YES, Yoga!!

C

cinza

Active Member
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-25-01 AT 05:02PM (Est)[/font][p]
i had to quit my usual workout with weights because of injuries..
i wanted to post on what i have seen after a few months of yoga.

great arms and shoulders... tricepts really work hard...

i have been thrilled to see my backside and torso trim up very nicely. (some of you know this is an obsession of mine :) )

I think the back bending type moves have toned up muscles around the lower back and hips - i look so much more slender through that area ..
The back bends call upon the whole upper and lower buttucks to work very hard in order to support the pelvis and lower back and avoid injury ..

But dont do this stuff without good instruction on safety... most of us arent accustomed to bending backwards or holding the pelvis stable with strength


anyhow...
I look better defined than i did when i was lifting!!

Someone was asking about losing weight with yoga....

weight loss is a matter of calories in and calories out .. genetics ... age... hormones..... number of children....drugs consumed... as well as working out.

how you eat, how you use your calories and how you maintain your metabolism, how hormones effect fat cell size and storage ...etc... is individual to each one of us.

One doesnt do yoga to lose weight .... you might lose or you might not depending on a number of things ... what stlye of yoga you do.. how often... etc...and the rest of your life ..

Yoga has trimmed me up ... but i see other people in class who dont look like they are getting the same outward benefits as i have gotten.
.... when i did weights i got great results while no one else in my class seemed to make any great improvemnts.

I love to work really hard physically and have good genetics for staying in shape......

Everyone is different....

but i will say... upper body work in yoga shows on everyone who does it regularly....the sun salutation is awesome for arms and shoulders and spine and hips!
 
Hey Cinza!!

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-25-01 AT 02:37PM (Est)[/font][p]Hey Girl, where have you been? Welcome back! Which tapes out of your collection would you rate high as far as seeing results? I keep TRYING to fit Yoga or Pilates into my rotation, but it keeps getting pushed to the side to get my other tapes in! :-( I need some work on my lower back area and around the bra-line. Bra-Bubbles ar NOT attractive. :-wow I wouldn't mind seeing a more slender "ME" thru the lower back and hip area. Thanks!
(Came back to add that I am glad to hear of your awesome results. I know it comes from HARD work! Keep up the great job!)

Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH http://www.plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
O.K. Cinza, I'm convinced! I was supposed to start my 2nd S&H rotation Sunday but I'm going to make it a Bryan Kest power yoga rotation instead! Hope I get as good results as you. What type of yoga are you doing? Are you doing any cardio? How many times a week do you do yoga and for how long? I was thinking 3 hour long yoga sessions and 3 hour long cardio sessions on alternating days. Does that sound like a good plan to you?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Congrats on your yoga success, perhaps a slinky holiday outfit this year to show off your toned torso and glutes? ;-)

Lorrie
 
lorrie i found the slinky dress!! ribbed mid calf cranberry sweater dress ... its 250$... looks like a million though! :)

I am very eclectic about my yoga...
and i am getting serious enough to think of training and teaching.
my yoga tapes:

i have bryan kest tapes - all three.
i have sara powers in maui...
i have audio tapes from Jivamukti in new york.. very good..
i have Richard Freeman
i have a Bikram Yoga audio tape from Bikram himself...

i have Iyengar and Bikram books... I love Bikram... Bikrams yoga is done in 100 degree room...its hell..but it does things for the body that amount to miracles for some folk...(that is if it doesnt kill them first!!)

I also have an account with internet access to classes at a yoga center in NY!! i can take yoga classes all day long if i like!!!
its 39$ for one month of unlimited classes.....I just signed up so i could study the technique of different teachers and styles of yoga.

http://www.newyorkyoga.com

I recommend ANY and ALL of the above.

However!!
what i really do?

I go to ashtanga classes at my gym 2-3 times a week... and i give it my all ... i do Iyengar once a week.... and an eclectic hatha class whenever i didnt do the others...

They all are similiar in movements but speed is different and that makes a difference in what you come out of the class with.

Ashtanga is very active... super great for the upper body...
but Ashtanga doesnt let you really work into and out of poses which is important too....
Iyengar is very detailed for form and spends time in the poses .. Hatha seems to be a good middle.
Recently the teacher in my hatha class did "ying" style... where you try to maintain the pose from 5-20 minutes... that wont get the results Ashtanga gets! but it could save your hips one day.

But before anything..
you have to get a working knowledge of Form for safety and getting the maximum results.
GOOD FORM is everything.... getting it might take someone watching you and helping ... I recommend some classes if you really want to do it.

And then.
I have noticed i really do best if i do yoga alone, without anyone telling me what to do...i can pay attention, go at my own speed and make real progress...
Yoga is supposed to be a personal process... so think about that too... once you learn form...practice with just yourself.

my cardio?
my everyday life...i cant sit still!
i walk or ride my bike instead of driving...

I was just in manhattan for a week and i spent all day everyday walking.... maybe 9 hours a day.....whew!! I came home and promptly got sick and havent done much except WATCH my yoga classes on the computer.
 
Really interesting post, Cinza!

I've been focusing on yoga and pilates this quarter mostly because the studio I go to has unlimited classes with your fee, so I try to make it twice a week. And then a friend talked me into taking a Pilates class with her - it's been fun to do "live" things for a while.

Anyway I've been concerned about losing strength doing this routine - I managed to fit in one full-body weight day a week, if that, and in the last few weeks haven't managed it at all...and I'd mostly been walking my dog for cardio, so I was worried about losing something there too...

But, I was missing my Cathe tapes, so I decided to go for another CTX rotation and did Power Circuit last night. Surprise! I upped my weights, thinking, "well, I'll just do less reps than Cathe" but I could keep up with the tempo. The cardio and leg portion, too - while I'll NEVER call anything on CTX "easy", they were very do-able.

So, I was pleasantly surprised to conclude that "neglecting" traditional cardio and weights for while in favour of yoga, T-Tapp, pilates, etc, didn't result in a strength loss or de-conditioning at all. And I'm pleasantly sore this morning, but not whacked.

I also enjoyed your thoughts about practicing at home. I have yet to successfully get into a really consistent home practice, but I do think it has a lot of value. There's a point to be made that classes are what one should use to supplement a home practice, not the other way around.

Anyway, thanks for the interesting post!

Sophie
 
i understand the great violin maestro Yehudi Menuhin credited his yoga teacher BKS Iyengar as being not his best yoga teacher but his best VIOLIN teacher!!

what you do in yoga can generate progress elsewhere in your life ans Sophie pointed out.
 
Thanks for all the information Cinza! I'm pumped to start a yoga rotation. My biggest challenge is coordinating the inhales and exhales with the poses. I sometimes catch myself holding my breath. I was glad to read Sophie's post about not losing strength - that's the one reason I haven't done as much yoga as I've wanted to.

Do you have any good Hatha tapes you can recommend? I've only got Bryan Kest right now.

Thanks again! Knock 'em dead in the sweater dress! :)

Lorrie
 
I am so happy to hear this, I'm convinced as well. As I said before, I have actually seen and heard from friends regarding their wonderful results with yoga. I as well have felt better, but haven't been able to stick to it. So what is stopping me? I guess I will give it my all, once I'm done with the rotation I'm on.

Thanks a lot for your input, and sharing your success.
Lourdy
Yeepee for YOGA!!!
 
Lourdy..
dont worry about sticking with it at the moment.

i think (in my ever humble opinion )
If :
yoga becomes part of your lifestyle it will make so much sense that you wont have to worry about getting yourself to do it.

Its a very "right" thing...


People do yoga for their whole lives.... like washing their face in the morning..and keep learning from it.

yoga is 5000 years old and still makes sense ... that makes me proud to be involved!
 
Lorrie

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-26-01 AT 01:41PM (Est)[/font][p]
Dont stree over the breathing... it will get there and make sense as soon as you are comfortable with the movements... (another reason to practice alone sometimes, you will ge much more comfortable and do things you cant do while someone is talking constantly in your ear!)

I dont have any hatha tapes that i have done....(i have two i patricia walden tapes I havent done!)

i know the Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden tapes get excellent reports from everyone..
they are easy to find...(like even at my grocery store and costco)
You can have confidence in them to start with and then see where you go as you get strong and find a preference for how you like to work.

check
half.com for fantastic tape prices....you can afford to buy everything you want! ... and if you dont like them, sell them on ebay.
 
Cinza, is this all you do now? How long/dy or how many times/dy and week? I ask, because some of my friends say they do a shorter but energizing yoga workout in the a.m. at their homes and, or a class in the p.m. a the yoga studio, at least 6x's/wk. I asked them why, and they said they just love what it does for them not only physically, but mentally.
Thanks.
 
Hi Lorrie, I'm not Cinza, but I would like to recommend Rodney Yee's Yoga for Athletes if you're just getting started in it. He does have a tendency to overwrite his script a tiny bit, but he has great form and well designed routines. Y4A is broken into three parts so you can do the whole thing, or just segments. It's also the one that shows the most modifications of any tapes I've seen.

Yoga for Strength is also good, because it has some vinyasa or flow series - not as strenuous as power yoga, but still good conditioning.

Have fun - Cinza is right, don't stress too much about the breath, it will come in time. And yoga does indeed become a regular part of your life - your body starts to ask for it if you haven't done it for a while.

Sophie
 
I agree with you, cinza! I've been going to an ashtanga yoga class 2-3 times a week for almost a year now and can't believe the amount of arm definition I have gotten! Yoga really does work!
 
its almost all i do.. besides walking and biking and climbing stairs two at a time whenever possible.

i do some walking lunges just for the fun of it every now and then when i havent anything else to do :)

I used to do pilates but i quit pilates because a lot of pilates came from yoga and i know the pilates principals so well i can incorporate them in everything i do anyway.

i do some stuff in the pool... ballet leg work and extra stretching just because i love doing it.
 
I recall seeing a post on this forum where the poster was asking for advice on how to get definition in their back...the first thing that came to my mind was yoga.
 
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