just want to be the healthiest version of me.

    Perhaps the reason it seems like a dichotomy is because after I do yoga, I'm pretty well spent, esp my arm muscles, and I have a hard time believing I could ALSO conjure up the energy to lift weights that same day. I guess I could alternate days.

    I like feeling strong, too, as some of the previous posters said! Yoga helps me with that a little. Struggling to benchpress 25 lb in front of a bunch of huge muscular guys the South Beach/Miami area doesn't really make me feel that strong, somehow, haha ;-) I don't have any weightlifting equipment of my own (obviously).

    Seriously, keep the (kind) thoughts coming.
  • brownvs
    brownvs Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    Here is an excellent, recent article on this subject that will answer your questions and help you understand what you are seeking to understand. Plenty others reading this would probably also benefit from reading it also.

    http://bretcontreras.com/how-yoga-can-compliment-weight-training/

    Thank you (and to all the others I didn't quote, also thank you).
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    Options
    I agree that you should alternate yoga and weight lifting and take some full rest days (at least one, as a minimum per week). I would not do a full, hour long class of yoga and then lift weights immediately after, without a good couple hours break in between, unless it was an extremely gentle class. You can lift weights anywhere from 2 to 4 times a week, and allow days in between each session in which you do not lift weights.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    Options
    I just read on your profile that you are trying to heal a diastasis from pregnancy. Yoga and Pilates and The Tupler Technique by Julie Tupler (I have her maternal fitness book) are the best rehab for healing that. You need to make sure you heal that before you launch right into heavy lifting.

    Also, don't compare yourself to others. People will still be impressed by your strength when they see you lifting heavy for you. The men at the gym are impressed by me heavy lifting, even though I lift much less than they do, they can tell I am lifting heavy relative to my body size. And even if they don't, I don't care. I lift weights for myself, not for them.
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
    Options
    if you can't bench 25 lbs, you can't do sun salutation. You use the same muscles to go from plant to updog. At least I do. They compliment each other well.

    But you don't have to lift. Especially if you can do this:

    flyingcrow.jpg
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    Options
    Yoga has modifications that allows everyone from beginner to advanced to be able to do it and have continual room to progress.
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
    Options
    Yoga has modifications that allows everyone from beginner to advanced to be able to do it and have continual room to progress.

    Yeah I know. But I was explaining one way it may be beneficial to include lifting into it. You can go from 25 to 35 to 45 and find your sun salute getting better. That was my point.

    ETA: yeah looking at my post it looked like a snotty shot at someone. Sorry. I wasn't trying to be an *kitten*, but I see how I came off that way. Yoga is amazeballs and some folks who do it get super strong. But I could see lifting being a legitimate supplement or cross train for it.
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
    Options
    if you can't bench 25 lbs, you can't do sun salutation. You use the same muscles to go from plant to updog. At least I do. They compliment each other well.

    But you don't have to lift. Especially if you can do this:

    flyingcrow.jpg

    Good god, I want to be able to do this one day.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    Options
    Yoga has modifications that allows everyone from beginner to advanced to be able to do it and have continual room to progress.

    Yeah I know. But I was explaining one way it may be beneficial to include lifting into it. You can go from 25 to 35 to 45 and find your sun salute getting better. That was my point.

    ETA: yeah looking at my post it looked like a snotty shot at someone. Sorry. I wasn't trying to be an *kitten*, but I see how I came off that way. Yoga is amazeballs and some folks who do it get super strong. But I could see lifting being a legitimate supplement or cross train for it.

    Yeah, I understand! Good point!
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
    Options
    if you can't bench 25 lbs, you can't do sun salutation. You use the same muscles to go from plant to updog. At least I do. They compliment each other well.

    But you don't have to lift. Especially if you can do this:

    flyingcrow.jpg

    Good god, I want to be able to do this one day.

    I had a year long love affair with bakasana. Still do. Love bakasana.
  • mmddwechanged
    mmddwechanged Posts: 1,687 Member
    Options
    Yoga is an awesome exercise, sounds like you have already made up your mind:)

    There is no law that says you can' t change it later either!
  • yoginimary
    yoginimary Posts: 6,784 Member
    Options
    if you can't bench 25 lbs, you can't do sun salutation. You use the same muscles to go from plant to updog. At least I do. They compliment each other well.

    But you don't have to lift. Especially if you can do this:

    flyingcrow.jpg

    Ha, I don't have to lift. Thanks.
  • yoginimary
    yoginimary Posts: 6,784 Member
    Options
    Oh, to answer your question - do what you enjoy doing, you're more likely to stick with it.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Options
    But why? Won't yoga make me stronger too? :-/

    Yoga will make you stronger. But in your OP you also seemed to be concerned about muscle mass. Yoga will not help with your muscle mass. In fact, after a certain point you will stop getting stronger from yoga because your body will have adapted to doing what is required. Unless you're going to start doing extreme poses it will be more efficient to just start weight training.
  • nc805397
    nc805397 Posts: 223 Member
    Options
    i do BOTH!
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    Options
    I've been trying to do both, and the problem for me is over training. If I lift, and do my strenuous yoga sessions, I'm not taking the rest days that I need. Truthfully, I enjoy yoga a lot more than lifting. I do some yoga every day, and I want to do strenuous sessions at least twice a week.

    P.S. This link offers some advice for doing both.
    http://kregweiss.ca/2012/06/20/how-to-combine-yoga-and-weight-training/
  • bluebird321
    bluebird321 Posts: 732 Member
    Options
    Do both. I alternate between Bikram Yoga and kettlebells and it works well. I think yoga is good part of any program.

Categories