Yoga and Pilates: Is it exercise?
julebrus2020
Posts: 26 Member
I just had a friend tell me that unless I was lifting I wasn't doing anything. And sure, I'm not saying just do yoga, but not counting it at all?
0
Replies
-
Good for you! It really is quick and simple to home cook once you work a few meal plans out. I've got 4 kids and a husband to cook for as well but can rustle up a decent meal in half n hour. Keep at it and you will just do it without even thinking about it in future!
Frozen veg is a winner 👌 chopped and ready to just throwing a steamer at the right portion size for you 😉0 -
I totally agree. On Burger King and home made.
Thin cut pork loin chops and chicken tenders both cook very quickly. Frozen vegetables in the microwave. Dump precut lettuce and dressing in a bowl. Dinner’s done.
0 -
How did this happen? Mfp has really gone crazy!4
-
julebrus2020 wrote: »I just had a friend tell me that unless I was lifting I wasn't doing anything.
Spoken like a true resolutioner. One track minds are sometimes very good at their one track. Others are better at being well rounded and/or open-minded.
3 -
Yoga and pilates are exercise. Your friend is wrong. They won't accomplish the same thing as weight lifting or biking or running or swimming or anything else because every exercise is inherently different. But that doesn't mean they don't have value. Many people use yoga and/or pilates as their primary or only source of exercise and benefit from it. Do what works for you.6
-
Its reverse psychology. He's hoping you'll challenge him to go to yoga/pilates with you0
-
It doesn’t burn a ton of calories but my quads and glutes will tell you after yesterday’s class that it was definitely exercise, lol.2
-
If it involves moving your body then its exercise.2
-
Of course it is exercise. Your friend is narrow minded and I wouldn't think any more about what they said.1
-
julebrus2020 wrote: »I just had a friend tell me that unless I was lifting I wasn't doing anything. And sure, I'm not saying just do yoga, but not counting it at all?
Anything that involves being physically active is "exercise"0 -
I find it really helpful to keep everything moving, especially as I get older! It is harder than a lot of people assume.
You should challenge them to do it with you, if they say no it's because they're to chicken and can't hack it 😉2 -
My Pilates class is above a cycle centre, they sell and repair bikes, do training and have a physio on hand for advice, and there is a Pilates/judo space. Over the time I’ve been taking classes there I’ve been amazed at the number of serious cyclists who’ve turned up for a Pilates class on the advice of a trainer or physio and have ended the class shattered, most of them never come back because it’s too hard 😀4
-
Yoga and Pilates are absolutely exercise, and can also make you stronger. It won't burn as many calories as running or swimming for the same amount of time, and it may not build muscle as fast as heavy weightlifting, but they are still completely valid forms of exercise that can be wonderful to incorporate into your fitness.
I built the strength to do push ups by doing tons of chaturanga dandasana in yoga.
Also, it's fun to make someone who only does weightlifting try a Pilates class and watch how sore they are the next day.4 -
I find that yoga improves my flexibility and balance. Having known all four of my grandparents into their 80s (1) and 90s (3), I know that balance issues are potentially in my genes and I'd like to avoid them! Because losing your balance can mean falling, broken bones, hospitalization, etc., when you are that old, so maybe by doing some work in my 40s and being consistent about it, I can help prevent some future problems.
I like kundalini yoga, which is a bit different from the hatha yoga that most people know, and involves a lot of repetitive motions. It never leaves me out of breath and never makes me sweat but it's not static, either, and sometimes is a better way (for me, anyway) to get my creaky joints moving in the morning, than just doing a forward bend or something.1 -
Yes! I agree with @DanyellMcGinnis... I do Classical Stretch (TaiChi based I believe) not for the calorie burn, but the balance and flexibility benefits, and there is quite a bit of strength gained as well. I recommended it to a friend who thought it was a bit of a joke, until the next day
Never have my feet be sore, as in muscle sore in a good way, as when I started it! Her goal is to give your body a firm foundation for a long and healthy life... to keep the joints limber, and overall body able to move and function for many many years. 0 -
it is exercise, how intense is up to you and your classes.
it also can help preserve your flexibility which is sometimes lost with lifting.
2 -
@corinasue1143 It's my fault. I had a question and a long rant an then posted the rant where I was supposed to post the question. I thought I had done a quick ninja edit, since I didn't find a way to delete and I'm not sure how strict the site is on posting in the wrong place. But I obviously wasn't quick enough. So, my fault.0
-
Exercise, yes, but sub optimal for changing body composition.
It's best for mobility, but not that great for body composition.1 -
If your heart rate is elevated, you are exercising on some level, maybe not very intensely, but you are still exercising. Respiration rate is also a good indicator.0
-
liftingbro wrote: »Exercise, yes, but sub optimal for changing body composition.
It's best for mobility, but not that great for body composition.
Beg to disagree, Bro. You go to any yoga studio and check out body composition- men and women practitioners alike. Some of the guys in my classes are crazy buff. It’s like any form of exercise- you get out of it what you put into it.
I record my Pilates and yoga classes with my Apple Watch for calories burned because that’s where I rack up my exercise calories. I don’t bother when weight training, because it’s so stop and go. I do that for fun, and to challenge myself.
For me it’s the reverse. I do the weights to build strength for the yoga, instead of the other way round.
6 -
You can't argue science "bro", science has clearly shown that lifting weights, by far, affects body composition more than any other type of exercise. It doesn't mean you can't get results with yoga or that you don't get tired or your heart rate doesn't stay up. It simply means that it's not going to build as much muscle or help you retain muscle as much as lifting does.
If you are in a caloric deficit and do just yoga, you're going to lose significantly more muscle than if you had don't compound lifts.
There have been literally hundreds of studies on this at this point.
Like I said, not that you can't improve body composition with yoga, it's just suboptimal.0 -
liftingbro wrote: »You can't argue science "bro", science has clearly shown that lifting weights, by far, affects body composition more than any other type of exercise. It doesn't mean you can't get results with yoga or that you don't get tired or your heart rate doesn't stay up. It simply means that it's not going to build as much muscle or help you retain muscle as much as lifting does.
If you are in a caloric deficit and do just yoga, you're going to lose significantly more muscle than if you had don't compound lifts.
There have been literally hundreds of studies on this at this point.
Like I said, not that you can't improve body composition with yoga, it's just suboptimal.
n=1
i don't lift weights. i lift me (yoga). i am the weights.
i was soft and had no muscle.
now, i'm less soft and have muscle6 -
liftingbro wrote: »You can't argue science "bro", science has clearly shown that lifting weights, by far, affects body composition more than any other type of exercise. It doesn't mean you can't get results with yoga or that you don't get tired or your heart rate doesn't stay up. It simply means that it's not going to build as much muscle or help you retain muscle as much as lifting does.
If you are in a caloric deficit and do just yoga, you're going to lose significantly more muscle than if you had don't compound lifts.
There have been literally hundreds of studies on this at this point.
Like I said, not that you can't improve body composition with yoga, it's just suboptimal.
n=1
i don't lift weights. i lift me (yoga). i am the weights.
i was soft and had no muscle.
now, i'm less soft and have muscle
Again, read what I wrote. I never said you can't get in better shape with yoga. I said it's sub-optimal, meaning it's not the best way to go about it from a physiological point of view. That's 100% proven by science at this point, can't really be disputed. Now if you don't like lifting weights then yoga is an alternative but you will not cause hypertrophy and strength games the same way as people who lift do. In fact, old fashion calisthenics is more efficient in building muscle and strength than yoga but yoga is the mobility king, no doubt.
The hierarchy for building muscle and strength are as follows:
#1-Barbell compound lifts
#2-Machines/Kettlebells/dumbells
#3-Calisthenics
#4-Yoga
You could make an argument that advanced yoga could be up there with calisthenics but that's as far as it goes.
This doesn't mean you can't build muscle or get fit with yoga, it just means that you value mobility more.
Here's one study that shows that even basic calisthenics performs better to improve leg strength than yoga:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327251900_Effects_of_8-Week_Home-Based_Yoga_and_Resistance_Training_on_Muscle_Strength_Functional_Capacity_and_Balance_in_Patients_with_Multiple_Sclerosis_A_Randomized_Controlled_Study0 -
I teach yoga and can tell you it is definitely a form of exercise. However, if weight loss and changing your body composition is your goal, it is best to complement a yoga and/or pilates practice with a variety of strength training programs -- bodyweight, dumbbell or barbell workouts will all build strength. If you are looking for calorie burn, you've got to get your heart rate up -- HIIT training is excellent for that (and it doesn't have to last long to be effective). If you want to change your body composition and/or shape, you have to use significant resistance to push the muscle -- it takes a lot of effort to significantly change your shape. But....you can get great tone and firm things up with a less intense strength training program.1
-
paulaturse wrote: »I teach yoga and can tell you it is definitely a form of exercise. However, if weight loss and changing your body composition is your goal, it is best to complement a yoga and/or pilates practice with a variety of strength training programs -- bodyweight, dumbbell or barbell workouts will all build strength. If you are looking for calorie burn, you've got to get your heart rate up -- HIIT training is excellent for that (and it doesn't have to last long to be effective). If you want to change your body composition and/or shape, you have to use significant resistance to push the muscle -- it takes a lot of effort to significantly change your shape. But....you can get great tone and firm things up with a less intense strength training program.
Exactly! Good advice here.1 -
liftingbro wrote: »liftingbro wrote: »You can't argue science "bro", science has clearly shown that lifting weights, by far, affects body composition more than any other type of exercise. It doesn't mean you can't get results with yoga or that you don't get tired or your heart rate doesn't stay up. It simply means that it's not going to build as much muscle or help you retain muscle as much as lifting does.
If you are in a caloric deficit and do just yoga, you're going to lose significantly more muscle than if you had don't compound lifts.
There have been literally hundreds of studies on this at this point.
Like I said, not that you can't improve body composition with yoga, it's just suboptimal.
n=1
i don't lift weights. i lift me (yoga). i am the weights.
i was soft and had no muscle.
now, i'm less soft and have muscle
Again, read what I wrote. I never said you can't get in better shape with yoga. I said it's sub-optimal, meaning it's not the best way to go about it from a physiological point of view. That's 100% proven by science at this point, can't really be disputed. Now if you don't like lifting weights then yoga is an alternative but you will not cause hypertrophy and strength games the same way as people who lift do. In fact, old fashion calisthenics is more efficient in building muscle and strength than yoga but yoga is the mobility king, no doubt.
The hierarchy for building muscle and strength are as follows:
#1-Barbell compound lifts
#2-Machines/Kettlebells/dumbells
#3-Calisthenics
#4-Yoga
You could make an argument that advanced yoga could be up there with calisthenics but that's as far as it goes.
This doesn't mean you can't build muscle or get fit with yoga, it just means that you value mobility more.
Here's one study that shows that even basic calisthenics performs better to improve leg strength than yoga:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327251900_Effects_of_8-Week_Home-Based_Yoga_and_Resistance_Training_on_Muscle_Strength_Functional_Capacity_and_Balance_in_Patients_with_Multiple_Sclerosis_A_Randomized_Controlled_Study
I would not be shocked if pilates were to rank above calisthenics with regards to strength, especially abdominal strength. Regardless of your list, both yoga and pilates are forms of exercise.1 -
liftingbro wrote: »liftingbro wrote: »You can't argue science "bro", science has clearly shown that lifting weights, by far, affects body composition more than any other type of exercise. It doesn't mean you can't get results with yoga or that you don't get tired or your heart rate doesn't stay up. It simply means that it's not going to build as much muscle or help you retain muscle as much as lifting does.
If you are in a caloric deficit and do just yoga, you're going to lose significantly more muscle than if you had don't compound lifts.
There have been literally hundreds of studies on this at this point.
Like I said, not that you can't improve body composition with yoga, it's just suboptimal.
n=1
i don't lift weights. i lift me (yoga). i am the weights.
i was soft and had no muscle.
now, i'm less soft and have muscle
Again, read what I wrote. I never said you can't get in better shape with yoga. I said it's sub-optimal, meaning it's not the best way to go about it from a physiological point of view. That's 100% proven by science at this point, can't really be disputed. Now if you don't like lifting weights then yoga is an alternative but you will not cause hypertrophy and strength games the same way as people who lift do. In fact, old fashion calisthenics is more efficient in building muscle and strength than yoga but yoga is the mobility king, no doubt.
The hierarchy for building muscle and strength are as follows:
#1-Barbell compound lifts
#2-Machines/Kettlebells/dumbells
#3-Calisthenics
#4-Yoga
You could make an argument that advanced yoga could be up there with calisthenics but that's as far as it goes.
This doesn't mean you can't build muscle or get fit with yoga, it just means that you value mobility more.
Here's one study that shows that even basic calisthenics performs better to improve leg strength than yoga:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327251900_Effects_of_8-Week_Home-Based_Yoga_and_Resistance_Training_on_Muscle_Strength_Functional_Capacity_and_Balance_in_Patients_with_Multiple_Sclerosis_A_Randomized_Controlled_Study
I would not be shocked if pilates were to rank above calisthenics with regards to strength, especially abdominal strength. Regardless of your list, both yoga and pilates are forms of exercise.
Never said they weren't exercise. My whole point is not as effective as lifting weights for building/maintaining muscle mass thus sub optimal for changing body composition. Sub optimal doesn't mean ineffective. I would say yoga and pilates are along the same lines for core strength as calisthenics but not in upper and lower body or overall strength.
I'm not knocking yoga, I actually use it quite often to help with joint mobility and for clients that are starting at a very low level fitness and are intimidated by barbell exercises. You gotta meet people where they are when it comes to training. There is no type of exercise that isn't helpful depending on the circumstances.
0 -
liftingbro wrote: »liftingbro wrote: »You can't argue science "bro", science has clearly shown that lifting weights, by far, affects body composition more than any other type of exercise. It doesn't mean you can't get results with yoga or that you don't get tired or your heart rate doesn't stay up. It simply means that it's not going to build as much muscle or help you retain muscle as much as lifting does.
If you are in a caloric deficit and do just yoga, you're going to lose significantly more muscle than if you had don't compound lifts.
There have been literally hundreds of studies on this at this point.
Like I said, not that you can't improve body composition with yoga, it's just suboptimal.
n=1
i don't lift weights. i lift me (yoga). i am the weights.
i was soft and had no muscle.
now, i'm less soft and have muscle
Again, read what I wrote. I never said you can't get in better shape with yoga. I said it's sub-optimal, meaning it's not the best way to go about it from a physiological point of view. That's 100% proven by science at this point, can't really be disputed. Now if you don't like lifting weights then yoga is an alternative but you will not cause hypertrophy and strength games the same way as people who lift do. In fact, old fashion calisthenics is more efficient in building muscle and strength than yoga but yoga is the mobility king, no doubt.
The hierarchy for building muscle and strength are as follows:
#1-Barbell compound lifts
#2-Machines/Kettlebells/dumbells
#3-Calisthenics
#4-Yoga
You could make an argument that advanced yoga could be up there with calisthenics but that's as far as it goes.
This doesn't mean you can't build muscle or get fit with yoga, it just means that you value mobility more.
Here's one study that shows that even basic calisthenics performs better to improve leg strength than yoga:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327251900_Effects_of_8-Week_Home-Based_Yoga_and_Resistance_Training_on_Muscle_Strength_Functional_Capacity_and_Balance_in_Patients_with_Multiple_Sclerosis_A_Randomized_Controlled_Study
i question the validity of your statement and want the evidence
one study based on a limited population(MS) does not make it 100% proven. there are so many varieties of yoga. hatha is not calisthenics and it was poor comparison... there are so many levels of MS too. and yoga can include resistance training. this study was so very very limited.
i don't think you are familiar with vinyasa and/or power yoga. which can be as basic or advanced as you want
i don't value mobility more. i hated picking up heavy inanimate objects and putting them down again. i did enjoy bodyweight exercises. convict training, ybyg, power, vinyasa, trx...
as far as the list
yoga-what kind? it's like just saying cardio. what kind? it's meaningless by being so broad.3 -
Absolutely! I do hot power yoga multiple times a week and it is a killer workout for me. I am always sore afterwards
0 -
liftingbro wrote: »liftingbro wrote: »You can't argue science "bro", science has clearly shown that lifting weights, by far, affects body composition more than any other type of exercise. It doesn't mean you can't get results with yoga or that you don't get tired or your heart rate doesn't stay up. It simply means that it's not going to build as much muscle or help you retain muscle as much as lifting does.
If you are in a caloric deficit and do just yoga, you're going to lose significantly more muscle than if you had don't compound lifts.
There have been literally hundreds of studies on this at this point.
Like I said, not that you can't improve body composition with yoga, it's just suboptimal.
n=1
i don't lift weights. i lift me (yoga). i am the weights.
i was soft and had no muscle.
now, i'm less soft and have muscle
Again, read what I wrote. I never said you can't get in better shape with yoga. I said it's sub-optimal, meaning it's not the best way to go about it from a physiological point of view. That's 100% proven by science at this point, can't really be disputed. Now if you don't like lifting weights then yoga is an alternative but you will not cause hypertrophy and strength games the same way as people who lift do. In fact, old fashion calisthenics is more efficient in building muscle and strength than yoga but yoga is the mobility king, no doubt.
The hierarchy for building muscle and strength are as follows:
#1-Barbell compound lifts
#2-Machines/Kettlebells/dumbells
#3-Calisthenics
#4-Yoga
You could make an argument that advanced yoga could be up there with calisthenics but that's as far as it goes.
This doesn't mean you can't build muscle or get fit with yoga, it just means that you value mobility more.
Here's one study that shows that even basic calisthenics performs better to improve leg strength than yoga:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327251900_Effects_of_8-Week_Home-Based_Yoga_and_Resistance_Training_on_Muscle_Strength_Functional_Capacity_and_Balance_in_Patients_with_Multiple_Sclerosis_A_Randomized_Controlled_Study
i question the validity of your statement and want the evidence
one study based on a limited population(MS) does not make it 100% proven. there are so many varieties of yoga. hatha is not calisthenics and it was poor comparison... there are so many levels of MS too. and yoga can include resistance training. this study was so very very limited.
i don't think you are familiar with vinyasa and/or power yoga. which can be as basic or advanced as you want
i don't value mobility more. i hated picking up heavy inanimate objects and putting them down again. i did enjoy bodyweight exercises. convict training, ybyg, power, vinyasa, trx...
as far as the list
yoga-what kind? it's like just saying cardio. what kind? it's meaningless by being so broad.
OK, simple test of logic. Have you every seen anyone that only practice yoga win a weight lifting competition or a bodybuilding competition?
I'm familiar with all the popular versions of Yoga but there is zero argument that yoga is as effective as barbell training for strength and building muscle. If you think that you have zero understanding of how exercise physiology works.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 426 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions