Hot answers tagged yoga
6
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 ...
5
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 ...
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
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
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, ...
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
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
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 ...
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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