Yoga Experiences...please share

S

Stacy

Cathlete
As I get older I really want to work more on flexibility, but also don't want to negatively impact my cardio and strength training.

I don't want to do a yoga only rotation b/c I fear I'd get burnt out and then never touch it again or at least for awhile. But, I definitely want to do yoga more than just 1-2 times per week. I'd like yoga as its own day not as an add-on as I've tried that and I tend to just skip it.

I can workout only 5 days a week. Any thoughts?? Should I alternate all yoga weeks with traditional workouts or maybe every other day or 30 minutes daily with something else the same day?

Or just commit to doing an all yoga rotation for a while to get a good base and then doing it 1-2 days a week???
 
My preferred method of incorporating yoga is 3x a week:

M: Cardio Intervals 20 min., 40 min. of challenging yoga (Shiva Rae is great.) This session would incorporate more body weight bearing moves. You should feel it afterward. It may take a little time to find the right session to pick so that you feel like it challenges you.
T: (Optional) Walk or Low impact Cardio of your choice (not intervals at 80% of your max heart rate, you did those yesterday.)
W: Cardio Steady State 45 min., 20 min. of yoga (Rodney Yee is good, but really anything that fits the time frame. )
T: (Optional) Walk or Low impact Cardio of your choice
F: Cardio Circuit with kettlebells, 30 min. of yoga (Cathe

Guess what? the T/Th workouts are optional because sleep is critical to your fitness. If the cardio feels like too much, consider meditation instead or simply allow yourself to sleep or if you have energy then, you can just do any old chores (food prep is one I do.)

Don't let yourself think that the yoga has less of an impact or value than the cardio or strength training. 10 minutes of yoga has a greater effect than 10 minutes of cardio. I don't have the studies to back it up, just my own experience. I never expected yoga to work, I thought it was bogus. My Dad is an engineer, I was raised to be hyper critical and skeptical. So, I set out to prove that it never helped anyone, I was going at it gungho, and I was completely full of poop. It helped me drop more weight than the cardio did, and circuit weight training helped too. Now, I happen to be recovering from an illness that means I have to lose the weight all over again and rebuild my fitness base. At least I know how.
 
Thanks for your experience. Why do you think that yoga helped you lose more weight than cardio? Did you have less of an appetite?
 
Stacy said:
Thanks for your experience. Why do you think that yoga helped you lose more weight than cardio? Did you have less of an appetite?
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No, I didn't have less of an appetite. I think it helped more because I put on weight from stress and the kind of yoga I was using is known to calm the vegas (No joking, thats its real name!) nerve. I think that it lowered my cortisol level.
 
I hated yoga... and because of that figured it's exactly what my body needed. I found The Ultimate Yogi 108 day program and gave it a shot a few years ago. It provided enough power yoga for the "burn" I needed. Balance improved greatly, flexibility improved, back pain got better and I leaned out a lot. But I'm a cardio/weight lifting junky. However, after almost finishing Xtrain I'm knocked down my painful tennis elbow. So it's back to Ultimate Yogi! I just finished day 7 of 108. This week my arm is feeling better.

I can't really help with how to incorporate it into other programs like Cathe stuff. It's something I've struggled with and haven't been able to figure out. I do better following a set rotation. But I recall after finishing the program last time having an understanding of why it was critical to do yoga as we age. Then.... the cardio weight lifting junky kicked it again!! :) I'm excited though to see how the next 101 days go this time.
 
Stacy said:
As I get older I really want to work more on flexibility, but also don't want to negatively impact my cardio and strength training.

I don't want to do a yoga only rotation b/c I fear I'd get burnt out and then never touch it again or at least for awhile. But, I definitely want to do yoga more than just 1-2 times per week. I'd like yoga as its own day not as an add-on as I've tried that and I tend to just skip it.

I can workout only 5 days a week. Any thoughts?? Should I alternate all yoga weeks with traditional workouts or maybe every other day or 30 minutes daily with something else the same day?

Or just commit to doing an all yoga rotation for a while to get a good base and then doing it 1-2 days a week???
Click to expand...

Been gone for a while, but have seen some of your other posts and can give you some feedback, if you're still interested in the other stuff. I did 2 rounds of P 90 X 3 last year and that's 30 minutes, obviously, you do yoga once a week, and it's good. It might not seem like much but you also do dynamics once a week, or twice some weeks, so there's that. I started yoga based programs right after that and have stuck to it since.

Interesting RapidBreath... I counted up how many different moves in each of the X 3 workouts, maybe just the way I counted but yoga had the most by far, second was dynamics, and third, mmx. Also of note, I did a Cathe hybrid the second round with Strong & Sweaty, worked out really good. Both rounds I found the third block power workout heavy, for me, even at just 30 min., and subbed there with Cathe's beginner & int. workouts a couple times.

I did realize at the end of those 6 months that I had done yoga at least once a week for that long, I could probably stick with it for longer, doing more, and I have.
 
I've consistently incorporated yoga into my routine 1x per week for about 30 years. I don't think it is necessary to do it multiple times a week to improve your poses - once a week is enough. As the 112toGuru mentioned, even if you you only do yoga 1x a week, you will notice an improvement. I've also cycled through the original p90x and that schedule has you doing YogaX for 90 minutes 1x per week. Going through p90x, you definitely see and notice an improvement in your yoga abilities just doing it once per week. I think it all comes down to getting out what you put into it. The yoga in p90x is very challenging, but very rewarding as well. I'd say that beginner workouts done multiple times a week will give you fewer results than doing a challenging yoga workout once per week.

In addition to p90x yoga, I highly recommend the Bryan Kest Power Yoga series. It's a little old, but shorter than p90x yoga and gives a good challenge. Plus Bryan is easy on the eyes! ;-) To learn yoga basics, I like the videos from Yoga Zone with Alan Finger. Educational, relaxing, and effective, with very good explanations on proper breathing. The instruction on Yoga Zone videos is top-notch.
 
I thought I would never do Yoga. If someone would ask me last year if I would do yoga I would tell you that you are crazy.

I did Cathe Yoga Relax and I loved it. It isn't that hard to do. I thought yoga was a religion, but Cathe's yoga isn't. She does have some nice positive sayings that I like, but there isn't any chanting of anything.

Yoga is to me is concentrating stretching. And Cathe Relax is cool. If you have knee problems or hip problems it helps with the pain. It may not solve it but it reduces it, believe me.

If someone is having knee pain or hip pain, I would recommend doing yoga or stretching exercises in the area, but do it gently. It may not solve it but it will reduce it.

Jen
 
I did yoga 3 times last week and OMG the tightness in my shoulders and hips is soooo much better. My body just feel lighter and more fluid with day to day movement. I was doing yoga on occasion or sometimes just once a week. I can definitely tell a much more significant difference with 3 times a week! It's getting addicting!
 
I believe yoga is just as important to the body as cardio & ST. So as the original poster stated, cut 1/2 hour out of cardio or ST or on your non exercise day day to do yoga. It is important for body to destress, decompose, get oxygen in parts of the body, and to stretch more than just after a workout. Yoga poses (sun salutations) can get your heart rate up and muscles strengthen (Warrior pose, down dog). I am a cardio/ST addict meaning 5 - 6 days, but need & enjoy the flexibility and the de-stress poses yoga provides. So, I fit yoga like ab core work into my 5-6 day.
 
Stacy said:
I did yoga 3 times last week and OMG the tightness in my shoulders and hips is soooo much better. My body just feel lighter and more fluid with day to day movement. I was doing yoga on occasion or sometimes just once a week. I can definitely tell a much more significant difference with 3 times a week! It's getting addicting!
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Stacy, that sounds great! What yoga did you do - a dvd or something on youtube?
 
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