Hot answers tagged yoga
12
Work on strengthening your core muscles and back. Arm strength won't help you much if your core starts tipping over. You need to push yourself up with you core and lower back and hold it there.
One way to work on balance is to spread your weight by separating your legs and feet outwards (like a center split) when you hold your lower body up. It's a similar ...
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Purely a 'by experience' answer here, having tried both:
Advantages of a thinner mat:
More sturdy foundation for balancing
Far less bulky when rolled up for transport/storage
Dries quicker from sweat/moisture (especially important in Bikram)
Advantages of a thicker mat:
Knee cushioning when kneeling
Tops of the feet cushioning when sitting on your ...
6
From what you're describing, it sounds like a "Jump Through". A Jump Through involves starting in the Downward Dog position and pivoting your body on your shoulders until you reach the Staff position. Doing this transition in reverse is called a Jump Back. Here's a YouTube video that has a pretty nice example of both transitions.
So, in order to perform ...
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Yes, yoga and bodybuilding can be done on the same day. Yoga is a specific form of low-intensity exercise and its benefits are thought to arise from the exercise component as well as stress reduction. Unless your bodybuilding session is so intense that you can barely move, I don't see why you shouldn't do Yoga. Since Yoga exercises are generally of low ...
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In the book The Science of Yoga, William Broad discusses this in detail. My summary: for measures of cardiovascular fitness, Yoga is inferior to aerobic exercise. Indeed a small study of Yoga instructors (who do enormous amounts of yoga) found them to be roughly equivalent in measures of cardiovascular health (VO2 Max, etc) to someone who jogs 3-4 hours ...
5
The primary benefits yoga boasts over weight training and cardio work are:
Flexibility of the muscles
Mobility of the joints
Strength across entire ranges of motion - for instance, the shoulder is taken through its entire ROM during an up-dog/down-dog series
Some people find it to be a path for spiritual development. I find that heavy squats can fill that ...
4
Look for the p90x yoga, ok it's a big package with everything (kenpo, abs, weight training) but the yoga dvd is really nice; no spiritualism: only poses (and hard one)
It's a bit pricy but it's a good buy
The other solution would be to look poses on the internet and time yourself for every poses, no need of a dvd.
4
These things take time, don't worry about it. If you are consistent you will see results, but plan to evaluate at least every few months, not weeks.
If you have difficulty maintaining your motivation, join a class, that really helps a lot. You don't want to give up on holding that position when the person next to you is still doing it (even though they are ...
4
Two weeks isn't adequate time to make a determination if you're not in good shape to start. You will improve if you are following the directions properly. Just don't give up, and stick with it.
From your question, it sounds like you're probably also doing this at home via multiple sources, media, or routines. Pick ONE, and stick with that one. Don't try to ...
4
The thickness of your yoga mat has a lot to do with how comfortable it is — too thin, and your knee may get banged up during crescent lunge. The tradeoff is that thick yoga mats (some as thick as 1/4 inch) can make it harder for you to feel a strong connection to the floor, making you more wobbly. Otherwise, it really just depends on whether you want a bulky ...
3
Here's a reasonably good set of beginning advice: webmd. I'd say there likely aren't any exercises which will be specifically good for the third lumbar vertebra, but building up strength in that area should generally help.
Especially given that you're underweight, building strength/increasing muscle mass is likely to be helpful. I'd recommend crunches, ...
3
Basic Beginner Lifting
If I were new to weight training and doing yoga (or almost anything) four times a week, I'd either:
A) Reduce the yoga (or sport, or hiking, or whatever) to three times a week and weight train twice a week for a while, focusing on achieving a basic standard of strength (see footnote)
B) Keep doing yoga four times a week and strength ...
3
You're right that flexibility is one of the major benefits - this is because yoga helps you stretch your muscles in a safe way and increase the range of motion in your joints. Stretching helps release the lactic acid that builds up in your muscles, which can relieve stiffness and fatigue.
Additionally, holding many of the poses requires you to engage your ...
3
Flexibility is as you say the clearest physical benefit - but not the only one. Try a few sessions and you should quickly see for yourself that just being cardio and strength fit doesn't mean that Yoga is going to be easy. What do you have to lose by trying?
As a side note, the benefits of yoga extend beyond just the physical. It is a great form of ...
3
Looking at the two poses you can see that in the first pose, bound angle pose, the hip goes into flexion, abduction and external rotation.
In the second pose, the hip is flexed and abducted, but appears to be in neutral rotation.
So it would seem that the key to your difficulty with the first pose and not the second is the inability to externally rotate ...
3
If a physical exercise program is what you want: what about "Pilates"? (DVD Sample I haven't tried it myself)
Do you also want develop mindfulness but without any far-eastern "religiousness"?
Do you want to get rid even of the "breathing part" of yoga? Then be warned: Breathing also seems to play a large role in Pilates.
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Terminology might depend on where you are. There isn't really any such thing as "regular yoga". I do know that in the US, many people associate "yoga" with hatha yoga, which usually means that the focus is on the building blocks of poses and on stretching-type poses.
Power yoga, on the other hand, is a vinyasa- or ashtanga-style, flow yoga; power yogis move ...
3
Power Yoga moves more quickly than regular Yoga, and as such gives more cardio output. In regular Yoga, the focus is on holding the post, but the focus in Power Yoga is on the movement.
This article gives a brief summary of the differences between various types of yoga.
If you're looking for a good online source to learn Power Yoga, check out the series ...
3
I would say you could start with some balance poses to help your body adjust to supporting your body weight while in different positions. You could also try Hatha yoga which is generally a slower paced yoga which can help you to adjust to the poses and get comfortable with them before moving on to faster paced yoga routines like power yoga, vinyasa or ...
2
Others have already covered the important ground of whether yoga can be paired with working out, but I'd make some suggestions on the ordering. Many people under-estimate the amount of "work" that can be involved in a number of yoga poses, particularly holds. I've found personally that specific muscles are often too weak for a robust well-rounded session of ...
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From my understanding, it is best to partake in static stretching after your workout and seeing that Yoga (generally speaking) is pretty much static stretching there should be no harm.
Harm can come from doing static stretching before your workout, especially for lower-body exercises. It is recommended before workouts to do some dynamic stretching (lunges ...
2
I think if there were one exercise you would want to do to relieve lumbar discomfort it would be the reverse hyper-extension. This exercise gently stretches the lower lumbar. There aren't many other ways for the spine to stretch under decompression.
I've heard a lot testimonials of people who have saved their backs (recovered from broken backs, bulging ...
2
Side Plank - To save your wrists you can brace yourself on your elbow and forearm, rather than on your hand.
Yoga - Given your lax or unstable joints, I would take a private lesson from a good yoga instructor to get modifications and to improve your alignments. Ask for postures or asanas that emphasize stability of the shoulder blade and strengthen the ...
2
First of all yoga is not a physical exercise. What people call Yoga in the west is actually called HathaYoga which deals with the body. HathaYoga involves the whole body system including the breath. If you do it only as a pose, it gives only the benefits what a normal strech will give you. Yoga is powerful and it will do miracles only with that spiritual ...
2
Will this routine help me reach my goal?
Yes. They'll help you reach toward your goal, but whether you will reach your goal with them in a time acceptable to you is impossible for anyone here to say. As someone mentioned, it all depends on how far you are from your goal and how vigorously you do these.
and are there any things to be avoided i.e ...
1
First of all, info on your current body fat percentage would be usefull, but I can give you some pointers even without it.
You were doing mostly cardio/high reps. While this could be usefull for weight loss, youre saying you already are lean. If so, you should be doing strength training. If you need to lose some more fat, it will help you doing so without ...
1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfvd8ZgU8rw
I turned up this on a search for "Yoga for Beginners" on YouTube.
It's good instruction for the sequence in "Flow" or "Vinyasa" classes. I'm not a huge fan of the spirituatl aspects (although I really do like pranayama classes), and there's nothing in there that annoyed me.
There are some longer yoga videos on ...
1
I started with yoga at SATS, one of the local Swedish gym chains. Their approach is focused on the physical part of yoga, they have their own branded style "SATS Yoga". For me, that was a good choice. Just for experimentation, I have tried other, more spiritual forms but it was not for me.
I put my own routine in place based on the SATS yoga and exercises ...
1
Its not so much about the style, but a lot of classes have a lot of fit young women, so you need to find one where you "fit in", preferably a dedicated beginners class.
(If the teacher is old female, the students are more likely to be old)
An Ingyear teacher will usually adapt the program well to your level.
I will recommend against Astanga (for unfit ...
1
Yes!! I have done cardio, weight training followed by Yoga in the same session. I must say it feels great to finish off the workout routine by Yoga stretches and I feel much rejuvenated afterwards. I basically do Surya Namaskar to finish the routine and it really helps to stretch the muscles and give some relaxation after strenuous workout.
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