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I have been working out for the past 6 months and realised that I need to incorporate a change in my workout routine to avoid boredom creeping in. I started alternating between yoga and strength from this week onwards and it does feel good. I feel there is a difference in my strength and flexibility after I started doing Yoga and the is helping me in my strength training as well. However, its too early to come to a conclusion.

My question is: Is it a good idea to alternate between yoga and strength training?

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    We would need to know what are you trying to achieve by training, how often do you do strength and yoga training and what exercises (sets, reps, weights and rest times) are you doing. Please include that info in your question to get a high quality answer. As a fast note, proper addition of yoga can be beneficial.
    – K.L.
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 7:44
  • I've been doing this too and it seems to work well (2 yoga days, 3 strength days). I don't have any scientific evidence, though.
    – Evan
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 19:59

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Alternate, probably not, but that all depends on what your goals are. If you want to be strong powerlifter, you want to be lifting almost all the time. If you just want to keep fit and like a change, sure stop lifting for a week and just do yoga then switch back. its your body and routine.

However, this isn't to say Yoga isn't a great supplement to most activities. If you ignore the dubious spiritual claims, yoga is basically intense active stretching, and helps improve your flexibility and strength especially when the muscles are at their longest.

Do you want more depth in your squats and more strength when you get deep in the hole? Do you want more stability when performing overhead squats or presses?

If so, maybe give yoga a go, and see if you can do a session or two a week on your non-lifting days and see if it helps your lifts.

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I know a few weightlifters that also do yoga once or twice a week. Because the sport requires such a high level of flexibility yoga is often a great complement to a weightlifting program.

However, I will +1 what Lego Stormtroopr said in his answer. If you want to be good at something, that something needs to be your focus. I will add that in a sport that is a notoriously boring, keeping things interesting is important for your psyche.

And as you're a novice when it comes to barbell exercises, I'm confident that you are lacking the flexibility to properly do squats. So any kind of stretching you do will benefit you there.

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