Sep
24
The Yoga Workout
Filed Under Alternative Workouts, Exercise, Fitness, Work Out
My wife has been talking about working out for a while now. She’s had back issues that prevented her from doing weight and cardio workouts with me, but those have been getting better lately. She’s already physically active, walking a lot and riding horses, but she wanted a more structured workout that will exercise the whole body. She was looking into a variety of options with the following criteria:
- Convenient - Like me, she has a very busy schedule. The workout had to mesh with her life.
- Affordable - She didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars a month for a personal trainer and gym.
- Low Strain - She wanted to minimize the risk of injury or of aggravating her old back injuries.
- Interesting - She didn’t want something dull and boring.
- Social - She wanted to work out with someone.
So putting all that together, she came up with a yoga course offered at her company’s gym.
Yoga As A Workout
I’ve never tried yoga myself, but after she described it to me, I got curious enough to research it. Yoga is an ancient tradition originating from India. Unlike most Asian influenced workouts, yoga did not start out as a martial art. Instead, it used to be a form of meditation in which the body was moved through postures and poses to gain a better understanding of the world inside and outside. I’m not going to go into the metaphysical details of yoga since I’m not particularly interested in them and since this is a fitness blog, but if anyone is interested, here’s the Wikipedia article that gives a bit more detail.
What I was interested in was the physical aspect of yoga. Is it really a good workout? Is it more of a cardio workout or a resistance one? Is it just stretching? Well, the answers are going to be slightly different depending on the style of yoga you choose to practice, but for the most part yoga can be an excellent workout with its combination of stretching and resistance training.
Stretching and Posing = Workout
A typical yoga session consists of moving through a variety of postures very slowly and in a controlled manner. The postures themselves can be challenging, although a beginner’s yoga course is not going to ask you to do the splits. Because you move through the poses very slowly, you can actually get a great workout, almost like a weights workout but with very low weight.
Yoga is also excellent for teaching you control of you body and proper posture and form. Rather than quickly moving through exercises, yoga teaches you to slowly move each muscle using controlled gestures rather than jerky movement. You’ll definitely gain a better understanding of your body and how it works after a few yoga sessions. You might even gain some insight into how to properly exercise and maintain good form. In fact, after seeing a few yoga videos, I think most gym goers could benefit from a class or two.
Non physical benefits of yoga
Yoga was originally intended for meditation, and many people still find it relaxing. It’s also a social activity usually done with a group, so if you hate working out alone, you may wish to consider it.
Warning, Expenses Ahead
The only negative to yoga is the slightly higher than usual cost associated with most yoga classes. They’re typically more expensive than the usual gym membership, unless you can find a good deal like my wife did. There’s usually no equipment needed, but the yoga classes themselves can range from $5 to $20 a session.
Summary
If you can afford it, yoga is an excellent workout in addition to or instead of your usual weight lifting. It does not replace cardio but it’s a good form of stretching and resistance training. It won’t build big muscles, but it can tone up existing muscles while teaching you a lot you didn’t know before about your body.
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[...] Gal wrote a fantastic post today on “The Yoga Workout”Here’s ONLY a quick extractShe’s had back issues that prevented her from doing weight and cardio workouts with me, but those have been getting better lately. She’s already physically active, walking a lot and riding horses, but she wanted a more structured … [...]